Madison's Metronome

Madison's Metronome
Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Total Pages : 208
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780700628957
ISBN-13 : 0700628959
Rating : 4/5 (959 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Madison's Metronome by : Greg Weiner

Download or read book Madison's Metronome written by Greg Weiner and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2019-08-02 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of national crises and sharp shifts in the electorate, new members of Congress march off to Washington full of intense idealism and the desire for instant change—but often lacking in any sense of proportion or patience. This drive for instant political gratification concerned one of the key Founders, James Madison, who accepted the inevitability of majority rule but worried that an inflamed majority might not rule reasonably. Greg Weiner challenges longstanding suppositions that Madison harbored misgivings about majority rule, arguing instead that he viewed constitutional institutions as delaying mechanisms to postpone decisions until after public passions had cooled and reason took hold. In effect, Madison believed that one of the Constitution's primary functions is to act as a metronome, regulating the tempo of American politics. Weiner calls this implicit doctrine "temporal republicanism" to emphasize both its compatibility with and its contrast to other interpretations of the Founders' thought. Like civic republicanism, the "temporal" variety embodies a set of values—public-spiritedness, respect for the rights of others—broader than the technical device of majority rule. Exploring this fundamental idea of time-seasoned majority rule across the entire range of Madison's long career, Weiner shows that it did not substantially change over the course of his life. He presents Madison's understanding of internal constitutional checks and his famous "extended republic" argument as different and complementary mechanisms for improving majority rule by slowing it down, not blocking it. And he reveals that the changes we see in Madison's views of majority rule arise largely from his evolving beliefs about who, exactly, was behaving impulsively-whether abusive majorities in the 1780s, the Adams regime in the 1790s, the nullifiers in the 1820s. Yet there is no evidence that Madison's underlying beliefs about either majority rule or the distorting and transient nature of passions ever swayed. If patience was a fact of life in Madison's day—a time when communication and travel were slow-it surely is much harder to cultivate in the age of the Internet, 24-hour news, and politics based on instant gratification. While many of today's politicians seem to wed supreme impatience with an avowed devotion to original constitutional principles, Madison's Metronome suggests that one of our nation's great luminaries would likely view that marriage with caution.


Madison's Metronome Related Books

Madison's Metronome
Language: en
Pages: 208
Authors: Greg Weiner
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-08-02 - Publisher: University Press of Kansas

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the wake of national crises and sharp shifts in the electorate, new members of Congress march off to Washington full of intense idealism and the desire for i
James Madison and Constitutional Imperfection
Language: en
Pages: 197
Authors: Jeremy D. Bailey
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-09-09 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The book liberates James Madison from Madisonian Constitutionalism and focuses on Madison's treatment of the problem of constitutional imperfection.
Democracy in Darkness
Language: en
Pages: 394
Authors: Katlyn Marie Carter
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-01-01 - Publisher: Yale University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How debates over secrecy and transparency in politics during the eighteenth century shaped modern democracy "Thought-provoking. . . . As Carter's history shows
Jefferson, Madison, and the Making of the Constitution
Language: en
Pages: 293
Authors: Jeff Broadwater
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-03-27 - Publisher: UNC Press Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," were two of the most important Founders of the Uni
What Would Madison Do?
Language: en
Pages: 256
Authors: Benjamin Wittes
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-09-14 - Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What would the father of the Constitution think of contemporary developments in American politics and public policy? Constitutional scholars have long debated w