Federalist Paper No. 1: Introduction by PUBLIUS (Alexander Hamilton)

SEE HERE Just a smidgeon of history here. If you read this, and I urge you to read it, please reflect on something that I think is quite striking. Consider how relatively difficult it is given the literacy of our age and combine that with the fact that it was published for the general public in 1787.

We are accustomed to imagining that we are superior to those who have gone before us. That may be true in the sense that we use and have available to us much more technology. What is quite clear, just from this experience of reading Federalist #1, is that we have paid a price in a general decline in intellect and learning and awareness of the important issues of our day.

The mass communications media like radio and television throw "grapefruit" at us all day. "Grapefruit" is what Jerry Doyle calls the unimportant nonsense about Hollywood celebrities and sensational sidelights that pass for news these days while important political and social matters go unreported. One wonders if the Federalist Papers could be printed or read in our own day. The doubt is a shame. We have fallen far and will fall further if concerned men and women don't do something. Action should begin by reforming education. It is too important to be left to government.