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Arnold Kling reminds me of this Woodrow Wilson stunner:
I am not repeating the famous sentence of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, “to the end that this may be a government of laws and not of men.” There never was such a government. Constitute them how you will, governments are always governments of men, and no [...] ... Continue reading »
I am not repeating the famous sentence of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, “to the end that this may be a government of laws and not of men.” There never was such a government. Constitute them how you will, governments are always governments of men, and no [...] ... Continue reading »
1 year ago
Members of all three branches of the federal government now act with near impunity in stretching the Constitution to suit their political objectives and personal preferences. This development is illustrated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act; reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act; the alternative minimum tax; the REAL ID Act; presidential signing statements; warrantless domestic electronic surveillance; the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America; and Supreme Court decisions on eminent domain, the commerce clause, and the First Amendment.
http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/art...>
So here Charlotte Twight documents how all three branches of our government formally changed the law, procedurally legit in most cases if not constitutionally (uh, until they change that), and yet it's hard not to notice how utterly indicative this is of a government of (wo)men, not laws.
1 year ago