Download or read book Reconstructing Public Administration for the Commercial Republic Part I written by Brian J. Cook and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing extensively on Stephen L. Elkin's Reconstructing the Commercial Republic (2006), I review the essential features of James Madison's constitutional design for the American republic. Madison remains our most perceptive and reliable guide for thinking constitutionally about republican governance, but his design is flawed. I review those flaws, and the regime developments that have exacerbated them, especially the rise of the administrative state. The chief problem is the vastly greater extent of the influence of business interests in the councils of government, far beyond the political advantages for the propertied class that Madison designed into the system. With the operation of the separation of powers, and the incentive for deliberative lawmaking, also out of alignment with Madison's design intentions, I propose the elevation of the now infamous fourth branch - administration - to the status of constitutional co-equal with the other branches. I present initial arguments for the ways in which a fourth, administration branch might help restore key elements of the Madisonian design, specifically by enhancing the chances of deliberative lawmaking, improving the functioning of the separation of powers, and broadening the interests of the propertied class. I close by outlining the tasks for the second part of my analysis, to be taken up in a subsequent paper.