The Public Mind and the Enduring Regime: Mass Electorates' Understanding of Economic Freedom and the Hazards of Democracy.

Two centuries after Hamilton and Jefferson staked out their controversy, we are still searching to understand how the state of the public mind affects the prospect for good government. How much should the electorate understand about government, its functions, its undergirding theories, the nature of man, and the lessons of history? By what signals can we perceive that public opinion in a representative democracy may not be adequately enlightened to preserve the nation's best interests? Is the protracted build up of national debt an indicator that the public mind is debilitated? To get at these matters I search the Federalist Papers for clues regarding the qualifications for a healthy public mind and an enduring democratic republican regime as understood by Publius. The paper concludes that our American heritage is not secure if the public does not understand the nature of their liberties and the requirements for enduring preservation of political institutions. The public must have the understanding and will to resist the accumulation of debt, such debt eventually hazarding the interests of the electorate. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]