Good afternoon everyone, honored guests, 
members of the Montpelier board of directors, 
President Imhauf, the Montpelier staff,
 members of the James Madison University
 board of visitors, faculty, students, alumni,
 family, friends, and fellow Madison enthusiasts, 
it’s my great honor to speak at this hollow place. 
As you know on this day 262 years ago 
James Madison was born. Such a gesture 
is especially meaningful on this day and at
 this place in terms of the Reeds 41 but 
perhaps more so more than any other
 President or founder, James Madison is 
responsible for the creation and the miraculous
 endurance of our republic. Known as the father 
of the constitution, James Madison’s 
contributions to our nation should be
 remembered by every American. 
The sacred fire of liberty lit by Madison’s
 ideas burns to this day and draws us here
 to honor him. I came to Montpelier for the 
first time only a few months ago as a great 
admirer of James Madison to be here the trip 
felt like a pilgrimage. When the mansion first 
came into view as we made our way up the
 long sweeping drive I was struck by the majesty 
of the moment. As we feel when in the presence
 of greatness. During that visit Montpelier
 board president Greg May invited me to speak 
at this annual event as we strolled down a 
pathway Madison himself must have walked 
many times. I could not have been more 
honored. Indeed this is a ream come true
 for me. As a political science major and 
history minor in college I read many of the
 same texts Madison himself studied as 
well as Madison’s own work. Even as a 
young child I admired the creative genius 
of our forefathers. While other kids had 
stuffed animals or model airplanes displayed
 in their bedrooms. On my dresser I proudly 
exhibited a set of small ceramic statues of the 
American presidents. I like to root for 
underdogs and I was always partial to 
Madison because he was the shortest statue. 
Today his picture hangs proudly in my office.
 As many of you know Montpelier and 
James Madison University have long 
had a special bond. It began when
 Dr. Clarence Guier, an archeologist 
at Madison arranged an acarology 
field school here at Montpelier more than 
25 years ago. Our students and faculty 
have been coming to Montpelier ever 
since and have participated in digs all 
across the grounds. Except for right here of course.
 They are not allowed to dig in this 
particular area, you never know with undergraduates. 
From then the relationship between 
our two institutions has blossomed.  
This past November a bus containing
 JMU faculty, staff, and me, as well as
 my wife Marian, and daughter Eleanor,
 came here to spend the day brainstorming
 with the Montpelier leadership and staff in 
ways to deepen our relationship even further. 
The primary objective of this deeper relationship
 is to bring more attention to James Madison and his ideas.
 This objective reflects the missions 
of our two great institutions, but it must go 
beyond those gathered here today. 
As a nation, we are in a great need of what
 I call a return to Madison. It’s true that during 
the past few years more and more American
 citizens are professing respect for the US constitution. 
The document was read on the floor of the 
US House of Representatives for only the 
second time in History this past January. 
In fact representative Bob Goodlaugh 
of Virginia’s 6th district, JMU’s district opened 
the reading with a delivery of the 
documents Preamble. That’s a good start, but 
as a nation we must go much further.
 For this newfound reverence for the 
constitution to elevate us as a nation, 
we must explore and gain a deeper
 understanding of the principles on which the 
constitution is based. We must return to Madison. 
Now by suggesting this return I don’t
 mean we become a nation of history buffs, 
although that would be OK with me, rather
 a return to Madison would provide us with
 very real and practical insights into how 
we as a society should confront issues facing us all. 
Starting with a realistic view of human 
nature Madison believed that politics was 
driven by interests, not virtue. In his excellent work, 
The Sacred Fire of Liberty, Madison scholar
 Lance Fanning, captured his core principle he wrote, 
Madison did not assume that a republic 
could depend upon a super human readiness 
to sacrifice self interest for the common good. 
Taking humans for the interested, opinionated, 
creatures they are Madison asserted that in a 
pluralistic large republic partial interest 
would be counter balanced by competed interests. 
This was not new political thinking of course. 
During the 16th century in Florence, 
Machiavelli who’s work was more nuance
 then is often remembered today, 
explored what he called the effectual
 truth of politics. In other words as Paul Rohey
 writes in his book, Machiavelli’s liberal 
republic legacy, in order to avoid their ruin 
and achieve their preservation men should
 govern themselves in accordance with 
how they do behave rather than in the 
distorting way on how they ought to. 
So Madison’s great innovation was to devise 
a system of government hat sought to create 
political and civic conditions allowing the
 interests of individual citizens, groups, regions,
 and other entities, to balance one another so
 that no one could over take the rest. He 
recognized that we would be a society of 
diverse perspectives and experiences and
 that we needed a structure that would 
allow that diversity to flourish. Today while 
publically professing faith in the constitution 
as a document we have seem to have 
forgotten the essential element. Far too often 
our public discourse on the important 
challenges of our time degenerates into 
shallow shouting matches and name 
calling in which we cry for the elimination 
of opposing views on political, social, economic,
 and cultural issues. The people we despise 
across the political isle, the fools on the television 
spouting their ridiculously wrong headed opinions.
 The heathens who believe in a 
different God than we do. We not only hold 
them in utter contempt we behave as if we 
want their ideas extinguished, and if they 
were extinguished Oh, if they were only 
extinguished, we believe the world to be 
a better place. If only we all agreed on everything 
wouldn’t that be great? Yet, we must 
be careful f what we wish for. If that kind of wish 
were to come true, not only would our lives 
be much more boring, but our society would
 stop progressing and stagnate. Our return to
 Madison would shine a light on the fact that 
the strengths of our republic rely on the 
existence of opposing ideas and perspectives.
 Without the diversity of ideas and opinions
 our civic balance would tilt and our system
 would eventually topple. The great man we
 honor today knew this was true and boy
 do we need a return to Madison. Madison’s 
federalist Ten is recognized the world over as 
one of f the great examples of political thought 
in history. You might remember that 
Madison published the Federalist with
 Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in 
newspapers while the states were considering
 whether to ratify the proposed constitution.
 Of these 85 essays, Madison’s 10th is considered
 to be one of the best, and it’s about balancing 
competing interests. I love it for the philosophy
 it expresses, but also because it contains one 
of his most elegant terms of a phrase. If you 
have read much Madison you know his writing 
can be dense and optical, he’s not often quoted 
in todays sound bite culture. But in the federalist 
ten he wrote, “liberty is to faction, what air is to fire.”
 Think about that, Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire. 
He was making the point that liberty creates
 a nourishing environment for faction. At the
 time great fear existed that too much liberty 
could lead to dangerous factions emerging,
 but he was resolute and said, but it could 
not be of less folly to abolish liberty, which
 is essential to political life because it nourishes
 faction then it would be to wish the annihilation 
of air which is essential to animal life because 
it imparts to fire its destructive agency. 
So he is saying, even though liberty allows 
faction to thrive it should not be curtailed. 
Thus, Madison advocated for liberty 
despite its dangers and he was sure to 
remind his readers that mans passionately 
held views are imperfect. So if we claim to 
respect our constitution, understand this 
fundamental premise. We have a responsibility
 to change the ton of much of our civic dialogue.  
Think about that, to change the tone of our civic dialogue.
 If Madison were here today I believe he
 would remind us of our human limitations
 when we encounter and react to opinions
 that differ from our own. We can all benefit 
from trying to listen to and understand the 
views of others with civility and respect even 
as we hold and dispose our own cherished points of view. 
As the president of the university 
named for James Madison I feel strongly 
that our institution can best honor his 
legacy by embracing the diversity of 
perspectives and backgrounds in our 
society while fostering an modeling civil 
and respectful discourse on the great issues of our time.
 This is part of the reason why 
I began my own presidency with a 
listening tour to hear and learn from
 the richly diverse voices and opinions
 of our university community. In my inaugural address
 yesterday I called for James Madison University
 to be the national model for the engaged university. 
An institution that combines a 
commitment to teaching and learning
 with a conviction that all humans are interconnected. 
This combination embodies James Madison’s ideas. 
If we enlighten ourselves through education
 and believe that we are all connected, 
even with those of whom we passionately disagree,
 we honor Madison. Another hallmark of 
our institution will be to continue to deepen 
the relationship between our university 
and Montpelier, and some of these ideas
 are already taking shape.  For instance, 
our faculties are working together to create
 a course about James Madison and his 
ideas that includes online and in person
 instruction as well as visits here. And it
 will be available to our students and to 
the general public. As we celebrated Madison 
week these past few days, Montpelier has 
honored our university by loaning several
 artifacts from its own collection. These exchanges
 are reminders of the man to who we owe so much. 
Our educational initiatives can go a long
 way to motivate those who profess their 
faith in the constitution, to deepen 
their understanding of its underlying principles
, and thus inspire a return to Madison. 
As an advocate of education and an ardent
 student himself, I believe Madison 
would have enjoyed meeting todays 
students who benefit from his legacy 
in this free and civil society. I wonder how 
he would have felt meeting students attending 
a university named for him. We have several 
with us here today. Can you come and join 
me for a moment. As many of you know, 
JMU has a robust study abroad program. 
Along with our rector in others, several 
of our study abroad programs this summer
 will be visited by a number of us. 
One of our stops will be in Florence. 
The great city where republican thought 
reemerged during the sixteenth century. 
Machiavelli was the most influential 
political thinker of that time and his
 work influenced Madison greatly. 
In fact, Machiavelli appears in one of 
James Madison’s adolescent commonplace books.
 A commonplace book was like an academic diary. 
Students during the era in which 
Madison grew up beautifully filled 
their commonplace books with 
notations, quotations, and poetry.
 Students of our era such as these fine 
students and I will visit the gravesite of
 Machiavelli at the Basilica of Santa Croce
 in central Florence this summer. 
Well take with us the moving experience of 
being here at James Madison’s gravesite 
and reflect on the republican ideal of 
which both men and so many people 
throughout history have grappled. 
Its quite fitting that students attending 
a university named for James Madison 
make this journey, connect these places, 
and contemplate their meaning.  With this symbolic
 gesture we hope to inspire all the students 
at James Madison University, the visitors to Montpelier,
 and all who bare witness to return to Madison. 
Lets go from this ceremony with a renewed sense 
of our role as citizens and of the power we
 have to live the ideals James Madison 
handed down to us through the ages.  
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