Oh, my. Dick Armey invokes the Federalist Papers on behalf of the tea party movement:
“Who the heck do these people think they are to try to sit in this town with their audacity and second-guess the greatest genius, most creative genius, in the history of the world?” Armey demanded.Actually, of course Hamilton was very much a strong-government type. More than that: he was the author of the Report on Manufactures, an early call for — drum roll — industrial policy, backed by public investment.
A member of the audience passed a question to the moderator, who read it to Armey: How can the Federalist Papers be an inspiration for the tea party, when their principal author, Alexander Hamilton, “was widely regarded then and now as an advocate of a strong central government”?
Historian Armey was flummoxed by this new information. “Widely regarded by whom?” he challenged, suspiciously. “Today’s modern ill-informed political science professors? . . . I just doubt that was the case in fact about Hamilton.”
I’m sure the response to Armey’s comeuppance will be a denunciation of liberal snobbery. But remember, it was Armey who was trying to pull intellectual rank, proclaiming himself the true heir of the Founding Fathers … whose writings he hasn’t bothered to read.
Posts
