I believe that modern Australian Republicanism flows through the philosophies of James Madison and Charles Harpur. I consider Madison not only the best US President, but the most principled.
Madison and Harpur During the war of 1812 news was constantly bad, Washington DC was sacked, the treasury coffers were empty as New England would not finance the war against Britain, he faced a recalcitrant Napoleon in France, a divided Congress at home and a deceitful War Secretary in his cabinet. He also faced a near-fatal illness that left him bed-ridden in the summer of 1813.
After the White House was set ablaze by General Ross's British troops, the American Navy Secretary Jones wrote;
he [Madison] finds difficulty in accommodating to the crisis some of those political axioms which he has so long indulged, because they have their foundation in virtue, but which from the vicious nature of the times and the absolute necessity of the case require some relaxation.The indulgence Jones speaks of, is the checks and balances, the republican principles that were the corner stone of American strength. Madison believed that if he compromised the principles of the American Republic, he made the nation, the states and the people weaker by giving in to power and executive avarice. Ralph Ketchum wrote;
It was of course impossible for him [Madison] to be a Caesar or a Cromwell, but it was also against his nature and deeply held principles to become even a William Pitt or a Hamilton.John Howard, George W. Bush and Tony Blair cannot hold a candle to James Madison either. Madison's faith in the strength of his people was well founded. America survived the war of 1812 and British coercion on their nationhood. The republican principles were to become the basis for twentieth century American power. The Australian Republicanism of Charles Harpur carries a healthy strand of Madison. Harpur wrote;
Let civilized men be but placed for a few generations beyond the direct action of courtly and aristocratical influences, and the idea of Equality becomes fundamental in their sense of political and social obligation. They are republicans, in short, and mostly democrats also, before they can render a definite reason, it may be, for the faith that is in them. And this results, I repeat it, from a moral and social progress purely natural to civilized men, though quickened by peculiar circumstances.To Harpur republicanism represents the highest form of social organization at any one time. It is the path to human transcendence - the faith that is in them - and the deadweight of an inferior political system is one that enforces immoral, unethical and avaristic behaviour on the people. Donald Horne's Lucky Country claimed that Australia had prospered despite bad government management. Harpur was arguing the same with political systems. If Australians have liberty, morals, ethics and a strong civic egalitarianism it is despite, rather than because of, the current political system. War James Madison was not only a wartime President, but one of the few to oversee a victory and a declaration of war become a peace treaty. Madison understood the difference between a state of exception, and permanent war. If anyone has insight on the dangers of permanent war and the position of President, it is James Madison;
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 instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honours and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manner and of morals, engendered in both. No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. War is in fact the true nurse of executive aggrandizement. In war, a physical force is to be created; and it is the executive will, which is to direct it. In war, the public treasuries are to be unlocked; and it is the executive hand which is to dispense them. In war, the honours and emoluments of office are to be multiplied; and it is the executive patronage under which they are to be enjoyed; and it is the executive brow they are to encircle. The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honourable or venal love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.This newly claimed War on Terror has placed us in a permanent war that is without end. We are witnessing the onward march of Executive power in both the Australian and British parliamentary systems, as well as the American Presidential system. The Madisonian Republic is devolving to something that is other than a Republic and something that is becoming hostile to liberty or criticism. In Australia the Harpurian Republic is as far off as ever. cam
