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Old 08-19-2021, 03:38 PM   #327
Capt Spaulding
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For all the people squawking about their rights, as a veteran of a few negatively received protests in the late 60s and having watched the protests over George Floyd's murder, I understand. Rights can be fragile. But I think many here misunderstand the driving force behind the Constitution. As James Madison (the guy who pretty much brought it to life) wrote,
Quote:
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
The Federalist No. 51 Emphasis mine.

The preservation of liberty was important, but the maintenance of order was paramount. Over the centuries that have followed the phrase "system of ordered liberty" has been used countless times by the US Supreme Court to describe what Madison was talking about.

License, the power to do whatever the hell one might want to do, gave guys like Madison, Hamilton, and Washington really bad nightmares. They wanted nothing to do with that. They wanted liberty (which differs from many current views of "freedom") to be carefully controlled.
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