Political Theory I was doing a little light reading on pre-civil war political theory, like everyone else I’m sure, when I came across some information that I found interesting. Now on most blogs you would expect a link to the book, but I couldn’t find one to the original 1815 book. I thought you could find everything on the web. In case you want to run out and get a copy of the book, its Union and Liberty: The Political Philosophy of John C. Calhoun. This book comes shortly after the founding of our government under the Constitution, when they had the kinks worked out but still followed the words of the Constitution, not just their own interpretation. Maybe if Glenn Beck likes the book, they can reprint some of them. Now some of you may not have heard of this man, given the fact that they don’t teach history in schools anymore. At the time that he wrote this, Mr. Calhoun was a US Representative from South Carolina. In 1817, he would be the Secretary of War under President Monroe. He would go on to be vice-president under both John Quincy Adams & Andrew Jackson. Mr. Calhoun stated something quite interesting. The government would gradually pass from the hands of the majority of the party into those of the leaders; as the struggle becomes more intense, and the honors and emoluments of the government the all-absorbing objects. At this stage, principals and policy would lose all influence in the elections; and cunning, falsehood, deception, slander, fraud, and gross appeals to appetites of the lowest and most worthless portions of the community, would take the place of sound reason and wise debate. After these have thoroughly debased and corrupted the community, and all the arts and devises of the party have been exhausted, the government would vibrate between two factions (for such will parties have become) at each successive election. These vibrations would continue until confusion, corruption, disorder, and anarchy, would lead to an appeal to force-to be followed by a revolution in the form of government. Such must be the end of the government of the numerical majority. I would start with Carter swinging pretty far left. We have him to thank for the Islamic state of Iran, incredibly high interest rate, the oil embargo, & the United States being the laughing stock of the world. Then Reagan brought us back to the right by repairing the economy, ending the Cold War, & making us proud to be Americans again. If Bush #1 had learned from Reagan, he might have had a second term. As it is I can’t remember GW as having much of an impact for the country. This leads us to Bubba Clinton, who returned us to the left. If he could have kept his pants on, we might have stopped Bin Laden before he was strong enough to be a threat. Now is where I differ from the theory in that I don’t see Bush #2 as being far enough to the right to qualify, although I know people who will disagree with that. He did help us with the High Court. Now we have Obama who makes Clinton look like the middle of the road centrist. Given how far the pendulum has swung to the left, should we next expect it to swing much further to the right? Or is this going to be the end of this great experiment we call the United States? If we do swing it back farther to the right than Bush, would this simply continue the cycle? I know the Tea Party is pulling the Republican Party to the right, kicking & screaming for some. This drive cannot stop after 2012. Even if the Republicans take back the White House, we need to ensure the Tea Party is there as well. I have for some time asked why Obama & Pelosi aren’t worried about reelection. What do they know that we don’t? If we do survive this, who do we have to run in 2012? If we were to swing to the polar opposite of Obama, we may have someone like Ron Paul. How do we force Rush to take a big pay cut & serve the country?
