Combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

He pretty much summed it up,didn’t he?

The founding fathers knew the perils of political parties, yet could not find the words to prevent them. In some ways, their elitism (to which is evident to me in this excerpt you have provided) almost encouraged the formation of political parties: if we the elite are better than the masses, then we the smarter elite are better than those elite who disagree with us. Arrogance and contempt still reign.

Isaac Asimov, in his Foundation series, prophecizes that democracy has a life of about two to three centuries before it falls in on itself. Maybe we are seeing that prophecy come true now.

So here’s my challenge to you.

If you were looking to manufacture some new chemical for an industrial process, would you hire a chemist of 1787, one highly regarded in his day or would you hire an M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Alberta who graduated in 2010?

I am reading an interesting book right now called “Why Democracy Failed”, probably about 10% finished. The author posits that human nature precludes us from making changes to our political institutions, which then results in political decay. Real change comes only after a violent revolution, from which new political institutions arise. Obviously, I’ve got more to read, and I look forward to the “solutions” of this author. I’m sure getting some great history lessons from this book.