Thoughts On Government: Part II

So, I'm just going to publish the complete text, in parts, so everyone can read it, absorb it, and become an Adams junkie, which every American should be if they actually give a crap about their country.  In spite of criticism levied by some historians, his own actions, and the testimony of his peers, clearly point to the fact that Adams' conscience and efforts are very much the reason why independency was driven, and achieved.  You ignore him at your peril, and our nation's peril.  One need only look at the state of our government to see that.  I promise you that if you gave a pop quiz to the entire Congress, and the President, you probably wouldn't be able to count your fingers and toes with the number who could name the essay and one of its principles.  In fact, it should be required reading for everyone who runs for elected office.  They should demonstrate mastery of it, as well as other writings of our founders, and the men and women who inspired them.  I would imagine that this would weed out large numbers of slackers.  Are you kidding?  Martin Luther Lincoln Jr. Jr. would never have made it to the primaries...of course the media would have reported that he read the collected works of all the founders and their children.  Most people, because most people are dumber than a bag of hammers, would believe it...which is how we got stuck with Shrub II in the first place.  But don't take my word for it.  Here's what Melanie Phillips has to say on the subject:

President Obama has had, by general consent, a torrid First Fortnight. To put it another way, it has taken precisely two weeks for the illusion that brought him to power to be exposed for the nonsense that it so obviously was. The transformational candidate who was going to sweep away pork-barrel politics, lobbyists and corruption has been up to his neck in sleaze...

Somehow I don't think this is what Adams had in mind when he talked about virtue in government.  

And now...Part II of Adams' Thoughts on Government.

Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.

Honor is truly sacred, but holds a lower rank in the scale of moral excellence than virtue. Indeed, the former is but a part of the latter, and consequently has not equal pretensions to support a frame of government productive of human happiness.

The foundation of every government is some principle or passion in the minds of the people. The noblest principles and most generous affections in our nature, then, have the fairest chance to support the noblest and most generous models of government.

A man must be indifferent to the sneers of modern English men, to mention in their company the names of Sidney, Harrington, Locke, Milton, Nedham, Neville, Burnet, and Hoadly. No small fortitude is necessary to confess that one has read them. The wretched condition of this country, however, for ten or fifteen years past, has frequently reminded me of their principles and reasonings. They will convince any candid mind, that there is no good government but what is republican. That the only valuable part of the British constitution is so; because the very definition of a republic is "an empire of laws, and not of men." That, as a republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangement of the powers of society, or, in other words, that form of government which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of the laws, is the best of republics.

Of republics there is an inexhaustible variety, because the possible combinations of the powers of society are capable of innumerable variations.

As good government is an empire of laws, how shall your laws be made? In a large society, inhabiting an extensive country, it is impossible that the whole should assemble to make laws. The first necessary step, then, is to depute power from the many to a few of the most wise and good. But by what rules shall you choose your representatives? Agree upon the number and qualifications of persons who shall have the benefit of choosing, or annex this privilege to the inhabitants of a certain extent of ground.

The principal difficulty lies, and the greatest care should be employed, in constituting this representative assembly. It should be in miniature an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them. That it may be the interest of this assembly to do strict justice at all times, it should be an equal representation, or, in other words, equal interests among the people should have equal interests in it. Great care should be taken to effect this, and to prevent unfair, partial, and corrupt elections. Such regulations, however, may be better made in times of greater tranquillity than the present; and they will spring up themselves naturally, when all the powers of government come to be in the hands of the people's friends. At present, it will be safest to proceed in all established modes, to which the people have been familiarized by habit.