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Thread: America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited

  1. #1

    America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited


    America's Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited

    This book challenges the assumption that the Constitution was a landmark in the struggle for liberty.

    Instead, Sheldon Richman argues, it was the product of a counter-revolution, a setback for the radicalism represented by America’s break with the British empire. Drawing on careful, credible historical scholarship and contemporary political analysis, Richman suggests that this counter-revolution was the work of conservatives who sought a nation of “power, consequence, and grandeur.” America’s Counter-Revolution makes a persuasive case that the Constitution was a victory not for liberty but for the agendas and interests of a militaristic, aristocratic, privilege-seeking ruling class.


    The Anti-Federalists were right: The pursuit of "national greatness" inevitably diminishes liberty and centralizes government. The U.S. Constitution did both, as Sheldon Richman demonstrates in this powerfully argued anarchist case against the blueprint for empire known as the U.S. Constitution.
    --Bill Kauffman, author, Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin


    The libertarian movement has long suffered from a constitutional fetishism that embraces an ahistorical reverence for the U.S. Constitution. Far too many are unaware of the extent to which the framing and adoption of the Constitution was in fact a setback for the cause of liberty. Sheldon Richman, in a compilation of readable, well researched, and compelling essays, exposes the historical, theoretical, and strategic errors in the widespread reification of a purely political document. With no single correct interpretation, the Constitution has been predictably unable to halt the growth of the modern welfare-warfare American State. I urge all proponents of a free society to give his book their diligent attention.
    --Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Professor, San Jose State University; author, Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War


    "No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the sentiments they express. It is one of the many virtues of Sheldon Richman's book that it shows how this is true even of the American Constitution, which despite the promises of its designers and the insistence of its defenders down the years, made limited government less and not more likely."
    --Chandran Kukathas, London School of Economics


    “Richman delivers an accessible, incisive, and well-grounded argument that the Constitution centralized power and undid some of the Revolution’s liberating gains. He rebuts patriotic platitudes but avoids the crude contrarianism so common in libertarian revisionism written for popular consumption. He does not romanticize America’s past or overstate his case. Radical and nuanced, deferential to freedom and historical truth, Richman rises above hagiography or demonization of either the Federalists or anti-Federalists to produce an unsurpassed libertarian exploration of the subject.”
    — Anthony Gregory, Independent Institute


    “[A]fter reading this book, you will never think about the U.S. Constitution and America’s founding the same way again. Sheldon Richman’s revealing and remarkably well-argued narrative will permanently change your outlook. . . . Richman . . . [is] one of this country’s most treasured thinkers and writers . . . . [H]e draws on the most contemporary and important scholarly research, while putting the evidence in prose that is accessible and compelling.”
    — Jeffrey A. Tucker, Liberty.me and Foundation for Economic Education


    http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Counter-Revolution-Constitution-Sheldon-Richman/dp/0692687912/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464017802&sr=8-1&keywords=sheldon+richman



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  3. #2
    Can't say I disagree with this assessment. I've always held the Anti-Feds were correct in their original warnings against such a document. Patrick Henry sure knew what this beast would become...

    If they can stand the temptations of human nature, you are safe. If you have a good President, Senators and Representatives, there is no danger.--But can this be expected from human nature? Without real checks it will not suffice, that some of them are good. A good President, or Senator, or Representative, will have a natural weakness.--Virtue will slumber. The wicked will be continually watching: Consequently you will be undone.
    - Patrick Henry, Virginia Convention

    And now here we are.... virtue hath $#@!ing slumbered and we are $#@!ing undone.
    There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
    -Major General Smedley Butler, USMC,
    Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Winner
    Author of, War is a Racket!

    It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.
    - Diogenes of Sinope

  4. #3
    Yep.

    The Constitution was a Hamiltonian Coup to install a powerful central government.
    There is no spoon.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by jllundqu View Post
    Can't say I disagree with this assessment. I've always held the Anti-Feds were correct in their original warnings against such a document. Patrick Henry sure knew what this beast would become...

    - Patrick Henry, Virginia Convention

    And now here we are.... virtue hath $#@!ing slumbered and we are $#@!ing undone.
    It is because the Wicked are continually watching .

  6. #5
    "No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the sentiments they express."
    It is the responsibility of the people to limit government, by refusing to participate in unconstitutional acts. Whether or not the Constitution enabled the centralization of power, it is the apathy of the people that really contributes to liberty's demise. Because of this, law is necessary to restrict government; but the government will only follow the law when the people insist. Government will never limit itself, and no variation on founding documents will change that.
    Whatever the intent was in adopting the Constitution, it isn't the text that is to blame.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by fedupinmo View Post
    "No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the sentiments they express."
    It is the responsibility of the people to limit government, by refusing to participate in unconstitutional acts. Whether or not the Constitution enabled the centralization of power, it is the apathy of the people that really contributes to liberty's demise. Because of this, law is necessary to restrict government; but the government will only follow the law when the people insist. Government will never limit itself, and no variation on founding documents will change that.
    Whatever the intent was in adopting the Constitution, it isn't the text that is to blame.
    Wake up the catatonic, brainwashed, propagandized, fluoridated flocks.

    https://mises.org/files/politics-obe...token=zbomqyzz
    Last edited by Ronin Truth; 05-24-2016 at 08:17 AM.

  8. #7
    The moment you dump certain assumptions about America, this all comes into fairly clear focus.

    The official rhetoric (America the free, and all that rot) and the reality do not accord well at all. This is why I so often remind people that the Constitution was foisted upon the people of this land. And I mean that in the most unflattering sense.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by fedupinmo View Post
    "No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the sentiments they express."


    Reads like Spooner.

    It is the responsibility of the people to limit government
    SACRILEGE!

    by refusing to participate in unconstitutional acts.
    But... but... CONGRESS... vested... Oh hell... GLOBAL WARMING!

    Whether or not the Constitution enabled the centralization of power, it is the apathy of the people that really contributes to liberty's demise.
    More generally stated, it is the corruption of people, regardless of the line.

    Because of this, law is necessary to restrict government; but the government will only follow the law when the people insist. Government will never limit itself, and no variation on founding documents will change that.
    And yet, law appears only to restrict "the people" anymore.

    Whatever the intent was in adopting the Constitution, it isn't the text that is to blame.
    Tell that to the dopes who want the A5 convention.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by fedupinmo View Post
    "No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the sentiments they express."
    It is the responsibility of the people to limit government, by refusing to participate in unconstitutional acts. Whether or not the Constitution enabled the centralization of power, it is the apathy of the people that really contributes to liberty's demise. Because of this, law is necessary to restrict government; but the government will only follow the law when the people insist. Government will never limit itself, and no variation on founding documents will change that.
    Whatever the intent was in adopting the Constitution, it isn't the text that is to blame.
    Nope, not buying it...the framers knew exactly what human nature was and is, and should not have moved forward, especially after having been warned by the anti federalists, what would happen after having established a powerful central government.

  12. #10
    My first post on these forums will be to concur in the sentiments of Ronin Truth and Ender.

    The Anti-Federalists were more correct than they will ever know.

    Note that I concur with Spooner's view of the Constitution.

    Hamilton knew exactly what he was doing and what the Constitution would ultimately bring.

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Chaotic Neutral View Post
    My first post on these forums will be to concur in the sentiments of Ronin Truth and Ender.

    The Anti-Federalists were more correct than they will ever know.

    Note that I concur with Spooner's view of the Constitution.

    Hamilton knew exactly what he was doing and what the Constitution would ultimately bring.
    Welcome to the RPF, you seem to be our kind of folks.

    Enjoy!

    "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." -- Samuel Adams

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Ronin Truth View Post
    Welcome to the RPF, you seem to be our kind of folks.

    Enjoy!

    "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." -- Samuel Adams
    Thanks.



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