SEPTEMBER 30, 2008 --

Well, maybe people will begin, now, to pay attention to the wise counsel James Madison gave us in Federalist 57.

A few years ago, the stock market reeled upon disclosure of financial falsehoods by corporate executives.

Today, the market is reeling from the collapse of various entities, private, such as Bear Stearns, quasi-public such as "Fannie Mae," and now we learn of the biggest bank collapse in American history -- the failure of Washington Mutual.

For months LPR has been calling for cooperative capitalism to replace predatory capitalism. LPR has many, many times tried to remind our leaders that Madison believed they should serve "the common good," not their personal ambition.

LPR has expressed concern about the volatility of the stock market, which in recent years suggests a financial bipolar disorder, with prices plunging one day and zooming up another day.

LPR hears President Bush declare we must have legislation providing sums for a bailout to cost taxpayers a vast amount of money. It is not clear, however, if the figure is $700 billion, $250 billion or some other sum, and, at least to LPR, the circumstances requiring the bailout of certain financial entities remain murky. The test of the bailout is, for LPR, simple enough: does it serve the people, or the insiders?

There is much talk about problems with mortgages, but we had such talk last year. It is unclear to LPR if the mortgage problems resulted from bad decisions made by lenders, or from bad lending policies demanded by liberals in Congress, liberals like Rep. Barney Frank.

One thing, LPR is sure about: we should maintain confidence in ourselves, in our country and in the principles we inherited from the Founding Fathers. Recently, this writer sent feedback to a media person indicating that talking about populism is a money-maker for him; for this writer populism is a cause. I acknowledged that perhaps it is a lost cause, but those are the only ones worth fighting for (citing a comment in Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

It is apparent to LPR that the insiders have lost confidence and seem to be suffering severe financial anxiety. But in what have they lost confidence? For LPR, the insiders have lost confidence in their capacity to continue government of, by and for the insiders. The insiders seem to have operated on the notion: "Billions for ourselves, but not one cent for the common good."

And for LPR there is irony in the collapse of Washington Mutual. This is one of the banks that have squeezed its credit cardholders mercilessly. Another of the banks that have hammered credit cardholders is HSBC and it is reported to be laying off 1,100 employes. It is almost as if some Greater Force decided it was time to end the financial oppression of ordinary people, and the financial manipulations that turned public service into a get-rich-quick scheme.

LPR has argued that bank officials seem to have been following the business practices of the villainous Henry F. Potter, the fictional banker in Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," when they should have followed the fair treatment business practices of George Bailey.

The insiders are right to have lost confidence in their misuse of public service to acquire personal wealth to the detriment of the common good.

For LPR, it is not the political system established by the Founding Fathers that has failed us. The failure is on the part of public officials who turned their backs on the populist principles established by the Founding Fathers.

We must have confidence in ourselves and in the founding principles of our country, including the idea of public service for the common good of the country.

There is nothing wrong with the political system established by the Founding Fathers and we should maintain confidence in that system and in ourselves. The problem is with a wayward Washington, D.C. -- with the insiders who ignored our political system for their personal gain.

The time has come, LPR believes, to chase the insiders from the temples of government and to elect a president and senators and representatives who are dedicated to government following Lincoln's formula: of, by and for the people.