Honor
Can the American people really elect true statesmen to replace the current stale mix vastly overpopulated by demagogues, office-seekers, and pint-sized Caesars? The cynic or even the simple realist may doubt. There is no doubt that this would require of us an uncommon level of discernment and political virtue. But there have been times in our history when the demagogue was exposed, the office-seeker scorned, and the Caesar checked. There have been individual leaders who held themselves and their associates to a higher standard and realized, at least in part, the republican ideal in their honorable service to our nation. Though the Founders had plenty of skepticism concerning the motives and measures of men, they believed that a healthy republic was within reach. James Madison said as much in Federalist 55: “As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes these qualities in a higher degree than any other form.
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