#0175 Articles of Confederation, An End To The Ukraine War?, Vance vs The Pope on Ordo Amori, The First Female Congresswoman, TBC: The Great Divorce, and Apologetics 101 - Further. Every. Day.
The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781, served as the first governing document of the United States. However, it soon proved inadequate, leading to widespread calls for reform. The Founding Fathers—especially George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton—expressed serious concerns about its weaknesses. Many of these concerns were articulated in their letters, speeches, and debates, culminating in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.
One of the most significant weaknesses of the Articles was Congress's inability to levy taxes. The federal government had to rely on voluntary contributions from the states, leading to financial instability and an inability to pay off war debts.
Cut 2#: James Madison, “Vices of the Political System” (April 1787):
"It is no longer doubted that a unanimous and punctual obedience of 13 independent bodies, to the acts of the federal Government, ought not be calculated on. Even during the war, when external danger supplied in some degree the defect of legal & coercive sanctions, how imperfectly did the States fulfil their obligations to the Union? In time of peace, we see already what is to be expected."
Cut 3&4#: Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 30 (December 28, 1787):
"The present Confederation, feeble as it is intended to repose in the United States, an unlimited power of providing for the pecuniary wants of the Union. But proceeding upon an erroneous principle, it has been done in such a manner as entirely to have frustrated the intention. Congress, by the articles which compose that compact (as has already been stated), are authorized to ascertain and call for any sums of money necessary, in their judgment, to the service of the United States; and their requisitions, if conformable to the rule of apportionment, are in every constitutional sense obligatory upon the States. These have no right to question the propriety of the demand; no discretion beyond that of devising the ways and means of furnishing the sums demanded. But though this be strictly and truly the case; though the assumption of such a right would be an infringement of the articles of Union; though it may seldom or never have been avowedly claimed, yet in practice it has been constantly exercised, and would continue to be so, as long as the revenues of the Confederacy should remain dependent on the intermediate agency of its members."
Cut 5#: George Washington's letter to John Jay (August 15, 1786):
"Requisitions are actually little better than a jest and a bye word throughout the Land. If you tell the Legislatures they have violated the treaty of peace and invaded the prerogatives of the confederacy they will laugh in your face."
Comparison to the Constitution:
Articles of Confederation: Congress could not impose taxes and had to request funds from the states.
U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8): Congress gains the power to “lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.”
2. No Executive or Judicial Branches
Under the Articles, there was no executive branch to enforce laws and no national judiciary to settle disputes, leading to inefficiency and legal conflicts among states.
Cut 6#: James Madison at the Constitutional Convention (June 19, 1787):
"The existing Confederacy does not sufficiently provide against this evil. The proposed amendment to it does not supply the omission. It leaves the will of the States as uncontrolled as ever."
Cut 7#: Alexander Hamilton, Federalist NO. 22 (December 14, 1787):
"Several States have endeavored, by separate prohibitions, restrictions, and exclusions, to influence the conduct of that kingdom in this particular, but the want of concert, arising from the want of a general authority and from clashing and dissimilar views in the State, has hitherto frustrated every experiment of the kind, and will continue to do so as long as the same obstacles to a uniformity of measures continue to exist."
And later in Fed 22:
Cut 8#: “A circumstance which crowns the defects of the Confederation remains yet to be mentioned, the want of a judiciary power. Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation. The treaties of the United States, to have any force at all, must be considered as part of the law of the land. Their true import, as far as respects individuals, must, like all other laws, be ascertained by judicial determinations. To produce uniformity in these determinations, they ought to be submitted, in the last resort, to one SUPREME TRIBUNAL. And this tribunal ought to be instituted under the same authority which forms the treaties themselves. These ingredients are both indispensable.”
Comparison to the Constitution:
Articles of Confederation: No executive or judiciary, making enforcement and dispute resolution nearly impossible.
U.S. Constitution: Establishes three co-equal branches with checks and balances.
3. Inability to Regulate Commerce
With no power to regulate trade, states imposed tariffs on each other, creating economic discord and weakening national unity.
Cut 9#: George Washington's letter to James Madison (November 30, 1785):
"I hope the resolutions which were published for the consideration of the House, respecting the reference to Congress for the regulation of a Commercial system will have passed. The proposition in my opinion is so self evident that I confess I am at a loss to discover wherein lyes the weight of the objection to the measure. We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a National character to support—If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it. for whilst we are playing a dble game, or playing a game between the two we never shall be consistent or respectable—but may be the dupes of some powers and, most assuredly, the contempt of all."
Comparison to the Constitution:
Articles of Confederation: No power to regulate interstate or international trade.
U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8): Grants Congress the power to “regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states.”
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was largely a response to the Articles' failings. Many Founders voiced concerns about its weaknesses and emphasized the necessity of a new framework.
Cut 10#: George Washington's Address at the Constitutional Convention (1787):
"It is too probable that no plan we propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to be sustained. If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God."
Cut 11#: James Madison at the Convention (June 6, 1787):
"The confederation was founded on temporary principles. It cannot last: it cannot be amended. If we do not establish a good Govt. on new principles, we must either go to ruin, or have the work to do over again. The people at large are wrongly suspected of being averse to a Genl. Govt. The aversion lies among interested men who possess their confidence."
The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation were widely recognized by the Founders, who sought a stronger federal government through the U.S. Constitution. By granting the national government taxation authority, an executive branch, a judiciary, and regulatory power over commerce, the new Constitution directly addressed the Articles' failings.
Cut 12#: Benjamin Franklin on the new Constitution (1787):
"Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best."
This new government would not only survive but become one of the most enduring political systems in history.
Hegseth addressed NATO in Brussels this week:
Cut 14#: No, we're not leaving Ukraine behind, negotiations are just starting
Cut 15#: NATO needs to step up, the German reporter asks if the US will raise spending from 3.4% to 5% as Hegseth suggests the EU does
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOzzVfhkwn4
Cut 17#: This may be why Trump is so focused on peace with Russia and China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70Gr2eAYORI
Much ink and discussion has been spilled on this, but let's hear a surrogate from the Pope speak to this:
Now let's open God's Word in a very Augustine way, looking at the nature of affections as laid out in scripture:
Cut 18#:
https://x.com/TaylorRMarshall/status/1890437635883086485
Cut 19# Matthew 22:37-38 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Cut 20# Deuteronomy 6:5 – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Cut 21# Luke 14:26 – “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Jesus is not commanding literal hatred but is emphasizing that love for God must come first.)
Cut 22# Exodus 20:3 – “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Cut 23# Ephesians 5:25 – “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Cut 24# Ephesians 6:1-2 – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother' (this is the first commandment with a promise).”
Cut 25# 1 Timothy 5:8 – “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Cut 26# Genesis 2:24 – “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Cut 27# Leviticus 19:18 – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
Cut 28# Luke 10:27-37 (Parable of the Good Samaritan) – Demonstrates love for one's neighbor beyond ethnic or social boundaries.
Cut 29# Jeremiah 29:7 – “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Cut 30# Romans 13:1-7 – “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
Cut 31# 1 Peter 2:13-17 – “Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution… Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”
Now, how does allowing an invasion of Military Aged Men into our country fit into this rubric? How does the Vatican deal with threats against his excellency?
Cut 32#
Oh…
Cut 33#
Cut 34#-37
C.S. Lewis explains that The Great Divorce is an allegory, not a theological treatise, and should not be taken as a literal depiction of the afterlife. He argues against the idea that good and evil can be reconciled, emphasizing that one must fully choose either Heaven or Hell—there is no blending of the two. He also mentions his inspiration from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell but clarifies that his book is meant to show their absolute separation rather than their unity.
The narrator finds himself in a grim, joyless city (Hell or “the Grey Town”) on a rainy evening. He joins a line for a bus that promises to take people away from the city. As he waits, he observes the other passengers arguing, bickering, and expressing general dissatisfaction. These people, it seems, are unhappy but reluctant to leave, preferring their own grievances and pride over change. When the bus arrives, it appears unusual—bright and floating above the ground.
As the bus takes off, it begins to ascend, moving higher and higher into the sky. The narrator notices that the interior of the bus seems to grow larger than its exterior, a hint at the supernatural nature of the journey. The other passengers continue arguing, revealing their selfishness, resentment, and attachment to their past sins. Some complain about the rules of the Grey Town, while others insist they deserve better treatment.
The chapter ends with the bus flying toward an unfamiliar, beautifully radiant land, which we later understand to be the foothills of Heaven.
The 3 Rules of Apologetics
1. Define Terms
2. Answer the Questioner, not the Question
3. Remember who wins the person's soul, hint it's not you.
https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a7s3.html
https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/respectfully-quoted/george-washington-173299-2/
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-03-02-0357