"It has been proved, by indisputable evidence, that power is not the grand principle of union among the parts of a very extensive empire; and that when this principle is pushed beyond the degree necessary for rendering justice between man and man, it debases the character of individuals, and renders them less secure in their persons and property…"

~ James Winthrop, Antifederalist No. 11

I doubt there are many who have thought about the transitive verb, secure, used by James Winthrop in the quote above. Noah Webster’s, 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, says secure is to make certain; to put beyond hazard, then addresses secure in this context: "Liberty and fixed laws secure to every citizen due protection of person and property…"

Noah Webster addresses the blessings that accompany the constraints placed on unrestrained centralized power, while James Winthrop addresses the curses which are the consort of unjust, excessive governmental controls.

I am sure there are many in the United States who have never read (or heaven forbid, studied) the Antifederalist papers. If they had we may have averted the present governmental albatross which is choking the life out of our society.

Given the present political climate, with its common disregard for the lessons of history, I am sure those learned 19th-century Anti-Federalists are viewed as nothing less than arcane mystics espousing apocryphal concepts. So, the Antifederalist papers are discarded, having no place in any social discussion, undoubtedly on the grounds that they are offensive myths. The void is, of course, filled by the assertions of the mentally dull, noisome parasites belonging to the politically correct, progressive, liberal, (choose your own label) camp.

The historical fact that these progressive policies have failed miserably, wherever and whenever they have been tried, is summarily dismissed. So, we are treated to a rehashed assortment of the original tripe while being asked to believe that this time it will work because a new and improved noxious byproduct emanates from the southern orifice of the smartest, most enlightened in society.

Nor have the tactics of the nationalists changed......