Federalist No. 72: What Happened to the Public Service Ideal?

Federalist No. 72 is an oft-neglected defense of the president's reeligibility for election. However, the paper goes well beyond this issue to basic models of human nature and motivation. James L. Perry's essay confronts this broad issue as a guide to 'a public service ethic.' Like other authors in this special issue, Perry reads broadly through the Federalist Papers in search of a deeper definition of public service motivation as a balance between the potency of passion and the limits of reason. Controlling passion was no doubt important to the founders, but it may have drowned out the greater good envisioned in public service commitments to acting on behalf of the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]