As more of a Hamiltonian, I always feel a bit of a rankle when something Madisonian arises, but writer and libertarian blogger Doug Bandow emailed me his thoughts on Libya, the email footer of which was this important James Madison comment:
Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instrument for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
— James Madison
Madison had war distilled just right (at least intellectually if not in practice), and I suspect Dwight Eisenhower spent some time on Madison during his own stint in the White House.
— Steve Clemons
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