by Mike Gray

(Setting: The Symposium of Socrates)

Socrates: We are gathered here today at my symposium to discuss this very important question – What happens to a free people who over time have become complete dependents on an increasingly despotic federal government? In addressing this dialectical question let us make diligent inquiry into the ideas of the two earliest political parties in America – the Federalists versus the anti-Federalists as delineated in Chapters 7 and 8 of Benjamin Wiker’s 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read.

Recalling the words of James Madison who said, “You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself,” I have invited members from each side to put forth the best arguments for their cause: Alexander Hamilton will represent the Federalist side and Thomas Jefferson the anti-Federalist view.

Read the rest of the debate here.