To be rendered coherent in an age of US hegemony, the logic of our constitutional order calls for a legislative federative institution, through which the perspectives of domestic and foreign audiences can be considered in dialogue, and which can shape the way US power is projected abroad. The United States occupies a unique position of […]
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Lessons from the Madness of Diogenes and John Brown
Our politics has problems. There must be a way to bring the steadfastness of a Diogenes or a John Brown into public discourse uncompromised, but in a way that is also palatable to those who turn away from the words of someone so unusual. Political scholars often look to canonical philosophy for insight into contemporary […]
Gerrymandering and Gill in Constitutional Perspective
Gerrymandering is as old as the republic itself. The siren call of court intervention is attractive but will eventually make the court just another political actor. A better solution to gerrymandering is smaller legislatures. Sometime this year the United States Supreme Court will rule on the gerrymandering case Gill vs. Whitford. Wisconsin Democrats are suing […]
Are Intellectual Property Rights Moral?
The case is hard for those challenging intellectual property. There is no coherent basis for a right to enjoy the creations of others without the compensation of or consent of their creator. “Just as sex is a God-given instinct for the prolongation of the human race, so the desire for property as a prolongation of […]
Historical Records and Historical Narratives about the Constitutional Convention
It is both prudent and just to question the reliability of the records we use when forming our historical narratives. But it is no less prudent to question the wisdom of forming constitutional narratives that seek to replace the historical records with the historian’s speculations. James Madison’s Notes of the Constitutional Convention are a much […]