Arbitrary Power: The Definition of Tyranny
“The curse and scandal of human nature.” That’s how James Otis, Jr. described arbitrary power. It wasn’t just a sign of tyranny, or a step toward it. It was the very definition of tyranny. It is power without right. And that principle pervades the Declaration of...
Not Just Bad Policy: The Founders Called it Treason and War
Treason. Invasion. Conquest. That’s how the Founders and old revolutionaries described usurpation – power stolen, not delegated. And it wasn’t just rhetoric. It was a foundational, and now-forgotten principle at the very heart of the American Revolution. When...
Free and Independent: The Foreign Policy of Washington and Jefferson
Anxious to preserve their hard-won independence, Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson championed a foreign policy centered on avoiding “entangling alliances.” They envisioned America pursuing peace, trade, and “friendship with all...