Consider that the 2 Senators from California [with a population of over 36
million] can be
'checked and balanced', vetoed, neutralized by the 2 Senators from any of
the 49 less
populous states, even Wyoming with a mere 1/2 million people.
Consider that while California is allotted just 2 Senators to represent
its over 36
million people, the least populous 21 states [Iowa, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Kansas, Utah,
Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hamp****re,
Hawaii, Rhode
Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont and
Wyoming] with
an aggregate population of under 34 million people are granted 42
Senators.
That's the way it was planned. Ain't Madisonian 'democracy' grand?!
+ + + + +
Toward an American Revolution
Exposing the Constitution and other Illusions
Jerry Fresia Chapter 3
The Constitution: Resurrection of An Imperial System
Go to http://www.cyberjournal.org
for the whole book online....
Note Madison's remarks: "...as had been observed (by Mr. Pinckney) we had
not among us
those hereditary distinctions of rank which were a great source of the
contests in the
ancient governments as well as the modern States of Europe...We cannot,
however, be
regarded even at this time as one homogeneous mass....In framing a system
which we wish to
last for ages, we should not lose sight of the changes which ages will
produce. An
increase of population will of necessity increase the pro****tion of those
who will labor
under all the hard****ps of life, and secretly sigh for a more equal
distribution of its
blessings. These may in time outnumber those who are placed above the
feelings of
indigence. According to the equal laws of suffrage, the power will slide
into the hands of
the former."
"The man who is possessed of wealth, who lolls on his sofa or rolls in his
carriage,
cannot judge of the wants or feelings of the day-laborer. The government
we mean to erect
is intended to last for ages. The landed interest, at present, is
prevalent; but in
process of time, when we approximate to the states and kingdoms of Europe,
when the number
of landholders shall be comparatively small, through the various means of
trade and
manufactures, will not the landed interest be overbalanced in future
elections? and,
unless wisely provided against, what will become of your government? In
England, at this
day, if elections were open to all cl***** of people, the property of
landed proprietors
would be insecure. An agrarian law would soon take place. If these
observations be just,
our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country
against innovation.
Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to sup****t these
invaluable
interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so
constituted as to
protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The Senate,
therefore, ought to
be this body; and, to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency
and stability.
Various have been the propositions; but my opinion is, the longer they
continue in office,
the better will these views be answered."
Toward an American Revolution
Exposing the Constitution and other Illusions
Jerry Fresia Chapter 3
The Constitution: Resurrection of An Imperial System
Go to http://www.cyberjournal.org
for the whole book online....
On Madison's proposed bicameral legislature:
" “Hence it is that the two Branches should be elected by Persons
differently qualified;
and in short, that, as far as possible, they should be made to represent
different
Interests.”
“Under this Reasoning I would establish a Legislature of two Houses. The
Upper should
represent the Property; the lower the Population of the State. The upper
should be chosen
by Freemen possessing in Lands and Houses one thousand Pounds, the lower
by all such as
had resided four Years in the Country and paid Taxes. The first should be
chosen for four,
the last for two Years; They should in Authority be coequal.”
Benjamin Franklin challenges the ethics of Madison's proposal:
"Several Questions may arise upon this Proposition. 1st. What is the
Pro****tion of Freemen
possessing Lands and Houses of one thousand Pounds Value compared to that
of Freemen whose
Possessions are inferior? Are they as one to ten? Are they even as one to
twenty? I should
doubt whether they are as one to fifty. If this Minority is to chuse a
Body expresly to
controul that which is to be chosen by the great Majority of the Freemen,
what have this
great Majority done to forfeit so great a ****tion of their Right in
Elections? Why is this
Power of Controul, contrary to the Spirit of all Democracies, to be vested
in a Minority,
instead of a Majority? Then is it intended or is it not that the Rich
should have a Vote
in the Choice of Members for the lower House, while those of inferior
Property are
deprived of the Right of voting for Members of the upper House? And why
should the upper
House, chosen by a Minority have equal Power with the lower, chosen by a
Majority? Is it
supposed that Wisdom is the necessary Concomitant of Riches, and that one
Man worth a
thousand Pound must have as much Wisdom as twenty, who have each only 999?
And why is
Property to be represented at all? Suppose one of our Indian Nations
should now agree to
form a civil Society, each Individual would bring into the Stock of the
Society little
more Property than his Gun and his Blanket; for at present he has no
other; we know that
when one of them has attempted to keep a few Swine, he has not been able
to maintain a
Property in them, his Neighbours thinking they have a Right to kill and
eat them whenever
they want Provision; it being one of their Maxims, that Hunting is free
for all; the
Ac***ulation therefore of Property in such a Society, and its Security to
Individuals in
every Society must be an Effect of the Protection afforded to it by the
joint Strength of
the Society, in the Execution of its Laws; private Property therefore is a
Creature of
Society and is subject to the Calls of that Society whenever its
Necessities shall require
it, even to its last Farthing; its Contributions therefore to the public
Exigencies are
not to be considered as conferring a Benefit on the Public, entitling the
Contributors to
the Distinctions of Honour and Power; but as the Return of an Obligation
previously
received or the Payment of a just Debt. The Combinations of Civil Society
are not like
those of a Set of Merchants who club their Property in different
Pro****tions for Building
and Freighting a ****p, and may therefore have some Right to vote in the
Disposition of the
Voyage in a greater or less Degree according to their respective
Contributions; but the
im****tant Ends of Civil Society are the personal Securities of Life and
Liberty; these
remain the same in every Member of the Society, and the poorest continues
to have an equal
Claim to them with the most opulent, whatever Difference Time, Chance or
Industry may
occasion in their Cir***stances. On these Considerations I am sorry to see
the Signs this
Paper I have been considering affords of a Disposition among some of our
People to
commence an Aristocracy, by giving the Rich a Predominancy in Government,
a Choice
peculiar to themselves in one half the Legislature, to be proudly called
the upper House,
and the other Branch chosen by the Majority of the People degraded by the
Denomination of
the lower, and giving to this upper House a Permanency of four Years, and
but two to the
lower. I hope therefore that our Representatives in the Convention will
not hastily go
into these Innovations, but take the Advice of the Prophet, “Stand firmly
[crossed out?]
in the old Ways, view the ancient Paths, consider them well, and be not
among those that
are given to Change.”
-- Benjamin Franklin
--
Said American [Indian] Chieftain Acuera in reply to
the invader de Soto's demand for submission to
the king and the church so as to 'enjoy the benefits
of 'civilization' and service:
"I have long since learned who you [European Christians] are,
through others of you who came years ago to my land;
and I already know very well what your customs and
behavior are like. To me you are professional
vagabonds who wander from place to place,
gaining your livelihood by robbing, sacking and
murdering people who have given you no offense.
... Accordingly, I and all of my people have vowed
to die a hundred deaths to maintain the freedom
of our land. This is our answer, both
for the present and forevermore."
-- "Florida of the Inca" (1591)
by El Inca [aka Garcilaso de la Vega]
- First American Author to be published.
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