Individual Autonomy

February 9, 2014|Adam Smith, Georg Hegel, Individual Autonomy, Market Economy, Philosophy of Right, Theory of Moral Sentiments, Two Narratives of Political Economy, Wealth of Nations

To Make a Market

by Nicholas Capaldi|

The author has two avowed aims: first, to show how Adam Smith and Georg Hegel have defined the debate in political economy, and, second, to address normative issues raised in ‘market societies’. As part of this framework, Herzog a) insists that markets cannot be understood apart from their larger contexts, hence the stress on political-economy as opposed to a narrow conception of economics (i.e., University of Chicago); and b) recognizes that normative issues are not adequately addressed in political theory that ignores markets and is restricted by the individual vs. community debate (pp. 61-62, 80). The presumptions are that markets…

January 21, 2014|

Patrick Garry’s Reply to Responders

by Patrick M. Garry|

I am honored to be a part of this debate on the Bill of Rights with such accomplished and knowledgeable scholars. The three responding essays by Dr. Bowling, Professor Erler and Professor Ramsey provide keen insights on constitutional law and history. Indeed, the historical discussions in the three essays are more detailed than is my lead essay. And for this, I give my highest compliments to the responders. Their discussion demonstrates the vital importance of history in constitutional interpretation. More than just demonstrating the importance of history, however, the responders also reveal the kind of inquiry and perspective needed for an…

January 9, 2014|

Limited Government and Individual Autonomy

by Michael D. Ramsey|

In response to: The Constitution’s Structural Limitations on Power Should Be the Focus of the Bill of Rights

The nation's founding documents displayed under subdued light at the National Archives, Washington, D.C. Image: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. LC-DIG-highsm-15688 (digital file from original)

Patrick Garry’s essay “The Constitution’s Structural Limits on Power Should Be the Focus of the Bill of Rights” contains many valuable insights. In particular, it re-affirms the proposition – lost for many years but perhaps gaining some new currency – that the so-called “structural” provisions of the Constitution are, and were intended to be, not merely matters of mundane and perhaps outdated institutional design but core protections of individual liberty. Further, it rightly emphasizes that the antifederalist-inspired Bill of Rights amendments work together with the Constitution’s structural provisions to limit government and promote individual liberty by reducing the federal government’s…

Natural Rights and the Limited Government Model of the Constitution: A Response to Patrick Garry

by Edward J. Erler

There is much to commend Professor Garry’s essay. He is eminently correct in saying that the Constitution contemplated a limited government. Whether it adhered to a “limited government model” is a different issue. What is more than curious, however, is Professor Garry’s statement that the “the overall scheme of the original Constitution” is primarily concerned with…

The Constitution Created an Expansive, not a Strictly Limited Federal Government

by Kenneth R. Bowling

The revolution of 1787-1791 overthrew a constitution that strictly limited the federal government in favor of one with general welfare and necessary and proper clauses that allowed the federal government to absorb state powers over time. It also tossed out the dogma of separation of powers in favor of a more sophisticated balance of powers.…

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.