I'm sorry Tyler Cowen isn't going to get past the first hundred pages of Gordon S. Wood's Empire of Liberty. I would encourage him to read the part beginning on page 150 for an intriguing account of how Thomas Jefferson and James Madison persuaded poet Philip Freneau to start and edit the anti-Hamiltonian National Gazette. The following sentence is most revealing (p. 151): "After being offered a position as translator in the State Department and other promises of support, Freneau finally agreed." The lesson I take from the Madison/Jefferson/Hamilton/Freneau incident Wood discusses is that we shouldn't be naive about the capabilities or the intentions of Great Statesmen. It's a lesson worth taking to heart as we watch Climategate unfold (see here and here).