Federalist #1 Revisited – Panama Notes

January 12

As Inauguration Day approaches, I feel that we are repeating history, because over these last four years our federal government has been managed by a group that has avoided our Constitution’s design in every way it could and every day it could.  Perhaps I should be more accurate and say that they crapped over every facet of our federal government and left our nation in terrible shape. 

Now, the promise of a proper, constitutional government is only a few days away. Like the light breaking over the eastern horizon from a rising sun, we see the promise of a new day in America. 

Just a few more days….

Our nation has been here before, some 238 years ago.  It was then that Alexander Hamilton (whose birthday was on December 11) wrote Federalist Paper #1, a magnificent writing where he also referred to a better day. 

Here are a few sections of Hamilton’s writing where I have changed just a word or two from the original essay. Notice how it fits in today’s events.

After an unequivocal experience of the inefficiency of the subsisting federal government, we are called upon to support a new executive in support of the Constitution for the United States of America. 

The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of our union, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed, the fate of a nation in many respects the most interesting in the world. 

It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force. 

Among the most formidable of the obstacles which the new President will have to encounter may readily be distinguished the obvious interest of a certain class of men in every federal bureau to resist all changes which may hazard a diminution of the power, emolument, and consequence of the offices they hold under the federal establishments;…"

My point here is that our government has been so far from its constitutional design that we are back to our original scenario from over two hundred years ago.  We can count on the beneficiaries of big government to fight back.

Just a few more days…

Note: The Federalist Papers were a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, explaining the strengths of the new Constitution, and recommending its ratification by the states.

Panama Canal:  I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal’s internet feed; on Sunday (1-12-2025) they published two letters about the Panama Canal which are worthy of our attention:

1. “We shouldn’t assume that military force will be President Trump’s only option to rectify the calamitous decision of President Jimmy Carter and the U.S. Senate to relinquish U.S. control of the Panama Canal (“Will Trump Invade Panama?” Review & Outlook, Dec. 26). While the Carter administration excluded an arbitration provision from the treaties, essentially conceding that the U.S. wouldn’t seek a remedy to potential Panamanian abuse, Mr. Trump isn’t without leverage.

Simply by formally requesting the opening of negotiations over the canal’s status, Mr. Trump will place enormous pressure on the Panamanian government. In such a negotiation, Mr. Trump has both carrots, including revenue sharing for canal fees and other incentives, and sticks in the form of tariffs and withdrawal from the Panama-U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement.

Let us not lose sight of the fundamental issue: The most strategic military and economic chokepoint in the Western Hemisphere is at risk of compromise by China. U.S. commercial interests in the canal also have been trampled repeatedly. Mr. Trump is seeking the remedies that his predecessors refused to provide.”

Alexander B. Gray

Nichols Hills, Okla.

Note: Mr. Gray was deputy assistant to the president and chief of staff of the National Security Council, 2019-21.

2. “When the Torrijos–Carter Treaties were signed, Panamanians were told that the canal would “belong to the people.” Since the canal was turned over to Panama, tens of thousands of ships have traversed the canal, sending many billions of dollars in revenue to Panama’s coffers. Panama’s state-run hospitals and schools, however, are in despair.

While many Panamanians are asserting Panama’s sovereignty in response to President-elect Trump’s threats, many are also asking how these revenues from the canal are spent and why the populace hasn’t benefited.”

Austin Tutone

This comes as no surprise to me. Perhaps Trump’s statements will shake some corruption out of the government. 

Steve