“A republic ... if you can keep it.” We’ve all heard Benjamin Franklin’s famous “constitution day” line. But he wasn’t warning about government, or even the Constitution itself. He was warning us - about us. In his final speech at the Philadelphia Convention, Franklin also issued another warning - a dire prediction of how it would all end. In this episode, we dig into those warnings to understand what “keeping it” really meant to Franklin, Madison, Adams, Dickinson, and so many others who knew that words on paper would never be enough.

George Washington didn’t retire quietly - in his Farewell Address, he warned America what was coming. He described how power-hungry factions would tear the country apart, poisoning debate, inviting corruption, and driving people to trade freedom for false security. The result? A “frightful despotism” - permanent tyranny rising from within. The most chilling part? His dire warning is the one almost everyone ignores today.

Most people hear “invasion” and think of foreign armies crossing borders. But to the Founders and Old Revolutionaries the biggest danger was something very different - and far closer to home. In this episode, we uncover their warnings about a threat few talk about today.

Thomas Paine’s brutal demolition of a scam more dangerous than kings is one almost no one ever learns about. He showed how this scheme corrupts society, destroys trust, and unleashes evils that never end. On this episode of Path to Liberty, we dig into Paine’s forgotten warning about the oldest scam in America - and his verdict that still hits home today.

Constitution vs Articles of Confederation? Instead of a government that acted through the states, the constitution created something radically different - and almost no one today understands what that change really was. But the Framers told us, over and over.

Two vague words gave Congress unlimited power. It’s the greatest Constitutional scam in American history. In 1791, Alexander Hamilton laid down the blueprint. Jefferson, Madison, and others immediately called it a profound betrayal, warning that if Hamilton’s view won, every other limit on power would be meaningless. This was the turning point for the future of the republic - and the story they never want you to know.

Hamilton vs Madison and Jefferson. The first great economic debate under the Constitution was about tariffs, and it actually started under the Articles of Confederation. But the debate wasn’t about protectionism vs free trade. It was dueling forms of government intervention.

George Mason said the militia consisted of the whole people. Today, that definition has been twisted, ignored, or totally forgotten. Talk about militia and most people will look at you like some kind of fringe nutjob. But the founders saw the militia as a highly armed and trained general population that was essential to the security and liberty of a free republic. In this episode, we dig into what that really meant, the Anti-Federalist warnings about congressional power over the militia, and how they absolutely called it.