"But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."
-- "Publius" (Madison),* Federalist Paper 51
Lynne Cheney has set up a fund to award a yearly James Madison Book Award "to the book that, in Mrs. Cheney’s words, 'best represents excellence in bringing knowledge and understanding of American history to the next generation.'” The award carries a cash prize of $10,000. Eligible books include "historically accurate fiction as well as nonfiction" aimed at "children in elementary school and middle school."
Among other things, Cheney is known for her advocacy of an anti-PC get-back-to-basics approach to history teaching (as articulated, for example, in her "Why History Shouldn't be a Mystery"). So it's interesting to note her reliance on a rather newfangled explanation in her "James Madison: The Man Who Loved Books." In this essay, Cheney offers children a psychologized account of Madison's entry into public life, informing them that revolutionary politics delivered Madison from a "deep depression."
Anyway, I'm sure the book award is a good thing in its way. But I wish Cheney and her crowd would take a closer look at Federalist Paper 51.
*Most commonly attributed to Madison, though apparently some scholars think it might have been Hamilton?
Posted by Invisible Adjunct at May 16, 2003 05:15 PMOK, I don't get it. Are you arguing that Lynne Cheney creating a book award is somehow a deleterious (there, I finally used a big word) concentration of government power?
Personally, I think there should be a Dolly Madison Award for most Ho-Ho's, Cupcakes and Snowballs eaten while finishing a book manuscript.
Posted by: John Lemon at May 16, 2003 06:17 PMP.S. Don't forget to include Joseph Lieberman's name when referring to Lynne Cheney's efforts to impose an anti-PC get-back-to-basics approach to history (or education writ large).
Posted by: John Lemon at May 16, 2003 06:20 PM"Are you arguing that Lynne Cheney creating a book award is somehow a deleterious (there, I finally used a big word) concentration of government power?"
No, not at all. The money comes from the profits from sales of her Americana primer (can't recall the exact title).
But since I do think she does support a growing concentration of government power (some of it in the hands of her spouse), I'm suggesting that her invocation/celebration of figures like Madison is highly selective.