It was good to read this to get the perspective of those who believed in something that didn't come to be the reality of what America is. However, when read with the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers really couldn't hold a candle to them. ( )

Essential reading. ( )

Unless your an avid student of politics, this book is a VERY hard read.
But if you're interested in how the United States of America was born, it's worth plowing your way through.
And you might just discover that some of the facts you were taught in school [oh. like President George Washington was elected unanimously, hands-down with no competition of any kind for the office) are flat-out wrong. ( )

The encroachment on civil and political rights, in the post Obama inauguration period, suggests that the Anti-Federalist writers provide reasonable alternatives to the imposition of government power. These writers provide a sound counterbalance to the notion that the government, especially big government, provides American answers to classic issues of governmental organization.

One writing nugget is typical:

"It is natural for men, who wish to hasten the adoption of a measure, to tell us, now is the crisis--now is the critical moment which must be seized, or all will be lost; and to shut the door against free inquiry, whenever conscious the thing presented has defects in it, which time and investigation will probably discover. This has been the custom of tyrants and their dependents in all ages. If it is true, what so often been said, that the people of this country cannot change their condition for the worse, I presume it still behooves them to endeavor deliberately to change it for the better. The fickle and ardent, in any community, are the proper tools for establishing despotic government. But it is deliberate and thinking men, who must establish and secure governments on free principles. Before they decide on the plan proposed, they will inquire whether it probably be a blessing or a curse to the people (pp. 259-260)."

Letters From the Federal Farmer, 8 October 1787

These thoughts are just as relevant as they were at their writing as Americans have considered the issues brought on by the financial crisis, bailouts, cap and tax, and health care rationing. The spark for radical transformation of America is claimed to be justified by the proclamation of a crisis, real or imagined. This has always been the realm of the tyrant in opposing a free Republic of people.

2/16/23