It is not my habit to go into contemporary politics, especially in these essays, but the power of taxation being — along with death — two of the certainties of life, and the twig having long been bent, it seems worth thinking about the relationship of Federalist 34 to the perennial problem of debt, one of the main themes of the essay.

I’ve heard it said that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. I’ve also heard that people these days are pretty stressed out, and I have to wonder if that’s because we’re all being so damned vigilant.

A list of Presidents with Congressional, Military or Law experience and a breakdown of who had family ties to the White House, and more.

Jeff Polet examines Federalist papers no. 33, written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788.

How President Ford’s track record reflects Civil War history.

I want to remind the reader that The Federalist consists of essays written for average citizens, mostly farmers, many of whom had to have the essays read to them, published in local newspapers.

The Southern institutions we all know and love—extra sweet tea, SEC football, crawfish boils, and Delta Dawn playing on repeat—are often celebrated. But beneath this charming veneer lies a harsh reality: the South grapples with some of the highest rates of gun violence in the country.

Given that 2025 marks the 160th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, it seems appropriate to consider one of America’s statesmen, Ulysses S. Grant and his highly regarded Personal Memoirs, written neck break speed, as he was rapidly dying from tongue and throat cancer.

Armed conflicts around the world generate large numbers of refugees.

It has been 25 years since the death of Elliot Richardson (1920-1999), ambassador to Great Britain and Secretary of Commerce under President Gerald R. Ford.

The French philosopher René Descartes believed that knowledge resulted from “clear and distinct ideas” that occurred in the mind.

The two most consequential powers of modern governments are the power to conscript individuals into military service and to dip its hands into people’s pockets.

If federal authorities fail to stem illegal immigration, may the states do so?

Recently historians from many nations commemorated the birth 150 years ago of one of the most remarkable political figures in modern times.

Debates over the Constitution always involved the balance between granting a power and limiting it.

All politics is an expression of the meaning and purpose of human life in society, and it is necessary to clarify what this expression of meaning and purpose is, both what contemporary forms of politics assume social life to be, and what in reality human society should look like or aspire to.

Since presidential pardons are very much in the news right now we thought it would be a good idea to provide the public with a primer on the power and its limitations.

Not long before his own death, President Ford called his good friend President Carter and asked if he would deliver a eulogy at Ford’s funeral. Carter agreed so long as Ford returned the favor.

The most dangerous people in the world are those with no sense of humor.

Hamilton’s extended meditation on the importance of a federal army continued in Federalist #28, the penultimate essay on the topic.