… is from page 89 of George Will’s newly published 2019 book, The Conservative Sensibility:
The words “leader” or “leaders” appear in thirteen times in The Federalist, once with reference to those who led the Revolution and twelve times in a context of disparagement. The Founders, apprehensive about the people’s potential for irrational passions, were wary of leaders who would seek to ascend to power on waves of such passions.
DBx: Right they were to so worry, for – as brilliantly argued by my GMU Econ colleague Bryan Caplan, and by Geoffrey Brennan and Loren Lomasky – political action is especially prone to be irrational.


The words “leader” or “leaders” appear in thirteen times in The Federalist, once with reference to those who led the Revolution and twelve times in a context of disparagement. The Founders, apprehensive about the people’s potential for irrational passions, were wary of leaders who would seek to ascend to power on waves of such passions.
