TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Dick Armey is apparently unaware that Alexander Hamilton advocated a strong federal government:

A member of the audience passed a question to the moderator, who read it to Armey: How can the Federalist Papers be an inspiration for the tea party, when their principal author, Alexander Hamilton, “was widely regarded then and now as an advocate of a strong central government”?

Historian Armey was flummoxed by this new information. “Widely regarded by whom?” he challenged, suspiciously. “Today’s modern ill-informed political science professors? . . . I just doubt that was the case in fact about Hamilton.”

Anyone who’s read the Federalist Papers should know that. It’s absolutely pathetic that Armey didn’t know that Hamilton supported a stronger federal government.

The question, of course, isn’t that difficult to answer. That Armey could only respond to it, though, by questioning Hamilton’s position in the greatest political debate in our history shows just how far discourse has devolved.