His Ideas Wrecked America, So Naturally They Love Him

The Hamilton musical — which Kevin Gutzman tells me is very good — is making Alexander Hamilton cool.

Actually, though, Hamilton has always been a hero of mainstream left and right. That’s usually how you can identify a scoundrel: if both Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi like someone, he’s always bad.

I may dub that Woods’s Law #4.

(I developed Woods’s Law #3 over the weekend: No matter whom you vote for, you always wind up with John McCain.)

Theodore Roosevelt is a great example.

Bill Clinton loves him? Check.

Virtually all Republicans love him? Check.

Terrible president? Check.

Hamilton is my favorite example.

He popularized the idea of implied powers in the Constitution. He sought to reduce the states to a condition of “subordination.” He favored the use of force against states that opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts. He told the people one thing about the federal government’s powers before the Constitution was ratified, and something completely different afterward.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Naturally, we’re taught to love him.

So when my friend Michael Malice, who’s sound on every issue except Alexander Hamilton, proposed that we debate the subject in public, I readily agreed.

It was one of my favorite events of all time. We both had the time of our lives.

But because it was an Oxford-style debate, there was a clear winner.

The audience is polled before the debate and then again afterward, when they’ve heard the arguments of both sides. Whoever changes more minds is the winner.

I was the winner.

In fact, Gene Epstein of Barron’s told me that I had changed a greater percentage of minds than anyone else in the long history of their debating society.

Nice.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get a result like that when you’re challenged on your views, and surrounded by curious people?