Federalist's Argument for Union

John Jay, Federalist No. 5:

"Should the people of America divide themselves into three or four nations, would not...jealousies arise? Instead of their being 'joined in affection and free from all apprehension of different interests," envy and jealousy would soon extinguish confidence and affection, and the partial interests of each confederacy, instead of the general interests of all America, would be the only objects of their policy and pursuits. Hence, like most other bordering nations, they would always be involved in dispute and war, or live in the constant apprehension of them...

"The most sanguine advocates of three or four confederacies cannot reasonably suppose that they would long remain exactly on an equal footing in point of strength...Independent of those local circumstances which tend to beget and increase power in one part and to impede its progress in another, we must advert to the effects of that superior policy and good management which would probably distinguish the government of one above the rest, and by which their relative equality in strength and consideration would be destroyed. For it cannot be presumed that the same degree of sound policy, prudence and foresight would uniformly be observed by each of these confederacies for a long succession of years..."

But might this not argue indeed for separate confederacies? Jay assumes that management is the product of good fortune. But Sir Arnold Toynbee, a century and a half later, argued that mimesis or imitation is the hallmark of a rising civilization. Might not independent confederacies permit experimentation and learning which would potentially be imitated by the other confederacies? Management is a process of learning, and learning is possible through experimentation. The decentralization of decision processes permits learning. So the decentralization of federal power permits innovation that would not exist in a centralized federal structure.

Jay feared that less successful confederacies would fear more successful ones. Might not they decide to imitate the more successful ones instead?

In the Federalist Number Six, Hamilton argued that separate federations would likely lead to conflict and war:

"Has it not...invariably been found that momentary passions, and immediate interests, have a more active and imperious control over human conduct than general or remote considerations of policy, utility or justice? Has republics in practice been less addicted to war than monarchies?...Are there not aversions, predilections, rivalships and desires of unjust acquisitions that affect nations as well as kings?...There have been almost as many popular as royal wars...it has from long observation of progress of society become a sort of axiom in politics that vicinity, or nearness of situation, constitutes nations natural enemies..."

But decentralization need not mean de-federalization. The states can remain in unity, as a single nation, but choose separate policies voluntary. The enmity of proximity can be induced by forced collaboration and participation in programs whose values many members of society do not share. The forcible extraction of assent to programs that only a portion of the population favors can give rise to the same resentment as that which neighboring states feel toward each other. The unity of a federal republic need not mean the unity of choice of consumption or or ideal.

Hamilton makes a similar claim in Federalist number 7:

"Competitions of commerce would be another fruitful source of contention. The States less favourably circumstanced would be desirous of escaping from the disadvantages of local situation and of sharing in the advantages of of their more fortunate neighbors. Each State, or separate confederacy, would pursue a system of commercial policy peculiar to itself. This would occasion distinctions, preferences and exclusions, which would beget discontent. The habits of intercourse, on the basis of equal privileges to which we have been accustomed since the earliest settlement of the country would give a keener edge to those causes of discontent than they would naturally have independent of this circumstance. The spirit of enterprise, which characterizes the commercial part of America, has left no occasion of displaying itself unimproved. It is not at all probable that this unbridled spirit would pay much respect to those regulations of trade by which particular States might endeavor to secure exclusive benefits to their own citizens."

Hamilton's concerns need not materialize in a hyper-federalized America. In Hamilton's time, geographic differences were of great importance. Modern management methods and technological advances had not yet made the importance of process and strategy so evident as they are today. Better economic success can be imitated, especially by flexible firms that are young. It is the centralization of American buisness, its scale, that has engendered the inability to imitate Japanese processes. The misallocation of credit toward failed, large firms has prevented the formation of smaller, more nimble automobile firms.

Hamilton also argues that "the public debt of the Union would be a further cause of collision between the separate states." But hyper-federalization need not involve repudiation of debt or individually-based federal taxation. This system has been instituted and need not be repudiated until the debts have been satisfied on the basis on which they have been incurred.

Stock Market Pukes in Obama's Face

The Fed has given a massive adrenalin injection to the stock market, specifically, monetary reserves equal to a good 30% of the US money supply. The market was very modestly priced when President Obama assumed office. The uncertainty of the election was over. Inflationist Democrats are in office, which means lots of goodies for Wall Street at the expense of the poor, minorities and working class who think that the Democrats represent them.

True, the Republicans transferred a considerable amount of potential wealth from the public to investors via the bailout and Bernanke monetary expansion. True the Democrats went along with it. Because of these wealth transfers, the market will go up.

But there seems to be another problem that is causing further investor nausea: Democratic Party corruption. The near-300 point drop in the Dow today is in spite of Amerikan Mediazvestia's supporting the crooked, pork laden Democratic Party "stimulus". Investors are no longer merely reflecting Mediazvestia's lies. Instead, investors are puking into the Democratic Party's Congressional pork vomitorium.

Sharad Karkhanis Exposes Incompetence at the Professional Staff Congress

I just received this e-mail from Sharad Karkhanis's Patriot Returns site.

>Nine years ago, many PSC members had expectations that the New Caucus management of Barbara Bowen and Steven London would bring fresh energy, new ideas and direction to the competent but slow pace of activity under former PSC president Irwin Polishook. This was however followed by a rude awakening and very big DISAPPOINTMENT.

Instead of a real union, what they got in the Bowen/London New Caucus group was a militant political junta unconcerned with members' needs.

The experience of the past nine years clearly demonstrates that the Bowen/London group has led us to unprecedented disaster in Welfare Fund coverage and further disaster regarding negotiated contracts for members.

They have spent more time and more of our dues money trying to conduct United States foreign policy than they have negotiating, implementing or enforcing the contract.

They have spent more time, more energy and more of our dues money on demonstrations, parades and pickets than any other comparably-sized union in the City of New York, to no avail in terms of benefit to its members. New York City law enforcement has been required to dissipate valuable time and resources guarding these sheep in demonstrators' clothing while we members foot the bills in terms of out-of-pocket cost and loss of credibility.

These nonsensical demonstrations, including the one in front of the Chancellor's home (Click here) have served to render CUNY professional staff a laughing stock.

Expenditure of dues money on breakfasts, lunches, T-shirts, baseball caps and buses for demonstrations in Washington and Pennsylvania is highly irresponsible and wasteful of union members' dues money.

The Bowen/London gang have donated your money to such terrorists as Lori Berenson and Sami Al-Arian.

During their nine-year reign, the New Caucus group has presided over very significant reduction in prescription drug benefits. And they have so dissipated our previously-good dental coverage that it is today nearly non-existent.

They bankrupted the Welfare Fund and then re-funded it by co-opting our duly-deserved retroactive pay!

While UUP (the SUNY union) and UFT (the Teachers' union) achieved significant contractual gains, the Bowen/London New Caucus did not even get us salary increases approaching the increase in the cost of living. Our salaries have thus effectively decreased!

A group which hires a convicted felon as its house attorney and pays him handsomely from your dues money is irresponsible. Nor is it a group which cares for its members' grievances and complaints. Past issues of The Patriot are replete with stories of New Caucus misdeeds and misbehavior in the arena of grievance, all at your expense.

We at The Patriot yearn for a new beginning, for a new leadership whose motto will be "Members First." Contract negotiations, contract implementation and contract enforcement will constitute its primary responsibilities coupled with focus on improved welfare benefits and such political activity on State and local levels as is necessary to advance those causes which directly benefit members.

We deserve a union with focus on legitimate economic and professional concerns of its members, not one which wastes, month after month, the time of its elected delegates on discussion and passage of resolutions on international conflicts and every-social-issue-under-the-sun.

We have had enough.
We have endured enough.
We have suffered enough.
It is time to elect new leadership.
It's time for a real union, one with pragmatic focus on members' needs.

MEMBERS COME FIRST!

Sharad Karkhanis, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Editor-in-Chief


Issues of The Patriot may be accessed at
http://www.patriotreturns.com
Archived editions are available at
http://www.patriotreturns.com/archive.htm

As you know, Susan O'Malley has sought to silence the Patriot by bringing a lawsuit which seeks to limit his free speech and financially bankrupt him. Interested colleagues have weighed in at
www.freespeechcuny.blogspot.com

Mayor Bloomberg Meets Gomez Addams

One must judge a leader by whether the plans that he has laid have furthered or hindered the purposes of the institution he leads. In the case of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, his record is execrable. Mr. Bloomberg is a former bond trader who, if anyone, ought to be aware that financial markets are cyclical. He has been mayor for nearly eight years, during which time the fifty-year trend of New York's becoming a one-industry town has continued unabated. That industry is, of course, Mr. Bloomberg's first one, the financial industry and Wall Street.

New York has seen industry flee because of its astronomical tax rates, about which Mr. Bloomberg has done nothing. New Yorkers pay more than one half of their incomes to government (including federal and social security as well as state and city taxes) yet the services that the City provides are abysmal. New Yorkers need not watch horror movies. They just need to step into the subway system to be assaulted by the miasma of foul bums, rats scurrying to and fro and a transportation system out of the 1960s television program (based on Charles Addams's New Yorker Magazine cartoon series) The Addams Family.

In nearly eight years in office Mayor Bloomberg did nothing to reverse the long term trend of exit from New York. Taxes are as high as ever and services are worse than ever. He has failed to lead. He has failed to attract industry. His only two accomplishments are absurd televsion screens in taxi cabs and his initiative in abolishing the term limits that prevented Rudolph Giuliani from running for a third term but that will conveniently allow Bloomberg inflict his incompetence on a failing city for four more years.

Mr. Bloomberg joins the other Uncle Festers, Morticias and Pugsleys, and of course, "the thing", their hands reaching, reaching, reaching for ever more handouts, ever more freshly printed Fed bailout money from a corrupt, incompetent Congress.