[quote=briansd1]Allan, my AP History teacher’s husband was a scholar of Woodrow Wilson. I don’t know much about Madison.
Beside, Wilson is much more of our times… I don’t really want to go back to Madison’s time. Anything before the Industrial Revolution and WWI is a different world. The way we live has changed so much.
Despite how you feel about Obama, I believe that even you have to acknowledge that the Supreme Court’s decision is to Obama’s advantage. A negative outcome would have done much more damage to Obama’s reelection chances and legacy.
BTW, whereas Antonin Scalia represents the other side, Stephen Breyer is my hero. I think it’s a comparison that people living today can more easily understand.[/quote]
Brian: Wilson may have been more contemporary, but that isn’t the issue at hand.
Wilson, that poor misguided soul, was of the belief that government and a proper, “Progressive” animating spirit could go out into the world and reverse many of the ills we confronted, most notably war. Hence, Wilson’s belief in “outlawing” war and the laughable notion that became the League of Nations. You might want to check history and see how Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy thought about the League of Nations.
So, when you start discussing “outlawing” obesity or “eradicating” redneck culture, I think of misguided Wilsonian ideals and try to remind you that, in America, you need to mind your own business. As long as we’re not infringing on each other’s rights, we should be perfectly able to do as we please, including consuming massive quantities of Mountain Dew (or a nice Merlot), watching a truck pull (or an opera) and bolting down innumerable Big Macs (or Pad Thai) without ham-handed gubment interference.