Vol. 42, No. 10
10/01/2026
Wolverton’s Warning | Many Laws, One Sick Republic
In 1721, two Englishmen writing under the name “Cato” told their readers something no congressman will ever tell you: “Law is therefore a sign of the corruption of man; and many laws are signs of the corruption of a state.”
Read it twice. Then go look at the Federal Register.
John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon were not obscure cranks. Cato’s Letters were reprinted in every Colonial newspaper from Boston to Savannah. Jefferson and Madison copied them into their commonplace books. When our Founders reasoned about power, this is the voice they heard in their heads. We have forgotten it. Washington counts on that.
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