Constitutional scholar Bill Norton returns to The Jenny Beth Show for the third lesson in the first principles training series, and this one is the big document. Instead of the checks-and-balances lecture everyone got in civics class, Norton walks through the five basic forms of government the founders studied, shows which one they placed inside each branch, and explains why the whole machine only works when it stays in balance. Jenny Beth Martin presses him on the Senate, the filibuster, the courts, and what citizens are actually supposed to do the other 364 days of the year.
Guest: Bill Norton, constitutional scholar, coauthor of Speaking the Language of Liberty, and author of the forthcoming book Behind the Constitution.
Why the founders studied democracy and then flatly rejected it, in James Madison's and John Adams's own words
The five basic forms of government: anarchy, monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, and the republic
Why Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa all call themselves republics
How anarchy always devolves into monarchy, and how democracy always devolves into oligarchy
The 365-day test that finally separates a republic from every other form of government
Rule by balance: the definition of a republic that makes sense of checks and balances at last
Elizabeth Powell, the woman who asked Benjamin Franklin what he had given us, and who talked George Washington into a second term without ever casting a vote
Which form of government the founders placed in the House, the Senate, the presidency, and the courts
Why the Seventeenth Amendment broke the Senate, and what the filibuster is really patching over
Supreme Court justices are not appointed for life; the Constitution says they serve during good behavior, and the House decides what that means
Marbury versus Madison, judicial review, and Thomas Jefferson's warning about the despotism of an oligarchy
The 20 powers granted to Congress, the roughly six granted to the president, and how necessary and proper got twisted
Article Five, the fix-it article, and the two things in the Constitution that can never be amended
Why there were 13 original colonies but only 11 original states, and how George Washington got Rhode Island to join
The Jenny Beth Show airs live Monday through Friday at 1:00 PM ET. Hosted by Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party movement and Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action. Subscribe for daily analysis of politics, policy, and the fight for constitutionally limited government. teapartypatriots.org
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