Suggestions to the incoming Senate by President Madison and Alexander Hamilton
September 10, 2018
President Madison and Mr. Hamilton
Gentlemen:
While doing some research on another project I came across this quote from your collaboration on the Federalist Papers No. 62 written on February 27, 1788. It was your advice to incoming Senators on creating laws and legislation.
“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?”
This reminded me of two monstrous pieces of legislation. One is the Affordable Care Act (A.C.A.) or Obama Care as most people know it and the second is the recently passed tax code. You might find this interesting Obama Care was named after our 44th president Barack Obama who by the way was our first African American President.
Gentlemen, today many members of Congress are still not heeding your advice. It is estimated that the A.C.A. (Obama Care) is over 4,000 pages while no one can really agree on how large the Tax Code is. It has been estimated that the tax code is anywhere between 20,000 and 70,000 pages, regardless both are “voluminous.” Compare that to one of your works, President Madison, the United States Constitution which is a little over 4,100 words and is the basis for this great country. I would think that all the talk about repealing and replacing the A.C.A. and on more than one occasion revising the Tax Code leads us to “they be repealed and revised before they are promulgated,” which you warned us about.
Back in 2016 it appeared that some were heeding your advice. Representative Mia Love of Utah a Republican, Haitian American and the first black female member of Congress from Utah proposed legislation, the One Subject at a Time Act, H.R. 4335. This Act would require single subject bills with the aim of curbing the passing of complicated, multifaceted bills or attaching unrelated items. By the way this proposed legislation is all of 4 pages long. Since it is two years since this resolution was proposed it appears to have little support, since it would limit the wheeling and dealing that goes into most legislation and usually raises the cost to us.
Gentlemen, just to keep you up to date Utah is our 45th state and entered into our union in 1896.
I always find it amazing how your insights are so relevant years later. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Andrew DeMarco
P.S. Pictured above is the A.C.A. and a 3×6 inch, booklet that includes the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
Pen Pals from the Past 