Montesquieu-Spirit of the Laws

Opening Passages to consider:

“The inhabitants of a particular town are much better acquainted with its wants and interests, than with those of other places; and are better judges of the capacity of their neighbours, than of that of the rest of the countrymen. The members, therefore, of the legislature should not be chosen from the general body of the nation; but it is proper that in every considerable place, a representative should be elected by the inhabitants. The great advantage of representatives is their capacity of discussing public affairs. For this the people collectively are extremely unfit, which is one of the chief inconveniences of a democracy.”

1. The above is a selection from the chapter “The Constitution of England” that is NOT in your Ebenstein text.  What is your reaction to his assertion??  Where do you think that discussion of public policies best takes place?

“The suffrage by lot is natural to democracy, as that by choice is to aristocracy.  The suffrage by lot is a method of electing that offends no one; but animates each citizen with the pleasing hope of serving his country.  Yet, as this method is in itself defective, it has been the endeavour of the most eminent legislators to regulate and amend it.”  p. 415

2. What do you think about this assertion?--please comment

Luther...for Monday 11/18

In thinking of the ideas of "God's Jailers and Hangmen" and why "frogs need storks" according to Luther, please respond to the following:

1. What did Luther think of the role of secular leaders?
2. What did Luther think of the common citizen?

and....

3. What do you think the current US government thinks of the common citizen? [HUGE question, but give it a try...]

Why I took this class

1. I took this class because of what I heard from past students. I heard that the class was interesting and if you like history as a subject, which I do, it would be interesting to take. I felt that keeping a history course in my schedule would be good because of my interest, as well as learning more about the study of different theorists.

2. I do not think there will ever be an ideal government. People will never agree on the same exact things, making it impossible for a government to make all the right decisions. Because of outside factors in our world, such as society having different class levels, beliefs on what is right and what is wrong, there will never be an ideal government.

Our Class Blog

Before the weekend meets us, I wanted to ask you all two questions that I didn't take the time to do during our class yesterday...please respond before class meets on MONDAY 9/9:

1. Why did you take this class?

2. Do you believe there can be an ideal government--briefly describe what that would look like OR why there can't be one.