Restoring the Constitution

[Valin]

Claremont Review of Books. :

 

James W. Ceaser

5/22/12

 

A widespread sentiment today, especially among conservatives, holds that if America could just get back to the Constitution, the nation would go a long way to resolving its greatest challenges. This sentiment has produced celebrations of our Constitution at Tea Party rallies, the printing and distribution of tens of thousands of handsome pocket versions, and a solemn reading of the entire document in the House of Representatives last year.

 

Such displays of enthusiasm are heartening, but they are no substitute for hard analysis. If the Constitution is being offered as the solution, it is necessary to specify what the problem is and how a revival of constitutionalism would help to fix it.

 

America's future well-being is threatened today by a federal government characterized by a stunning lack of discipline, as it piles up debt at an unsustainable rate. The symbol of this pathology in the public mind is Greece, a nation that has spent itself into bankruptcy without apparent shame or regret. By coincidence, the authors of The Federalist also pointed to the example of Greece, classical Greece in their case, to illustrate the greatest challenge to popular government in their day: majority faction. By this James Madison meant the enactment of policies, usually encouraged by demagogic leaders, that threaten "the rights of other citizens, or...the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."

 

Although our Greek problem may look different on the surface, it is in reality a version of the same thing. A majority from one generation is dispossessing the generation to come. Political leaders try to hide this fact by calling new spending programs "investments," but fewer and fewer citizens are fooled by such obvious sophistry. Thomas Jefferson best expressed the injustice and irresponsibility of intergenerational factionalism: "suppose that...[a previous] generation had said to the money lenders...give us money that we may eat, drink, and be merry in our day;... Would the present generation be obliged to apply the produce of the earth and of their labour to replace their dissipations?"

 

 

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