[wslack]

> the government we have is what the founders warned about and did their best to prevent/delay.

Can you say more about that? They warned against faction but political parties developed pretty quickly and had the harmful effects Hamilton warned against.

[23B1]

They warned of tyranny of the majority, instability and violence from a too-powerful government (thus checks and balances), foreign influence in domestic affairs due to a weak government, and as you mentioned partisanship.

[periphrasis]

> instability and violence from a too-powerful government (thus checks and balances)

This is not the argument of the federalist papers. They argue for a government with powers commensurate to its objects. They discuss at great length the dangers of a government being too weak, namely that it forces a series of usurpations because its the only way to get anything done.

> They warned of tyranny of the majority

Nor is this the argument of the federalist papers, for much the same reasons above. Madison and Hamilton are quite explicit that majority rule is the only way to have a functional government, and that the alternative will only lead to dysfunction and the need to seize more power to break the resulting logjams.

[harimau777]

If anything, we currently have tyranny of the minority. Presidents routinely win the election while losing the popular vote, rural areas have political power dramatically out of proportion to their size, highly unpopular policies like abortion restrictions are routinely enacted, etc.

[AnimalMuppet]

The GP may be referring to the federal government being stronger than the states, and therefore most of the power being in Washington DC rather than in the several state capitals. They also intended more power to reside in Congress and less rule by executive order.

[tastyfreeze]

Bingo. Congress has dangerously abdicated much of its authority to the Executive. And the federal government as a whole has more power than it was ever granted.

The concentration of power has happened slowly over time but nonetheless it has happened. Now we have a federal government that has legal authority to demand compliance on a range of issues that it doesn't have Constitutional authority to demand.