The Founding Fathers Thought America Was Doomed
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- “The fact that it hasn’t ended in the past 230 years suggests that maybe [it will] last a good deal longer,” says historian Dennis C. Rasmussen, author of "Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders."
------------------
Subscribe to our RUclips channel: www.youtube.co...
Like us on Facebook: / reason.magazine
Follow us on Twitter: / reason
Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
For those who predict that the American experiment can't last, and who worry the social fabric is disintegrating at a time of rising political division, it's worth remembering that back when the ink had barely dried on the Constitution, the founding fathers' were deeply pessimistic about the future of the country they had created.
Hamilton called the Constitution a "frail and worthless fabric." Washington lamented the growth of political factions. Adams thought a lack of civic virtue doomed the republic. Jefferson watched sectional divisions between North and South with horror, calling the "sacrifice" made "by the generation of '76" "useless," because it would be "thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons." "My only consolation," he wrote, "is to be that I live not to weep over it."
"Their pronouncements may seem overly dramatic to the modern ear," says Syracuse University professor Dennis C. Rasmussen. In his latest book, Fears of a Setting Sun, Rassmussen wrestles with the founders near universal pessimism in the future of the country they created.
"I think that's because they thought that so much was at stake. They really thought that the future of Republican government and the future of human liberty was riding on this American experiment. And so the potential failure of that experiment, they thought would be a world historical calamity."
Should Americans see the founders' dissolution as a sign that America is flawed beyond hope? After all, we're still beset by many of the fears the founders identified.
"We hear people pronounce the end of American democracy at every turn," says Rasmussen. "The fact that it hasn't ended in the past 230 years suggests that maybe [it will] last a good deal longer."
"But the fact that these problems have been with us since the very outset, since the founders themselves, suggest that they might be more systemic, more baked in than we sometimes dare to hope."
Produced and edited by Meredith Bragg.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
They knew that revolutions like their own are not permanent but a reoccuring fact of life. It wasn't a question of if tyranny would come back, but if future Americans would make the same sacrifices.
great insight.
1776 will commence again if the American people felt threatened enough by government.
@@jackadam01 Nope. If that was the case it should have been done WHILE ago.
Exactly right, Marty. Today, teachers in corrupt, Leftist schools are afraid to stand up for their abused students because they're afraid of losing their jobs. Scientists are afraid to speak the truth for fear of losing their funding. All this selfishness is giving evil free reign over civilization. For 200 years, evil has turned American government away from the logic and beauty of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. Example: 10th Amendment prohibition against a HUGE federal government failed as early as 1840s.
@@hoppeananc wrong. It hasn’t gotten bad enough. Wait until the collapse of the middle class and higher taxation. Or the attempt to take away our guns
The government of the founders is long dead, they were right about their fears. The fact that a government still operates under the same name is irrelevant.
I was thinking exactly the same thing.
The fact that the country has stood for 200 years straight tells us about the strength of optimism. No matter what until there are patriots this country is going nowhere.
@@Itsmikebitch the fact that there is still a country with the same name tells us nothing.
@@Itsmikebitch That you and so many others believe that the United States were ever _a_ country is proof that the government of the founders is dead. Nowhere did the _states_ (i.e. nations) ever cede their sovereignty to some unifying government.
@@jsn1252 They did. They made not have made one big official proclamation but have instead ceded most of their power and authority through implicit complacency and support for laws that took away their power. Sure, American states are a good bit more autonomous than most countries' regional governments but it is really silly to think that they have the power to defy the real power in the world(The U.S Federal government) when it comes to things that actually matter.
People love liberty. They just don't like other people having it.
Damn those neighbors who won't cut their grass often enough for my taste. There ought to be law to prevent them from having the Liberty to have weeds. And the peeling paint on their house? I wish what you said wasn't true.
@Anonymous Panacea if you're the world police it's given to be at some point. Even the best of countries will if given the position the USA has.
I would have to disagree. I think the problem is more that most people are scared, and I sense much fear in your statement here. I think the number of likes you're getting would also confirm this. Scared and paranoid people finding solace in one another's fear.
What people like us not liberty. They like entitlement. They'd prefer someone else be accountable.
it is remarkale that we have, for better or worse, stayed with our constitution, and subsequently had it upheld in a court of law, for nearly 250 years. the list of nations that have managed this feat is very, *V E R Y* short, and all of them have one very telling feature in common: strength. there's a damn good reason why many countries model their constitutional blueprints off of america...results.
When you realize the founding fathers were just as much as a doomer as you are
Based
Likely even more so
WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY! WE ARE A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. After the civil war we lived under the new "FEDERALISM" central democracy and that is As-Good-As-Dead since Federalism has always failed.
Then starting in the 1960's the supreme court further federalized all states rights.
The best we can hope for now is a FULL Federal bankruptcy and reset and a return to A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC - 50 separate states each with their own "MICRO MANAGEMENT.
@@johnslugger Yep. The southern plantation owners violated the Constitution they agreed to uphold, and had to be corrected. Why do Democrats want elections to be federalized, and Republicans want to control their own destinies on state and community level?
@@paulmcknight4137 Federal elections are part of the constitution right in article 2.
The 10th amendment has been stepped on for too long and republicans just want to give it a chance to work as written. The legalization of Weed was up held by the Supreme court USING the 10Th amendment and so was the RIGHT to DIE in Oregon. I think you should give the 10TH amendment a chance unless you REALLY think you will see people voting for slavery again LOL. Sometimes you just need a bit of trust in the process and the timing. Using the 10TH at this point in time is a big stick for all people Left and Right alike. Its the GOVERNMENT and CORPORATE America PLUTOCRATS who never saw this one coming LOL.
The problem with liberty is it requires responsibility..... Now days people are ready and willing to sell out all responsibility for the "perceived notion" of security.
Responsibility is a boomer concept. Give us free stuff, man. Give it now. Just wanna be me, dude. Brah.
And it was no different back then.
"I'd rather have dangerous freedom than peaceful slavery." - Thomas Jefferson
This is what Jordan Peterson talked about with John Stossel.
@@BillLaBrie boomers are the most economically privileged generation in American history. Current generations are now footing the bill for their Reaganist dismantling of the American government.
@@hithere5553 yes, and they are to blame for the shit generations that followed. But mention “responsibility” to anyone who’s not a boomer and they will call you a …. Boomer.
In a way they were right, the America that they founded did die. If they set eyes on this highly centralized/oligarchical/police state/over taxed/over militarized nation, they would be right to weep.
America the country has survived, the idea of America is on life support… and has been for over a century.
Police state? I could hardly call it highly centralized when there's china and north korea to compare it to. And the 'oligarchy' is still voted in each election. As bad as it is, we're not at doomsday
@@dinosaurusrex1482 When comparing it to an authoritarian state…. Sure looks pretty decentralized. Now compare it to the founding of this country, and our current set up looks closer to North Korea.
Oligarchs aren’t voted in, they are the ones that remain and influence/control politicians no matter who is voted in/out. They are part of the permanent state, that transcends and outlasts political elections.
@@jmhamilton87 I always fail to understand how people use the worst places on the modern earth to compare it to make it seem better
👍
And the country itself is being replaced as we speak. The people won't last much longer than the idea at this rate.
@@ericpeltola5171 “At least you’re alive, with a roof over your head and food in your belly…. quit complaining about slavery!”
-These same people in the 1830s
A good reminder that far too many people live in (or are at the mercy of) the drama of the moment, and would benefit greatly from a better understanding of history, and some context and perspective on current events. It's far easier to convince oneself that you are living in a time of unprecedented challenges when you know nothing of what has come before.
Yes, we know about transition from Roman republic to principate
True. This isn't really isn't shit in the grand schemes of things and Everytime collectivism is introduced and briefly tried in the west within the next decade or so it's shot the fuck down.
@@noneofyourbusiness1114 But it had to be pushed so far each time before we all realized how bad of an idea it was
Holy shit you phrased that perfectly.... I've kept it a lot shorter "Don't judge the past with the lenses of the present, learn from it.'
@@dean_l33 absolutely. I think we'll be fine even with the threat of the CCP.
American companies were in bed with Nazi Germany during the great depression and there were some eras during the expansion of the west when guns were also outlawed too.
If we keep our Spirit strong this too shall past.
An optimist would let their guard down and stop fighting. Don't be that guy.
@Joe Bachman Demoralization is an intentional propaganda technique to destroy the will of those who fight back. Go to any dictatorship and you'll see a populace completely demoralized and no longer fighting.
Anarchism doesn't make sense, as groups of organized individuals will always control unorganized people. Government is inherent like gravity.
@Garfield's Minion The philosophy of anarchism doesn’t change the fact that a foreign nation will always take control. Human nature works in such a way that we can’t leave each other alone.
@Garfield's Minion Anarchism means no government. But, how do you stop people from organizing? How do you stop a roving band of murderers without organizing yourself? Once you organize, you must have common rules, hence government.
@Joe Bachman It's been said that, "the only thing worse than government is no government at all." It's a necessary evil. This is why many believe in limited government, restrained under a Constitution that limits the powers of government. I'm in this camp.
A realist would pick up their rifle and get to work.
There’s nothing wrong with the constitution, but I can’t say the same for our politicians. A lot of them want to get rid of the constitution to further their political ambitions, others ignore it, but we have to acknowledge that the experiment has worked for 245 years, people are the ones that have resisted it. Happy Independence Day everyone 🇺🇸🇺🇸
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.” Lysander Spooner
I would say there are several fundamental flaws in the Constitution, though it's still pretty good. There should be a mechanism for states to unilaterally secede. This would be a serious balance of power and would have prevented the civil war. The mere knowledge that states could secede would tend to prevent what led up to the civil war. Laws should require a supermajority to pass - maybe 75%. This would improve the consensus on legislation. Every law should have a sunset provision and require passing a supermajority vote on a regular basis. The winner-takes-all system ensures a two party system...should probably use an Australian ballot. The supreme court should not be the final arbiter in constitutional cases. Instead, a court composed of state and federal justices should be called for that purpose. But the biggest flaw in the Constitution, is that it created a federal government that has powers independent of states. The Confederacy that existed prior to the Constitution was the better form.
Yeah, but it hasn't worked. Government has grown enormous and we are heading over a cliff. The constitution, depending on which flavor is in control, is interpreted into something completely opposite. We have a fiat currency system in direct contravention to the sound gold and silver the constitution demands. This one thing among many is slowly destroying us.
Lets not forget the 10th ammendment everyone!! You would be a lot more free if anyone paid attention to it!!
"but we have to acknowledge that the experiment has worked for 245 years"
Has it? By what measure. If you use the idea of "consent of the governed," it failed with the Civil War. It was then that the north told the south "you will do what we say, your consent is not required -- only your obedience."
"the constitution is still with us"
with all the laws that violate it this is debatable
@manvsbridge Very few countries do not suffer from that problem - if there are any - and over time, no matter the initial intentions, the will of the people, no matter how corrupted by their influences, will steer politics.
They were right, we had a civil war. Six hundred thousand people died, ReasonTV.
And the country survived and went on to prosper, while divisions remain throughout U.S. society (and probably always will). What's your point?
@@bsmithhammer We lost our freedoms and all of our rights are infringed.
@@f__kyoudegenerates To some degree, yes. So do something about it.
@@f__kyoudegenerates So organize and convince people to change the situation through their votes.
@@bsmithhammer ReasonTV is suggesting that such concerns are overblown, that every generation has the same anxieties, while stupidly missing the fact that the Founding Fathers accurately assessed the country's vulnerability to collapse and violence.
I laugh when someone talks as if we still follow the Constitution.
SCOTUS showed in December that it isn't worth the paper it's written on.
Also NYC and DC banning guns is literally INFRINGING 2A RIGHTS
Patriot act has entered the chat 🤣
Apparently the people, who justify power with the general welfare clause, have not read the next few words, “of the United States”.
Let’s not even get started with the fact it says all debts should be paid with gold and silver
@@stayswervin554 When money is printed it is backed by gold.
@0:41: "There pronouncements seem almost histrionic to the modern ear." -- I guess if you ignore that there was, in fact, a civil war less than 100 years after the founding of the country.
"(...) a civil war less than 100 years after the founding of the country (...)"
With almost more casualties than in _all military conflicts of the United States, _*_combined_* ...
100%
There's a huge difference between then, and now. That is, the federal government. Then, it was a small, almost powerless entity. Now, it runs every aspect of our lives.
Government acts like a corporation except you have no choice but to work for it...
Looks like the founding fathers were right in their pessimism.
In my every day life I will hold the line.
I have taught my children.
I am teaching my grandchildren.
We are most defiantly no longer the free nation we once were. Sure, some progress here and there, but we have taken a lot of steps back from owning your own private navy with the goobernment mildly mocking you for asking permission like a child.
Now we are stuck in an era where many states have you fill out a permission slip, and pray that you get approved or denied by the very asshats the 2a was meant to be AGAINST, for a mere handgun!
@@cody481 Although I'm pessimistic about the future, I still strive to keep the dreams of the founding fathers alive.
Dan Templeton
Then stop professing failure.
As the old saying goes if you profess it you will poses it.
So today you failed.
Back up and start again.
Up to us, read the part about what citizens are supposed to do during tyranny
I worry about the expanding--and largely meaningless--use of the word "systemic."
The problem is with the system hence the word systemic
@@steephanroy8461 Like I said, meaningless. A "system" is a series of interlocking parts, each part has a function and can be clearly identified, and explained both in terms of its own function and how it works with other pieces of the system. When idiots says "systemic," they are throwing their hands into the air and waving them around--using the term synonymously with "the whims of Quetzalcoatl." There is no "the system." Hence the word "systemic" as used, is done by ignorant primitives, to describe stuff they don't like but don't have the brain processing power to explain.
@@23wtb look.. Donald trump was a very bad president who got elected because of the him being attained popular support by hosting a television show. .. you can throw dirt at him and feel satisfied but with that behaviour another trump will be there to replace him .
The problem is with your electoral system that allows such leadership to exist.
The problem is not with the individual but tye the problem is with how things are being done..
@@steephanroy8461 Why was he so bad? Honest question. I don't want to fight just debate.
@@roguestatus7 he isolated his nation.. pushed away allies into the hands of the Chinese. Thats for foreign policy.
He weaponised trade .. started the trade war.
His presidency cost the Americans the reliability that they had
He is a symbol Which shows clearly how ineffective the mechanism of electing leadership really are in a country such as America.
He failed to adress issues i would say the underlying issues were aggrevated in his reign. Such as your education sysyem, heath care, housing , infrastructure , the opoid crisris , ..... Hell he did not even fixed any issue at all..
Okey this list keeps going...
For a person who wish to have a meaningful debate can you give me some reasons why anyone should credit him as a good leader?
There are leaders .. inorder for them to be categorised as good they must do or achieve something.. tell me something which he achieved?
They weren’t wrong.
The political regime that they created collapsed in 1861. We inhabit its hollowed-out husk.
So true! At least the French are honest and name a new republic whenever they have a major change/overthrow. The country that we memorialize and think of and that was started as these united States was crushed out of existence in 1865 and was reborn as the United States....😪
@@charliep5139 Not so.... Lincoln's Union government was the legal, Constitutional, and regularly elected government of the United States. It was the seceding States in 1860-61 who chose to break away from that Constitutional order and form a new and separate country, not the other way around.
Just look at the Federalism tool called the "Interstate Commerce Act"
@@brianwhite2104 The revolutionary War against Britain wasn't legal either what is your point?
@@brianwhite2104 But the South broke away because they were a minority of the states and had become totally irrelevant in national politics by 1860. The Senate spent the last three decades before the Civil War taxing imports in Southern ports and spending the money on infrastructure projects in the North, so that by 1854 the main fault line in politics was Northern Republicans vs. Southern Democrats (as opposed to the older Jacksonian paradigm of liberal Democrats vs. progressive Whigs, each of whom had a nation-wide coalition of ideologues and interest groups).
If the "constitutional order" is so compromised that it incentivizes a full generation of region-wide looting, and is so costly for 9 million of your people that they are better off leaving than staying, then the system has already collapsed under its own weight and can only be held together by violence. The Civil War was a war of national unification that finally obliterated the old confederation of mostly-sovereign states in favor of a centralized nation-state with broader powers - but that was just the final step in a much longer nation-building process that began with Hamilton in the earliest years of the republic.
It had never been done before. Part of the endurance of the vision is that the Founders provided responsible systems for change while maintaining the focus on individual liberties. At this point in our history, we are moving away from the individual as a focus toward a focus on groups. Hopefully, we will see the error of such a change.
I think we're slowly seeing the tide of that.
@@noneofyourbusiness1114 tides ebb and flow, perhaps this too shall pass.
Before it’s too late! I believe part of the problem we have now is a very small minority of people who are hyper-fixated on grouping citizens by skin color, race, religion, geography, etc, and they seem to have either a bigger platform to spread their ideas or a louder voice (usually by hijacking an event like the death of G. Floyd). The majority of Americans who believe in the freedoms of the individual are too busy raising families, making a living, doing yard work, walking the dog, you know the everyday things that keep our lives moving forward. We are the majority in America who are not trying to “fundamentally change” our country to gain permanent political power (a handful of greedy politicians) or make millions of dollars dividing & manipulating people into thinking the country is racist or the police are all racist (BLM).
@@crazyernurse7601 correct they own all the institutions and they're all on the CCP pay roll too.
Groups are the basis of civilization, you can't protect the individual without first protecting the group he belongs to. Mindless pursuit of the individual is propaganda that other groups use to disarm us.
The existence of the fed and mass migration definitely accelerated the damage
Once America got infected by the Democrat Party cancer , it was the beginning of the end....
It's because our education is trash that immigrants aren't learning the true values of America
The Fed Bank was originally designed to loan to business during a downturn in the business cycle so they did not lay off workers and to loan to banks in a liquidity crisis. In 1906 an on demand loan was called on a copper trade that went south and this caused a liquidity crisis because all the money had gone to the west Coast to help with the recovery from the great earthquake. This caused a panic and the Fed Bank was created to inject liquidity. The Fed Bank worked well until....
It was in 1915 that the Fed Gov changed the Central Bank charter to loan to the Government.
The Government borrowing money is what has accelerated the damage not having a central bank.
Return the Fed Bank to it's original design of loaning to business and banks only and abolish Federal Government Borrowing. Charge the Treasury with creating a Debt To Equity Coupon for current debt that can only be spent on US Assets. If you pay / paid Social Security Tax you own Government Debt personally.
@@bobann3566 Good explanation, although fiat money will always be corrupt, and the owners of the Federal Reserve aren't going to scrap their system that has enriched them. Even returning to the Federal Reserves original design will get corrupted, like it did in 1915.
@@bobann3566 And what's going to happen to the US dollar outside of the US? :)
How the US is going to cover its trade deficit?
The US Constitution quickly failed and allowed a tyrannical regime to rise up and expand more and more into the leviathan we face today.
The pessimism of the founders was warranted.
America is a fragile experiment of Western philosophy, religion, and governance. Many comments, in their never ending pessimism and political tribalism forget America is a fragile experiment in self governance, when it's gone, odds are it will never appear again. As a veteran, my first duty is to the survival of this great nation, with all its failings and imperfections. I hope this nation continues to exist, the alternatives are all around us and they're not this Union of free peoples under the law.
There was a civil war 30 odd years after Madison died, so yeah, maybe he was a little too optimistic.
Edit: spelling
But the nation recovered and became a better place. There will always be divisions of one kind or another.
@@robertfischer1041 Eh it was a bitter divorce. Democratic party took up Jim Crowe and other segregationist ideals, formed the KKK and plagued the social fabric to this day. A new caste system was formed with welfare and upward mobility was crushed.
@@robertfischer1041 no, the nation did not become a better place. Sure, they got rid of slavery, but they instituted a strong federal government that can take land from people, hide what we call today war crimes, and give all government power to the Federal government that doesn't give a rat Fck about anyone.
If the south had won, they would have reigned in the United States federal take over of the medical system that bullshtts people out of too much money and ridiculous results. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOESNT GIVE A RAT FCK ABOUT YOU
@@davidanalyst671 The strong federal gov't you refer to did not come about as a result of the civil war. That came much later. FDR's New Deal, the Kennedy/Johnson War on Poverty had much more to do with centralizing and growing the Fed gov't in our everyday lives. And has given rise to evermore encroachment into our lives today. Things like AOC's Green New Deal, which is not so much about saving the environment as it is about giving the Fed gov't total control over business, industry and the means of production of all goods and services and the distribution of those goods and services.
Within 60-80 years the country had bee ripped apart in the most violent and deadly civil war imaginable. Close to a million dead.
They were 100% right
But the nation and the Constitution prevailed, and may it always be so.
@@robertfischer1041 Lincoln destroyed the constitution and most of the power he seized is still used by Presidents today.
@@nathanrathbun2619 To say Lincoln “destroyed the Constitution” is a rash overstatement. He did suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus, but then it was in the midst of a war for the country’s survival. The southern state’s governors and their illegitimate confederacy destroyed the Constitution by waging war against the Federal government and the rest of the country. For which they all paid a terrible price. More to the point, recent Presidents have resorted to bypassing Congress and the legislative process by issuing all kinds of executive orders only to have them reversed by their opposition successors. Not a good way to govern.
It was a slippery slope when people who do not pay taxes are able to vote on how taxes are used
I don't know about Madison being a defiant optimist.
"But I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks--no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them."
-James Madison, Virginia Ratifying Convention
20 June 1788
Our country is too large to maintain forever. A split will come at some point. Our key hope should be that it occurs peacefully.
The worst mistake they made was not writing term limits into the Constitution
Term limits would likely limit the ability and the profit of politicians to sell out the country for their personal self-interest. The shorter time they serve there is hope the less damage they could do. I don't believe they even considered it because it is my impression these people had real jobs that they had to make a living and to "serve" was a true sacrifice and likey it never crossed their minds people would spend 50 years in congress.
I am utterly convinced that the arc of human development tends towards monarchy. Humans have an innate desire to be free, but once freedom is achieved, we are too lazy to preserve it, so we demand a ruling class come into power that maintains the illusion of freedom while at the same time stripping the very freedom it claims to preserve.
Monarchy works best if the monarch has the same ethnicity and culture of the people he rules over. The world would be a far better place if Russia still had a czar, Germany a kaiser, and Iran a shah. All three of the last of these rulers we anticommunist and failed, they were all too soft on the greatest evil to beset humanity.
Humans do NOT crave freedom, they crave comfort and social status, same as their ape ancestors. Americans tend to confuse "prosperity" and "freedom", because they happened to get both at about the same time.
Look how cheerfully people will devote themselves to a job, because it pays well and impresses people. They're not free, with their bosses and schedules and deadlines and policies, but they have nice houses and people envy them, so they're happy.
@@stevenscott2136 Most humans would have a higher standard of living as slaves. So many veterans are homeless because they were never capable of living on their own and can only have a comfortable life if they are provided food, shelter and clothing and have their lives closely monitored as military personal are.
Somehow, we've made it this far. So long as we stay a republic, we can stay together. Limit the fed
The military will unite the US, but it won't be a republic any longer
The founding fathers would have been making heads roll by now. Destroy the fed!
People act like losing American “democracy” would be a bad thing
True since it is a Republic,...."...if you can keep it...."
I mean, yeah that would be bad
@@thatrubberduck5448 I mean for one it isn’t a democracy, and even if it was, democracy is a horrible system, just not as bad as the American one
@@t6amygdala we are the second most stable country in the world and literally defend every rep democracy on the planet. Id say we are a big deal better than greeks voting on committing genocide of their enemies.
The difference is in defining Republic vs Democracy. In America we use Democratic Process(not principles) where representation respects and represent the right of the sovereign individual. This is where the founders were going with this, as they understood that rights came from no where else but God, and that those that recognize true natural spiritual law can be of the self governing type, with out intrusive legislature that would affect our daily lives.
The tone of this video is strange. It acts as though the men of the past were substantially different from the men of the present, and there was more histrionics then than there is now. It is most likely the opposite; changes in physical requirements for life are breeding a softer people, and thus histrionics are probably more common now than they were then.
Yes, those wealthy slave owners were really tough men who weren't afraid of getting their hands dirty doing manual labour
@@MrDoomedtofail What a shite analysis
@@MrDoomedtofail Some of them owned slaves, but most of them did not. Try again, shitstain.
I smell a Nazi… a soft, doughy… Nazi
The America that these guys founded died more than 100 years ago
We can restore it, time to repeal the 19th! The old way worked really well.
1913
@@goatface6602 the banksters
Nothing can live forever... we should be happy it lasted as long as it did, and that we spread our values.
China is thousands of years old but America is finished? Freedom is hard work, but it's worth fighting for. This is why we fight the progressives and socialists from having their way. That would be the end of America/freedom
I think you're wrong. The idea of America is eternal. Civilization is the physical. America will persist and thrive even after the foundation stone are removed or repurposed.
Republican values - are universal values, they triumph every time a (true) republic comes into existence (whenever there are favorable conditions).
American republic wasn't exceptional
@@coachken6130 History of China consists of many cycles of disintegration and centralization
@@stanislavfrul6339 so China isn't as old as they tell us? And America is the oldest constitutional Republic is existence? Maybe we should fight to keep it going?
WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY! WE ARE A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. After the civil war we lived under the new "FEDERALISM" central democracy and that is As-Good-As-Dead since Federalism has always failed.
Then starting in the 1960's the supreme court further federalized all states rights.
The best we can hope for now is a FULL Federal bankruptcy and reset.
Correct
The "country" will survive but it will bear little semblance to what it was as rights get sucked away.
As long as the people survive, we can build a new country as many times as we want. Unfortunately, our enemies are trying to replace the American people at every opportunity.
@@spudg8558 Bingo. The state can be replaced. Civilizations and nations usually go through many revolutions and governments over time. But the very people and their values and the nation they comprise are being eliminated, replaced with something new. They're doing it slowly enough that the nation is accepting its own genocide without revolt.
The federal government is tyrannical. The mandatory union of states is slavery, a denial of self-determination. The traditional values of America say to secede from tyrannical authority. It is increasingly obvious that the US federal government is in our time what the British crown was in the time of the founders. Our nation will not survive under their oppression. It won't be a temporary condition of bondage, because with their genocidal colonization and cultural revolution schemes the American people will no longer exist.
After not even six decades of government action to destroy the American nation, it's already more than half dead and most of the United States is no longer American in any of the ways that count most. It's foreign to the traditional American nation.
If independence from the neo-American tyrants seeking to replace us isn't sought, our nation will perish. We must separate, or die.
And they were correct, ultimately the country tore itself to pieces with the Civil War. Then thereafter the New Deal was another break. The fact that we nominally have the Constitution in place doesn't mean we just don't completely ignore it, we do. The French would number their republics. The US doesn't, but we're currently on the Third Republic and good chance we're approaching the 4th.
I respectfully disagree. When did the first and second start? Idk what you mean because our republic went thru many revolutionary changes such as during the Revolution of 1800, The Presidency of Andrew Jackson, The Civil War, and The Great Depression but none of them were actually a change to a new government or “republic” as you call it, the constitution was never scrapped for something new, just amended. All of these events were mostly just political realignments.
@@brandonjade2146 Well first is the AoC, then the Constitution of 1787 (we just call it the Constitution), then the post-Civil War changes and specifically XIV materially alter the framework. New Deal sees US v Butler and Helvering v Davis, the second the Supreme Court says 'General Welfare is a substantive independent power' coupled with broadly interpreted Commerce Clause, you have a new framework which pays lip service to the Constitution but which is clearly NOT the Constitution. Its faux continuity, its a sop to it, which is why liberals ALWAYS denigrate the Federalist Papers -- (Federalist Papers show liberal interpretation of Constitution is wrong).
And Benjamin Franklin's reply when asked what kind of government the new constitution had given us was, a republic if you can keep it.
If I had to choose, I'd rather America have 50 kings than only one.
What American democracy? We live in an oligarchy which is what the founding fathers envisions. They were the oligarchs of their day and wanted it preserved.
They were smart, and smart people know that people can’t be trusted with authority. Greed always takes over. The republic was dealt a massive blow when Citizens United lead by the Koch family actively sought to create an aristocracy…and judges allowed it. They allowed the legal purchase of representation away from the people.
Politicians need no longer fear the voter. It’s incumbent upon Americans to insure that politicians fear the people they are meant to represent. It’s our duty if we are to maintain our freedom. It’s why the founders included the 2nd amendment. The very first two amendments were the keystones. The ability to criticize your government without fear of consequence and the right to arm yourself in order to defend that right should government decide to take your rights from you.
We have become a nation who celebrates weakness, failure and defect. We deserve to lose.
"Frail and worthless fabric"
Yes. Yes it is. See, the 16th amendment for proof.
So we can prove them wrong right? Right?
There is always hope....but in my opinion our chances are very slim
Probably not
Doubt.
We've been proving them wrong for 245 years.
No. Unfortunately they chose a Representative Republic which are always doomed to devolve into Oligarchies of Career Politicians and their monopolistic cronies.
Time to try a Direct Democracy. With Block Chain Technology we can vote safely online on every law individually no need for a representative.
Politicians have and always will be the problem.
Politicians respond to what voters demand. That's reality. Fix the voters, and you fix the politicians.
@@thepubliusproject that's a load of horseshit. Politicians don't give a damn about what voters want, they're bought and paid for by those who donate to their campaigns through various means. Very very very few actually walk the walk after they talked the talked.
@@jonathonbridges9625 huh? But aren’t the politicians also voted in by voters?
@@alexanderchen1049 are you that damn naive?
@@jonathonbridges9625 the reason they don't care is because voters don't hold them accountable for their actions. If the voters did, those politicians would be gone, and they'd be replaced by those who did what voters wanted them to do.
Alternative hypothesis: liberty has pretty much always been fragile, and we've more or less managed to hold onto it so far with luck and effort. I'd suggest a broader look at human history supports this view more so than the "yeah, it'll be fine" view.
I'd add that the pessimism of the founders was based on the study of human behavior and the way that it caused civilizations to fall
What made the US great, was economic freedom more than anything else. Wealth decides which nations dominate. China figured that out, and so in spite of low personal freedoms, they put reforms in place to expand economic freedom, and so now have what is essentially a functional fascist state, but one that is almost assured to rise to world domination in the next few decades.
It's my understanding that the army had 5,000 members when they were finalizing the Declaration, a fraction of what the British had in New York at the time. Details, details ...
America will stand as long as American leaders respect and lead in accordance with the Constitution.
We have to fight for it. Freedom is not free. It takes extreme amount of courage!!!
We should adopt a plural executive that centralist Alexandra Hamilton denounced in Federalist Paper #70. With such, Independents could finally be themselves rather than forced to choose one of the other two. Also, with a plural executive, a national election would not be necessary since the three Presidents (Democrat, Republican and Independent) would be elected at their respective conventions.
"Democracy is the Mob."
Cicero
"...a good one, if you can keep it."
Benjamin Franklin.
“A republic...”
If you can keep the Karens like FDR out of office
@@davidanalyst671
It always happens.
People become depraved.
the fact that you can switch out replublican government with democracy with barely a pause in breath means that those other 4 were right. Something's survived, but it's like a copy of a copy of a copy of a.... getting fainter and more distant from the original vision.
The American experiment will continue as they are too many of us who understand it’s worth and value. Don’t vote for idiots
With each law passed, things look bleaker.
I love this video, it gives me so much hope
The main difference between then and now is that not every one could vote and it is interesting that the right to vote is not enshrined in the constitution. With so much of the country living on welfare it is natural that these people will keep voting for the politicians who keep handing out the freebies, even though this leads to government bankruptcy.
Thank you for the video.
Removal of the electoral college or the filibuster would be the death of our republic. That was a weird line to go out on for the video, it sounded like he was saying these are systemic problems baked into our system when in reality it is the only reason the system has survived.
the country hasn't been anything close to what the founders envisioned for well over a century now. the last possible year it could be considered vaguely the same was 1915, before the creation of the federal reserve system and the income tax to pay for it. more likely it was the civil war era which changed the country from a collection of States agreeing to be members of a republic to a nationalist government that had states as subdivisions. over simplified, but this is a comment on the internet
At 1:40, my suspicions of this video/book were confirmed. This author set out to write a book with a catchy title and find small evidence here and there to support it.
Political factions are what usually lead to the downfall of republics. Madison warned us of this. I'm strongly in favor of outlawing all political parties forcing the people to vote for the person rather than the party.
People will organize to consolidate power whether it's called a party or not. Even now, parties are mostly fronts for the main interests that drive our politics, financial etc. I think the solution is to worry less about who is organizing behind the scenes and more about organizing ourselves.
@@spudg8558 I don't totally disagree with you, but the fact is when you ask Republicans or Democrats about the policies of their preferred candidate they can't give you any response beyond party talking points. Leaving elections more driven by party loyalty rather than ideological differences
And don't get me wrong, we definitely should call out the lobbies and manipulators that control our country now. But realistically we can't do anything about them until we become broadly aware of the situation and start advocating for our own interests.
@@rms9980 I see where you're coming from and I don't like the two party system either. But I think it and ideology in general are bad because they're distractions from the things that really matter. As an example, sometimes I see people saying it was terrible that Ronald Regan enacted gun control measures to disarm the black panthers because they have "the right to bear arms". Allowing a militia with racial hatred for the majority population seems like an objectively bad policy for the average American. But because of a "right" which is made up, we're pigeonholed into arguing against our self-interest. For the record I'm generally against gun control and obviously there are some practical problems with implementing it in any way but you get my point.
Good video. Thanks!
Bigger government is never the right answer but is always the answer that seems to get chosen
We need to eliminate corruption and clean house with theFederal courts.
It's like that one person who screws it up for everyone else, but now there's 1000s or millions of them
Thank you for your perspective. It’s appreciated
Never bet against America. 🇺🇸❤
@@Thomasritchard internal strife? Barely holding together? Population problems? Trouble with wars? Say, that sounds like a country i know.....
Youre delusional if you think america will last, mate
It's only by the grace of God can this country continue
Only taxpayers should be allowed to vote
I am disappointed you didn't mention Gouverneur Morris who warned about and argued against the horrid institution of slavery.
America has faced harder, we can push through this
Correct! It’s all perception. NOT reality. We must fight and get more involved politically. Focus on LOCAL elections!!
Great stuff
The kind of person apt to fight a revolution to overthrow a government is quite apt to be pessimistic about government, yes. This is why people should take 2A talk seriously when it starts to "sound histrionic"...because they are the same sort of people as the Founders, but haven't hit their threshold of tyranny yet.
I agree. They were right to be pessimistic. They knew what was at stake so at the Constitutional Convention, they had to get it exactly right. They had to take political theories that largely had yet to truly be tried and put them into words on a binding legal document that would be hard to change. This meant every word, provision, and materialized theory had to be correct. That's a lot of pressure. Also, while they may be some of the greatest people to ever walk the earth (in my personal opinion), they were still human and so were bound to the capacity of humans to make mistakes.
Added 2 Dennis C. Rasmussen books to my wish list. Thanks.
Thanks for this. It imparted hope amidst the goo of our present circumstances.
Having realistic, while still hopeful, thoughts on the nation you helped found is a long throw from feeling it is doomed.
Liberty and freedom is a never ending battle against tyranny from all sides. We must all put effort into the fight to give all our brothers, sisters, and children a freer life.
They failed to understand the right to life... America's entire duration. That's why I started a new country 9 years ago.
I still think some of their worries were and are valid. Adams' concern about lack of virtue in society I think has particular merit. As a good framework as the Constitution is if everyone is a selfish liar it doesn't matter. Enough people have to agree on the rules AND follow them for any society to not implode. We are closer to implosion than we used to be but how close we actually are I don't know. It is fixable but it will take serious effort to persuade people to agree on certain definitions of right and wrong AND to teach them to their children. It took several generations to get here, it will take several to go back.
Destroy the moral fabric of this nation and yes it definitely will implode. This is why the enemy is subverting our children daily to hate themselves and this country. China is behind it all.
We are a very young country. We are going to make mistakes, but, we have come very far as one of the youngest countries on earth
Several of the Founding fathers also despised democracies and warned about their inherent and fatal flaws.
Like that was well received by future politicians.
the Founders would be in tears today
We're frogs on slow boil.
When all the wealth is concentrated into a small number of the population, nearly every time, the people rise up and revolt.
This is how most empires fall.
The United States Government is one of the oldest in the world.
00:05 YES> I had the unfortunate opportunity to traverse with a fellow colleague and after 48 hours I am convinced the future is bleak. Not the politicized doomsdays of Ice Ages or Warming, but of the fact that too many people believe that Socialism has not been tried, properly.
It might go down, but I will go down swinging 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Great vid
The biggest threat our constitution faces is not those who want to change it, for that would take a literal act of Congress. The biggest threat our Constitution faces is from those who wish to change definitions of words. A simple example of this can be found in the Second Amendment. The word regulate, as most people today think, means "to restrict", or some variation of that. When it was written, it meant "to make Regular", as in make the militia like the regular army, a.k.a. "The Regulars". It allows for training and equipping the militia to a level comparable of the military. It is America's last line of defense. It still means this today, but many have forgotten it's other meanings. The constitution was not written to allow us freedoms; it was written to restrict the government from taking those freedoms.
Lmao the constitution is still with us. That joint been dead for decades
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.” -Lysander Spooner
The issue that I have with this quote -- and many other thought trains championed by the Mises Institute -- is that it creates a black-or-white viewpoint in a world of greys.
To justify the destruction of the constitution because it "either causes bad government or is useless because it can't stop it" is the same argument as justifying all individuals giving up their guns because "either guns cause violence, or they're incapable of stopping it".
@@wolffy91 The whole criteria of the American Republic is whether or not the government adheres to and follows the constitution. Not even George Washington did nor did most of the presidents or the House of Reps. At most it's just a piece of paper that have guidelines for government to follow. It's why I tell people the constitution won't save you nor the country because it hasn't be followed or adhered to.
@@CaliOaklander So get rid of it because no one follows it anyways? By that logic, why do we even bother keeping nutritionists around that advise us to stick to the food pyramid/any other rules about consumption? Nobody follows those, either.
Even if they're both just guidelines, I'd like to think that if nothing else, they're representative of ideals that we should strive for. Or if you don't agree that they're "ideal", then they're still both a bigger step towards working on a better set of rules/guidelines than nothing at all would ever be.
@@wolffy91 You answered your own question, so why keep going with this? I say get rid of any and all arbitrary guidelines lmao. Like you said no one follows food guidelines. What is the point of keeping the constitution that is for the government and not for the people? People lived and did what they wanted before it was written and in a sense the Articles of Confederation was more free than the constitution because the latter didn't even include the bill of rights to the people, to which the anti-federalists threatened to leave the union if they (federalists) didn't add it, so we almost didn't have our freedoms lol. So in the end the constitution was a government instruction rather than people. Don't need it since people existed before it and WERE more free before the creation of the constitution, which again, created more federalist powers and centralization.
@@CaliOaklander To think that we were better off under the Articles of Confederation is to completely ignore why we dropped it in the first place. States had more power/say, but couldn't unify on policy or mobilize against threats nearly as effectively. Going to before we had any form of governance isn't a move towards the future, it's a move towards the past. Anarchy sounds nice and all, until you realize that anarchy never *stays* anarchy. There will always be someone with a bigger stick than you -- rules or not, government or not. Which is why having some kind of guidelines for the stick-wielder is -- even if flawed in my opinion -- a move forward from allowing the stick-wielder to make its own rules.
One thing I remember reading, George Washington was approached with the perspective of being the first king of the new world- he rejected it- but then later proposed a different approach to politics… giving everyone the opportunity for a temporary residency that would preside over the people… ergo “a presidency” which would have a limited term of office least a dictatorship arise:
Unfortunately they did not realize that dictatorship would have multiple branches of government powers.
reason you need to reboot. you have 700k subs, but only 10-20k views on your videos. how do you not see this is a problem?
I haven't seen Dennis Rasmussen since he pitched for the Yankees in the 1980s. Hell of a career he's got going.
We, as a People, have an obligation to take up the cause of freedom, liberty, and strictly limited government. To advance the revolution that our founders risked all, and paid in blood for. We must in no uncertain terms delineate to our governing institutions that We The People are a free People, and that they shall honor their oaths of office and respect the unalienable rights of Man, or face the revolution of 1776 in its full wrath and fury. It is our sacred obligation to bequeath to our progeny that liberty which granted by Almighty God, and by prior generations of men has through revolution and force of arms been wrested from the grasping tentacled claws of tyrants. The American People's right to self determination supercedes the totalitarian impulse to govern from the seat of power against the will of the People. We must make sure that those who govern know that this is so.
Those that destroy the moral fabric of this nation must be eliminated.
The founders: uhh! Why can’t common people be as smart as us? This country is going down the shitter when we die.
Madison: lol
Really wish you had made that a whole lot longer reason
Another reason why you shouldn't vote if you can't read. It's like they say, wealth can only pass and stay as valuable from generation to generation. I'd say this America has maybe 16 more years.
10 years. 2032 BOOM
Being able to read is the MINIMUM of what you should have to be able to do to vote. You should be required to own property and pay taxes before you can vote in any election
I mean only 100 years after the founding the bloodiest war in American history was fought. In a way their pessimism was correct.
If we could only harness the energy of them spinning in their graves....
Wanna save America? Post your content on a platform that doesn't hate America.
I would say...post it everywhere