Opinion: Giuliani and the Founding Fathers
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During his 1996 presidential campaign, Republican Bob Dole famously traveled about with an index-sized card in his pocket containing the words of the 10th amendment --- the part of the Bill of Rights that reserves to the states all powers not specifically delegated to the federal government.
As Rudy Giuliani pursues his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, he’s is doing Dole one better, toting historical inspiration too weighty to fit into a pocket.
In a recent interview with Times columnist Ronald Brownstein, Giuliani revealed that he keeps with him a copy of The Federalist Papers, the 85 essays written anonymously by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay during the debate over ratification of the Constitution roughly 220 years ago.
“I carry the Federalist Papers with me all the time,” Giuliani said. “I have a marked-up copy of it and whenever I get into difficulties trying to figure out my answer to something I usually read it, because I think [the Founding Fathers] have more wisdom than maybe sometimes we have in our very, very quick sound-bite society. Maybe we don’t give as much thought to these things.”
The subject came up as Giuliani explained in new detail his basic solution for resolving many of the country’s most divisive domestic issues --- shift authority on these matters from Washington to the states. (Brownstein explores Giuliani’s thinking on this front in his column today.)
Intriguingly, historians might quibble with the link the former New York mayor seems to make between his reading material and his policy position. In general, the authors of the Federalist Papers were arguing for a relatively more powerful federal government against those who preferred to leave power concentrated in the states.
-- Don Frederick