By M Dowling
Professor and constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley was on Mark Levin’s show on Sunday, discussing his book, Rage and the Republic, explaining its title. It sounds good, so I thought people might want to hear him discuss it.
Turley looked at the “unique elements” that came together to create a revolution ending in a republic, unlike the French Revolution, which became a “bloodletting.”
The second part of the book looks at the possibility of the American Republic surviving. He delves into the personalities of James Madison and Thomas Paine. Paine was the man for the revolution, and Madison for the formation of the Republic.
Paine is an amazing figure, but Benjamin Franklin saw something in him and sent him to the United States. Two years later, he became the “Penman of the American Revolution.” Even John Adams, who harshly criticized Paine, said Paine had “genius in his eyes.”
Turley said the Framers did not want a mobocracy or democratic despotism. The Founders worked to keep that from happening, and Turley explains briefly in the clip.
He is optimistic that the Republic can survive.
