Abstract or Keywords
The U.S. Federal Constitution was built to be a machine for displacing conflict. Madison and the other Framers erected a Federal Republic organized to control populist movements and preserve the interests of the greatest stakeholders, while offering the "most liberty imaginable" in 1788. In 2016, a populist movement ascended to the commanding heights of power. How did it happen and what are the consequences when a faction comes to power? Is it a defect of the modern structure of American government? Has the U.S. Constitution reached a place where it is no longer functional? Or can Madison's Republic continue to work against popular factions rising in a common passion fired by fear and hatred? In tackling these questions, this article suggests that the U.S. Constitutional Framers did not know in 1788 what exiting the aristocratic and feudal world would mean and what kind of state and society the Republic would become. I argue Madison's contributions to The Federalist are exemplars of the engineer showing how each part of the machine fits together to achieve a comprehensive and effective whole. The national populism of the kind circulating around the Western world in 2016 has posed real challenges to that machinery. Keywords: Populism, Political Theory, U.S. Constitution, Liberalism, Liberty, Constitutional Ideals, Democracy, United States, Madison, Founding Fathers, Framers, Federal Republic. Los creadores de la Constitucion de los EE. UU. no sabian en 1788 ni lo que significaria el fin del mundo aristocratico y feudal, ni en que tipo de sociedad y estado se convertiria la Republica. Habia en este acto de creacion una oferta milagrosa de los fundamentos de un ideal democratico y constitucional que fluye con los valores del liberalismo, el pluralismo, la libertad y la igualdad, igualmente fundamentados en la misma Ilustracion. La constitucion federal fue creada para ser una maquina que descarta el conflicto. Madison y los otros creadores fundaron una republica federal para controlar los movimientos populistas y preservar los intereses de los afectados mas importantes, y al mismo tiempo ofrecer "la mayor libertad imaginable" en 1788. Palabras clave: populismo, teoria politica, Constitucion de EE. UU., nacionalismo, populismo, liberalismo, libertad, ideales constitucionales, democracia, Madison, padres fundadores, disenadores, republica federal. [phrase omitted] [phrase omitted]