In my opinion, one of the best arguments to help us understand what is going on in this government comes from the very first paragraph of the very first Federalist Paper, Federalist #1, written by Alexander Hamilton. Replace the phrase “a new Constitution for” with “the future of” (that and emphasis mine):

AFTER an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting federal government, you are called upon to deliberate on (a new Constitution for) [the future of] the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the UNION, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world. It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. If there be any truth in the remark, the crisis at which we are arrived may with propriety be regarded as the era in which that decision is to be made; and a wrong election of the part we shall act may, in this view, deserve to be considered as the general misfortune of mankind.

Hamilton was trying to convince New Yorkers that the Articles of Confederation were not sufficient and that the Constitution needed to be adopted as a total replacement.  He begins by stating the claim that the existing government does not work, but he offers no support for this claim because he takes for granted that the people know it’s true; in this economy, and with such across-the-board desire to “throw the bums out”, I make the same claim of general understanding that our current government is a failure.  Then, specifically in the emphasized section, he was trying convince the public how to fix such problems by appealing to the true focus of the American Experiment- self government by choice, not big government of force.

Of course you can probably already see where I am going with this as it relates to the parallels today, but I will “remark” on it anyway.

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