Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.  — James Madison

My Take – President Madison just made the best case for the Second Amendment and the separation of State and Federal power that I’ve ever heard.  The federal government ought to be as small as we can get away with, with as much power as possible pushed as far down the chain of federal-state-county-local as we possibly can.  All of them ought to have a healthy respect for a population with not only the inclination to oppose them, but the tools necessary to resist them.