
Where is the Lost Class of Writer-Politicians?
I recently had the privilege of watching Hamilton, and while the Tony Award-winning musical’s rap battles and ballads have captivated millions of listeners, there was a single line that truly struck me. The actors were rapping about the creation of the Federalist Papers by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton:
In the end, they wrote eighty-five essays, in the span of six months
John Jay got sick after writing five
James Madison wrote twenty-nine
Hamilton wrote the other fifty-one!
The last line was articulated with considerable emphasis. The line fits neatly beside the other praise of Hamilton’s perseverance and hard work within the song, which is entitled “Nonstop”. But it affected me for another reason. Hamilton’s insistence on publishing constantly was a gesture that was foreign to me and provoked a rather interesting question: In a country founded by vigorous essayists, why have that class of writer-politicians altogether disappeared?
Before we answer, let’s not romanticize the past too much — many anonymous papers published by the likes of Hamilton and Jefferson seem to have more in common with reality TV than what we envision of enlightenment thinkers — politics during the founding was certainly plagued with the usual mudslinging and typical low blow tactics. And yet, within pamphlets that included the 18th-century version of Twitter clap backs, there was also nuanced discussion about the philosophical disagreements between the great men of the time.
Today we have gutted the second part of civic discussion. The Federalist Papers was created for the common man to understand their new constitution at it’s core, and today all we have to show are a series of twitter wars, and the constitution seems but a distant backdrop to health care, immigration, and even gun control.
In an age where the growing public mistrust of politicians should not be taken lightly, we have much to learn from our past. The current generation of politicians is certainly not responsible for killing the tradition however, it is certainly even more urgent to reconsider reviving the essay as the vehicle of public discussion.
I hate to overemphasize how President Trump and his reasoning is changing the very psyche of the American people but it is a fact that time will reveal — for better or for worst. Not to mention that there is an endless list of questions that our politicians desperately need to face, many with enlightenment roots, but new and difficult context — Is Progressivism truly going to be on the right side of history? Is technological advancement inconsistent with a civic-minded society? And Is an empirical truth the one that will govern our reality?
I am aware that there are many columns by a many Washington elite in the New York Times over the years, podcasts that have all-star lineups of top political minds and I’m sure more than one elected official has tried to recreate fireside chats. I read and listen to many of these projects. But the volume is beside the point if they fail to engage the public and become a facet of civic culture.
I cannot promise that all of America will awe at long essays by Paul Ryan or Kamala Harris. But if I learned anything from Hamilton, history is certainly watching with a very judgmental eye.
