LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Don’t forget Madison

OPINION:

While I agree with Ron DeSantis’ recent piece on the egregious double standard in which our nation’s lawmakers exempt themselves from the laws they pass for the rest of us (“Of the rulers, by the rulers and for the rulers,” Commentary, Monday) I couldn’t help but notice that, while the article liberally quotes James Madison, possessor of the greatest legal mind in our history, the accompanying artwork does not feature Madison.

The tendency to overlook Madison has become a major irritant to me. Madison is chiefly responsible for the creation of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, two of the three documents on which our nation is founded, and yet history pays him so little attention. No national holiday is set aside in his honor, no imposing monument to him exists. Indeed, it wasn’t until 1981 that a federal building in Washington was even named after him (the James Madison wing of the Library of Congress), and even his wife Dolley gets more press than he does.

Let’s afford Madison the prominence he deserves.

BRUCE G. KAUFFMANN

Alexandria