Jefferson and Madison's Constitution and Modern Gridlock

Author Nancy Isenberg on the Founding Fathers' role in the two-party system and why it might be impossible for Obama to reach across the aisle

November 4, 2010 RSS Feed Print
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Why should President Obama read your book?

Political events are not shaped out of thin air, not only because of the constitutional legacy but the political legacy, the partisan legacy. I think that Obama assumed he could reach across the aisle. It may not be possible. I think if he read about Madison and Jefferson, he would realize that there are moments in history when you can't reach across the aisle. 

Tags:
Thomas Jefferson,
George Washington,
Alexander Hamilton,
Barack Obama,
Congress,
Constitution,
Supreme Court

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The article states very well:

"What would they think of the parties today?

Madison and Jefferson would be completely horrified by the amount of money connected to elections. There's no way that Madison or Jefferson would have supported the Supreme Court's recent [Citizens United] ruling or would support the idea that a powerful group of wealthy donors could have that much influence over the outcome of elections."

A lot of companies and Chinese government corporations funded the tea party movement. They want leaders who will be pro-business , anti-printing of dollars, and pro free trade, all of those things make China stronger as we ship American factories overseas (and jobs too). The tea party money came from China!

True American of MA 4:28PM November 04, 2010

Which, over the past 3 decades, has been resurrected as, "The State (World?) Religion of Environmentalism". Simply, neo-Pantheism with a paint job.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 10:43AM November 04, 2010

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