Legislative Research: Essential Roles and Standards of Excellence

Extract

“Knowledge willforever govern ignorance; and if a people would govern themselves, theymustfirst arm themselves with the power that knowledge brings.”

James Madison (4^th President of the United States, and credited with being the primary author of the U.S. Constitution)

The founding fathers of the U.S. Constitution had an abiding faith in the power that knowledge bestows. The notion that “knowledge is power” dates back to the teachings of philosophers (from Bacon to Nietzsche), and was understood and practiced long before that by statesmen, scoundrels, and spies of all ages. The ancient Chinese ruled for millennia by maintaining a monopoly on knowledge and education.