June 5
To Heidelblog and William H. Lazareth for a quote from part of Lazareth's preface for Luther's Works, Vol. 44: The Christian in Society I. In that quote, Lazareth wrote that secular institutions will be reformed when their employees acknowledge that secular occupations are religious vocations.
One problem with the above approach to social responsibilities is that it relies solely on a quote from Martin Luther despite the contextual differences that exist between then and now. But such is always the problem with traditionalists.
Of course, another problem is that Lazareth's statement is uncritically stated without any evaluation.
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June 6
To Dr. Gordon Lloyd and his article on some of what went into the writing of The Constitution. Dr Lloyd relies heavily on Madison's notes only because he believes what some say that Yates's notes are unreliable. This article was posted in the Imaginative Conservative Blog
With the two main sources being questioned, it is odd that the article discusses what went into the writing of The Constitution without mentioning its historical context. BTW, we should note that there might be other reasons why Dr. Lloyd has no trust in Yates's note on the Constitutional debates besides what James H. Hutson said about their reliability. For one thing, Yates's notes do not always put Madison in the best of light. Also, Lloyd does take a shining to Madison.
Lloyd fails to mention anything about the historical context for the writing of The Constitution even though the circumstances are historically well known. There was widespread dissent as well as Shays Rebellion. Henry Knox seems to have referenced Shays Rebellion in his letter to George Washington the 'insurgents' from Massachusetts. Knox, however, failed to adequately describe those who were rebelling. He neglected to mention that those who were rebelling against Massachusetts's economic policies were mostly veterans of the Revolutionary War who became farmers. Knox also mentions how these farmers were gaining sympathy from young people in the surrounding states. And Knox mentions the existence of conflicts between the states.
In both Knox's letter and Federalist Paper #10, groups of those who opposed the then current economic policies and advocated changes, such as the reliance on paper money, were pejoratively called factions. And with discovering the past use of pejoratives to describe opponents, perhaps we can discover more similarities between our politicians today and those of yesteryear than we expected to find.
That dissent and Shays Rebellion was prominent in the writing of The Constitution becomes more obvious when we read through that document to find the references to the Militia. For the Constitutional purpose of the Militia was to enforce laws, repel invasions, and put down insurrections. The Federalist Papers add an additional insight into the purpose of the Militia. By depending on the Militia to protect the nation and enforce laws when necessary instead of a standing army, the government would be more reluctant to become tyrannical.
Another part of the context of the writing of The Constitution was the percentage of eligible voters when that document was ratified. Mark Pocan, a Democrat from Wisconsin who at least was in the House of Representatives estimated the percentage of Americans who could vote to be between 20% and 25%. Here we should note that The Constitution was silent on the right to vote.
Also when we look at the makeup of the Congress, the choice of Senators for each state was originally out of the voters' hands and The Constitution's was silent on voting laws and any declaration on the right to vote. For Senators were chosen by their respective state's government. In addition, Senators were given a 6-year term, all of which give's credence to Yates's notes on the Constitutional Convention.
When we consider the even a small bit of the context of the writing of The Constitution, we get some insight into what the Framers wanted that seemed to be absent from the article. And what we find is that just perhaps the Framers of The Constitution should not be put on a high pedestal on which they are usually placed.
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