De Charles Boyd. Artigo original: The Myth of the Libertarian Constitution, 30 de dezembro 2020. Traduzido para o português por Gabriel Serpa. A Constituição americana, como fora elaborada por seus criadores na Filadélfia, há muito é descrita como sendo uma garantia às liberdades individuais ante a repressão governamental. Muitos dos críticos de Donald Trump o…

The original Constitution, as designed by the framers in Philadelphia, has often been seen as guaranteeing individual freedom from government repression. Many of Donald Trump’s critics see him as undermining our nation’s foundational constitutional principles, and people and groups from Joe Biden to Black Lives Matter are often seen as trying to restore them. But…

Di Lucy Steigerwald. Originale pubblicato il 14 novembre 2017 con il titolo Who Are We Burning Flags For? Traduzione di Enrico Sanna. Il 24 ottobre scorso un giudice ha archiviato l’accusa rivolta contro diversi manifestanti che l’anno scorso hanno bruciato la bandiera americana al congresso nazionale repubblicano. Tecnicamente, i manifestanti non sono stati accusati di…

On October 24 a judge dismissed the charges levied against several protesters who burned the American flag at the Republican National Convention last year. The protesters weren’t technically charged with burning the flag because that might constitute a violation of free speech. The protesters were charged with one of the state’s many items in its…

[Di Kevin Carson. Originale pubblicato su Center for a Stateless Society l’otto ottobre 2016 con il titolo The Authoritarian Right is Naive About Human Nature. Traduzione di Enrico Sanna.] Avete mai notato l’ironia insita nel fatto che quegli stessi che dichiarano la propria sfiducia verso uno stato forte (“Amo il mio paese ma temo il…

Have you ever considered the level of irony involved in the fact that so many of the same people who claim to distrust big government (“I love my country but fear my government”) also adamantly support the police against Black Lives Matter? These people, by and large, actually worship the culture of police lawlessness as…

“America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited” by Sheldon Richman. 2016.   The American abolitionist, and pioneering individualist anarchist Lysander Spooner once wrote of the US Constitution “…this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit…

America’s Counter-Revolution: The Constitution Revisited Authored by Sheldon Richman Foreword by Jeffrey A. Tucker 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…

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be…

If the American Revolution was in some large measure a tax rebellion, we should appreciate the bitter irony that the U.S. Constitution was in some large measure a reaction to a tax rebellion. It’s another reason we can reasonably view the move toward the Constitution — toward, that is, the concentration of power in a…

The U.S. Constitution can reasonably be seen as a massive tax and mercantilist trade-promotion program. However, there’s a third leg to this stool. It was a national-security program as well — almost a proto-PATRIOT Act. Indeed, these three elements formed an integrated project: it gave the new central government independent power to raise revenue by…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Cory Massimino‘s “The Cult of the Constitution” from the Students for a Stateless Society‘s Volume 1, Issue 1 of THE NEW LEVELLER read by Stephen Ledger and edited by Nick Ford. Stossel’s guest was Timothy Sandefur, the author of The Conscience of the Constitution. Despite acknowledging the Constitution’s repeated failures at…

Drawing on work by historian Gordon S. Wood, I recently suggested that we see the U.S. Constitution not as a landmark in the struggle for liberty, but rather as a move to introduce elements of monarchy and aristocracy into an American political system that had become too democratic — among white males with property —…

I am mystified that so many libertarians still see the U.S. Constitution as a landmark achievement in the struggle for liberty. On principle alone, they should have become wary in time. A document that is adored at virtually every position in the political firmament should arouse suspicion among libertarians. Moreover a smattering of historical knowledge…

Gli attentati di Parigi del tredici novembre erano ancora in corso quando già si levavano le prime voci che chiedevano porte chiuse ai profughi in Europa e America. Per chi conosce la politica e gli obiettivi dello Stato Islamico, l’organizzazione fascista responsabile degli attentati, la tragedia è evidente. Come i tanti spacconi sciovinisti e nazionalisti…

The Paris attacks on 11/13 were hardly concluded before the first cries for excluding refugees from Europe and the U.S were shouted. The tragedy is clear to those who know the politics and goals of the Islamic State, the fascist organization responsible for the attack. Like so many western chauvinists and nationalistic goons in this country…

C4SS Feed 44 presents Chad Nelson‘s “The Boston Marathon Two Years Later – A Policeman’s Delight” read by Joey Clark and edited by Nick Ford. For Constitution-worshippers it is one more tear in the Fourth Amendment, which purportedly guarantees Americans protection from random and baseless searches by the state. But the Fourth Amendment is regularly…

The Obama Administration finally responded this week to a two-year-old petition on Whitehouse.gov requesting the pardon of Edward Snowden. 170,000 signatures and a wave of anti-NSA public sentiment later, the White House formally refused the pardon alleging unspecified damage Snowden’s leaks inflicted on American national security. The White House response made no mention of any public…

Compared to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, his colleague Clarence Thomas is well regarded by at least some devotees of liberty. This is not totally unjustified. Thomas has demonstrated a familiarity with the philosophy and history of natural law and natural rights, which he (at times) sees rooted in individual persons. For this reason, in…

Conservatives warn that the so-called liberals on the Supreme Court endanger our liberties. This is certainly true, although not exactly as the conservatives mean it. Now it’s time for them to acknowledge that the court’s conservatives do the same. Case in point: Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges (PDF), the case that declared…