We are very honored to welcome back to the program Jeffersonian hero, Dr. Marco Bassani, Professor of History of Political Thought at the University of Milan. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science in 1995 at the University of Pisa. He was born in Chicago and educated in Italy and the United States, he joined the faculty of the University of Milan in 1998. Professor Bassani's main area of research is American political thought from the American Revolution to the Civil War.
Last year Professor Bassani was on and it was a great success. One of our most listened to interviews ever! We thoroughly discussed his first book, Liberty, State, and Union: The Political Theory of Thomas Jefferson (2010.)
Tonight we will be discussing his second book, Chaining down Leviathan. The American Dream of Self-Government (2021.)
John From Conn & Nick From GA join in for this amazing & very lively hour of talk radio that you simply will not hear anywhere else!
First, professor Bassani updates us as to his travails against Leftist oppression! As the audience might remember; the Left tried to "cancel him" for a funny little cartoon meme he posted about Kamala Harris on his personal Facebook page! Last we heard he was fighting to get some salary back plus more, for a month suspension that was wrongfully handed down to him by his university.
20 questions + with the great professor!
1) What was the purpose of your second book, Chaining down Leviathan. The American Dream of Self-Government? Is it a continuation of your first book, Liberty, State, and Union: The Political Theory of Thomas Jefferson?
2) How do you feel about the term "democracy," when people use it all the time to describe our form of government? The word democracy is not mentioned in the Constitution. Has the meaning changed since Jefferson's time? Isn't the proper term supposed to be "a Republic?"
3) Can you tell us the difference between 19th century Federalism & 20th century Pluralism?
4) This new book almost seems like a prequel to Robert Higgs' great book, Crisis and Leviathan (1987), is it not?
5) Thomas Jefferson's entire life struggle was against the consolidation of power. For him and his "Republican" followers it was always foremost about "self-government & freedom" and not some blind loyalty to the "cult of the Constitution of 1787" and certainly not about some made-up idea of a "perpetual union" that must live forever... correct?
6) The professor reminds us of Andrew Jackson's famous toast to Thomas Jefferson and John C. Calhoun's perfect response!
7) Please explain why the pact of secrecy maintained at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended up being such a big win for those that desired enlarging centralized power...
8) At the Convention, isn't it true that most people today think it was simply a "gathering of people" and not what it actually was, a "gathering of States?"
9) Isn't it right that the very few hand-written eyewitness daily accounts of the Convention of 1787 were actually only made public some 35 to 50 years later!?!? How did this help the centralizers to fabricate their false narrative over those years?
10) Why was the idea of "Federal common law" so dangerous?
11) For the Hamiltonian Leftist centralizers of his day and straight on through to Lincoln and his party, it seems the main goal was to engraft the "the modern centralized State of European origin" on the healthy body of the voluntary Republic. Did they want an absolute monopoly where the National government was the self-regulating judge of the extent of its own power?
12) Frank From Queens always asks the question to the audience, "what enforces the Constitution?" What is the answer?
13) Was there a difference between Thomas Jefferson and John C. Calhoun when it came to how to stop out of control centralized power?
14) Using force against a recalcitrant State was rejected at the Convention of 1787 was it not? How was the "Force Bill of 1833," ushered in by Daniel Webster, a major blow to the States' rights movement? Would any single State have ratified the Constitution if they thought force could be used against them by the National government?
15) Can there be Socialism without centralized power?
16) Why do some modern Libertarians not seem to grasp the concept that Ronald Reagan's attempts to beat back centralized power were much harder than say Thomas Jefferson's, because Reagan was completely stymied by circumstance, finding himself smack dab in the middle of a "centralized modern State?"
17) John C. Calhoun properly countered a Marxist myth when he said that, "the source of inequality between the people is not the market but the State."
18) Have we reached the "critical mass of centralization?" Can we ever defeat the mountain of money that drives the deep state? Is there enough federalism left to save us?
19) Was the "American dream of self-government" shattered after the War to Prevent Southern Independence?
20) Power can only be resisted by power; and is "competitive federalism" the best answer to stopping tyranny, mobocracy, & elective despotism?
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem." (turbulence for liberty is preferred to quiet servitude.) --TJ
