The New York Times loves conservatives who hate conservatism — or at least conservatives who tend more toward a conservative populism than Big Government Bushism.

David Brooks, who famously referred to Obama as “pretty dazzling,” who has ridiculed the Tea Party, and who hates Donald Trump more than he does MoveOn.org, has a proud Times perch. But look out, David, because erstwhile George W. Bush speechwriter and current think tank guy Pete Wehner is vying for your spot. In a piece titled “The Man the Founders Feared,” Wehner (for what seems like the 155th time) attempts to take down Donald Trump as the guy whom the Framers wanted most to bar from power and who would have alarmed Lincoln just as much.

How dramatic. Wehner writes:

“Lincoln warned that a ‘mobocratic spirit’ and ‘wild and furious passions’ posed a threat to republican institutions. He also alerted people to the danger of individuals — ‘an Alexander, a Caesar or a Napoleon?’ — who, in their search for glory and power, might pose a threat to American self-government …

“Before the Constitutional Convention, Madison undertook an extraordinarily thorough study of various forms of government. How might the Constitution protect us from what Aristotle called ‘the insolence of demagogues’?

“Among the defects of ancient and modern republics, Madison wrote, were ‘popular assemblages, so quickly formed, so susceptible of contagious passions, so exposed to the misguidance of eloquent and ambitious leaders, and so apt to be tempted by the facility of forming interested majorities, into measures unjust and oppressive to the minor parties.’”

This piece is amazingly misleading and unfair, even by the standards of the New York Times. Yes, there were Founders who mistrusted the people. Yes, Madison did worry about mob rule. But in the election of 1800, when Jefferson ran as an agrarian claiming to represent the common people — and John Adams stood for the Federalist party and aristocracy — Madison supported Jefferson. And Jefferson won. And within a few years, the Federalist Party had ceased to exist.

Of course, Pete Wehner no doubt despises Jefferson — a slave-holder and demagogue. But, of course, Pete’s guy Madison also owned slaves. He was also Jefferson’s closest political ally. And Jefferson warned us against people like Pete Wehner:

“Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: 1. Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. 2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests.”

Now what about Lincoln? Surely he despised the common people, and considered their counsel useless, right? No, he did not. In fact, in his most famous speech — the Gettysburg Address — he relied upon the Declaration of Independence for the proposition that all men are created equal. (Remind me again who wrote the Declaration of Independence.) And he made it very clear that the Civil War was not fought so that a self-selected group of elites could rule over the rest of us. Instead, he said that hundreds of thousands died to preserve government “Of the People, By the People, and For the People.”

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Can anyone say that the last 15 years in America have seen government “of the People”? Of course not. We have been ruled by a class of vicious aristocrats (or wanna-be aristocrats) who despise us and do everything they can to keep power in their own hands.

What about government “by the People”? Don’t laugh. Unless you are part of a charmed circle of a few families and their hangers-on, the Pete Wehners of the world would happily slam the door of government in your face.

And don’t even get me started on government “for the People.” It may be government for some people, but only for a select few.

So, yes, Madison and Lincoln worried about the potential for demagogic passions getting out of hand. But they worried a lot more about aristocrats who cheated and lied in order to hang on to their privileges.