Thomas Jefferson is said to have written the poetry of America’s aspirations, Madison wrote the prose. His contributions to the Federalist Papers are legend. The Constitution was primarily the byproduct of his work both as a stateman and an essayist.
Madison was responsible for the Bill of Rights that was added to the Constitution in the first session of Congress. He had so alienated the political powers in his home state of Virginia during the ratification of the Constitution that the state legislature refused to elect him as Senator. He was relegated to the elected position of congressman in the House of Representatives.
He continued to write essays well into later life and the following is an excerpt from a piece “Majority Government” that he wrote in 1833.
“It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune. This necessity however exists, and the problem to be solved is not what form of Government is perfect, but which form of government is least imperfect and here the general question must be between a republican Government in which the majority rule the minority and a Government in which the lesser number or the least number rule the majority.”
– James Madison
It foreshadows by a century Winston Churchill’s observation that democracy is the second worst form of governance invented by man. Exceeded only by any other form of government. It has been a mantra of certain political ideologies that our current form of Government is the problem not the solution. Yes, governance is imperfect. However, any other form of political structure is a form even worse. There is no better solution for this necessity than governance by a sensible majority. It is intellectual child’s play to point out its obvious imperfections. The challenge is to demonstrate something that is better.
There are none.