Updike's Fiction
16 October 2007
Editor, The Atlantic
To the Editor:
John Updike makes the startlingly mistaken claim that "the American idea" involves trusting "leaders of government" because leaders who fail "can be voted out" ("The Individual," November).
The Constitution is a monument to the American founders' rejection of the fantasy that democracy alone ensures that government officials will behave themselves. That document intentionally dilutes government power by dividing it among different levels and branches. Most importantly - and despite the fact that the Constitution is ignored on this point - its language is clear that the only powers the national government may exercise are the small handful of those powers explicitly delegated to it.
No less a founder than James Madison famously wrote that "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.... A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* James Madison, Federalist #51.
Editor, The Atlantic
To the Editor:
John Updike makes the startlingly mistaken claim that "the American idea" involves trusting "leaders of government" because leaders who fail "can be voted out" ("The Individual," November).
The Constitution is a monument to the American founders' rejection of the fantasy that democracy alone ensures that government officials will behave themselves. That document intentionally dilutes government power by dividing it among different levels and branches. Most importantly - and despite the fact that the Constitution is ignored on this point - its language is clear that the only powers the national government may exercise are the small handful of those powers explicitly delegated to it.
No less a founder than James Madison famously wrote that "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.... A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* James Madison, Federalist #51.
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Sunday April 13, 2008 at 2:06pm