#038: Instruments of Domination ~ Armies, Debts, Taxes

“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both.”¹

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”²

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1. James Madison, "Political Observations" (20 April 1795); also in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (1865), Vol. IV, p. 491 at https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/War (Bold emphasis added.)
2. James Madison, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 614. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/War

James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751[b] – June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, expansionist, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the United States Bill of Rights. He co-wrote The Federalist Papers, co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party, and served as the fifth United States Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison