Messages 2009
The So-Called Madison Problem.
August 2nd, 2009
Santa Cruz, California
Received by FAB
I am here, James Madison.
Let me add my voice again to that of the other founding fathers. First, let me say that the Creator will restore our beloved country, and in a way that will be unprecedented. So you have a lot to look forward to. How do I know this? Well, I see with my own eyes so many good spirits and so many Celestial Angels already mobilized and hard at work.
You have read that there has been a “problem” in reconciling what seemed like contradictory tendencies in my political thinking. I can easily understand how that conception came to be, but never as a mortal did I see any such contradiction in my behavior. I evolved with the times, and different periods in our country’s history elicited different responses on my part.
I supported the Constitution out of a deeply felt conviction that it was the right thing for the country, and despite the fact that the Constitutional Convention did not evolve entirely according to my liking, I looked back on it in later life as something I felt happy and privileged to take part in. Yes, this is true, despite the fact that at the time, I was most unhappy with the result.
Yes, I was deeply troubled by the way our way of thinking and living, what we labeled as Federalist, dissolved as the young society vitiated our influence and credibility. I had felt that the government that was created, and which I had so much to do with creating, must be led by leaders who were qualified through character. We saw ourselves as matching these qualifications.
So it wasn’t the Constitution that made me unhappy, since I saw that despite my early objections, it stood as an enlightened creation; it was the forces in society that, from my point of view, nullified its effectiveness by disqualifying those most able to serve. I feel I was consistent in my desire for a workable government responsive to the will of the people. I had felt all along that something high was in the air, and I felt privileged to be a part of it.
Naturally, we were all pragmatists. But we were also idealists. The Bill of Rights was the ultimate act of idealism, that is, a belief in higher principles. It was this tension in our minds between complete realism about human nature, and a higher perception of rights and liberties, that goes a long way toward explaining our behavior in creating the American government.
As a hopeful, consoling thought, it is true that the Creator has noticed in our short history that there were always Americans who considered truth to be more important than money or power. That is why our country has endured, and will endure.