Download or read book Our Secret Constitution written by George P. Fletcher and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-01-16 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans hate and distrust their government. At the same time, Americans love and trust their government. These contradictory attitudes are resolved by Fletcher's novel interpretation of constitutional history. He argues that we have two constitutions--still living side by side--one that caters to freedom and fear, the other that satisfied our needs for security and social justice. The first constitution came into force in 1789. It stresses freedom, voluntary association, and republican elitism. The second constitution begins with the Gettysburg Address and emphasizes equality, organic nationhood, and popular democracy. These radical differences between our two constitutions explain our ambivalence and self-contradictory attitudes toward government. With September 11 the second constitution--which Fletcher calls the Secret Constitution--has become ascendant. When America is under threat, the nation cultivates its solidarity. It overcomes its fear and looks to government for protection and the pursuit of social justice. Lincoln's messages of a strong government and a nation that must "long endure" have never been more relevant to American politics. "Fletcher's argument has intriguing implications beyond the sweeping subject of this profoundly thought-provoking book."--The Denver Post

Download or read book American Treasures written by Stephen Puleo and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-08-30 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic, never-before-told stories behind the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address: America's crown jewels that define its commitment to freedom.

Download or read book Our Lost Constitution written by Mike Lee and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2016-06-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The still-unfolding story of America’s Constitution is a history of heroes and villains—the flawed visionaries who inspired and crafted liberty’s safeguards, and the shortsighted opportunists who defied them. Those stories are known by few today. In Our Lost Constitution, Senator Mike Lee tells the dramatic, little-known stories behind six of the Constitution’s most indispensible provisions. He shows their rise. He shows their fall. And he makes vividly clear how nearly every abuse of federal power today is rooted in neglect of this Lost Constitution. For example: • The Origination Clause says that all bills to raise taxes must originate in the House of Representatives, but contempt for the clause ensured the passage of Obamacare. • The Fourth Amendment protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures, but the NSA now collects our private data without a warrant. • The Legislative Powers Clause means that only Congress can pass laws, but unelected agencies now produce ninety-nine out of every one hundred pages of legal rules imposed on the American people. Lee’s cast of characters includes a former Ku Klux Klansman, who hijacked the Establishment Clause to strangle Catholic schools; the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who called the Second Amendment a fraud; and the revered president who began his first of four terms by threating to shatter the balance of power between Congress and the president, and who began his second term by vowing to do the same to the Supreme Court. Fortunately, the Constitution has always had its defenders. Senator Lee tells the story of how Andrew Jackson, noted for his courage in duels and politics, stood firm against the unconstitutional expansion of federal powers. He brings to life Ben Franklin’s genius for compromise at a deeply divided constitutional convention. And he tells how in 2008, a couple of unlikely challengers persuaded the Supreme Court to rediscover the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms. Sections of the Constitution may have been forgotten, but it’s not too late to bring them back—if only we remember why we once demanded them and how we later lost them. Drawing on his experience working in all three branches of government, Senator Lee makes a bold case for resurrecting the Lost Constitution to restore and defend our fundamental liberties.

Download or read book The People s Constitution written by John F. Kowal and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 233-year story of how the American people have taken an imperfect constitution—the product of compromises and an artifact of its time—and made it more democratic Who wrote the Constitution? That’s obvious, we think: fifty-five men in Philadelphia in 1787. But much of the Constitution was actually written later, in a series of twenty-seven amendments enacted over the course of two centuries. The real history of the Constitution is the astonishing story of how subsequent generations have reshaped our founding document amid some of the most colorful, contested, and controversial battles in American political life. It’s a story of how We the People have improved our government’s structure and expanded the scope of our democracy during eras of transformational social change. The People’s Constitution is an elegant, sobering, and masterly account of the evolution of American democracy. From the addition of the Bill of Rights, a promise made to save the Constitution from near certain defeat, to the post–Civil War battle over the Fourteenth Amendment, from the rise and fall of the “noble experiment” of Prohibition to the defeat and resurgence of an Equal Rights Amendment a century in the making, The People’s Constitution is the first book of its kind: a vital guide to America’s national charter, and an alternative history of the continuing struggle to realize the Framers’ promise of a more perfect union.

Download or read book What Does the Constitution Actually Say written by Ben Sheehan and published by Black Dog & Leventhal. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you know what the Constitution ACTUALLY says? This witty and highly relevant annotation of our founding document is the go-to guide to how our government really works (or is supposed to work). Written by political savant and entertainment veteran, Ben Sheehan, and vetted for accuracy by experts in the field of constitutional law, OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say? is an entertaining and accessible guide that explains what the Constitution actually lays out. With clear notes and graphics on everything from presidential powers to Supreme Court nominations to hidden loopholes, Sheehan walks us through the entire Constitution from its preamble to its final amendment (with a bonus section on the Declaration of Independence). Besides putting the Constitution in modern-day English so that it can be understood, OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say? gives readers all of the info they need to be effective voters and citizens in the November elections and beyond.

Download or read book Toward an American Revolution written by Gerald John Fresia and published by South End Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In simple direct language, Jerry Fresia reveals the true intent of our "Founding Fathers" who designed the Constitution to protect their property and ensure that the poorer majority would have no real voice in political affairs. Fresia reveals the Founders' fears of "too much" democracy, why the Constitution was opposed by most Americans, and how its ratification was gained through deception and physical coercion. Toward an American Revolution shows how the illegal wars, domestic repression, and economic inequity of late twentieth century America are not incongruous with our Constitutional design. Book jacket.

Download or read book We The People written by Aura Lewis and published by Wide Eyed Editions. This book was released on 2020-07-01 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: See the US Constitution in a new light with this bold, modern and accessible illustrated guide to the document that helped define democracy. With the unprecedented events and actions that have tested the American political system over the last several years, including the violent overtaking of the U.S. Capitol Building, there has never been a better time to take a closer look at the Constitution, the bedrock of U.S. politics. As part of the critical discussion of current events at school and at home, inquisitive minds will have their questions vividly answered – and new ones raised – by a mix of striking illustrations and clear, engaging text, including passages from the Constitution given in plain English. As well as a detailed history covering the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights and all Amendments, discover how this milestone in American democracy shapes and is shaped by the world at large. We The People shows that, far from a fusty old piece of paper, the US Constitution is a living, evolving rule book that is as relevant today as it has ever been. A fresh take on a monumental document, navigating in style its history and its life today. Excerpts from the Constitution are presented here in plain English to help young thinkers better understand the role it plays in everyday life. Accessible, energetic text accompanied by contemporary, powerful illustrations allows children aged 10 and older to re-think the Constitution in a totally new way. A balanced examination that does not shy away from addressing the difficulties of interpreting and adapting the Constitution for the modern world. We The People takes the Constitution out of its display case, blows off the dust and re-imagines this piece of history for the next generation.

Download or read book The Constitution Under Siege written by Christopher H. Pyle and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Constitution Under Siege is a provocative teaching instrument that uses law, history, and politics to test what the law arguably "is" against assertions of what it "ought" to be. It examines the questionable impulses of presidents, members of Congress, the military, and intelligence agencies to bend or break the Constitution and the laws. In questioning the legitimacy of raw assertions of unaccountable power, the editors reject both the illustrative case approach of political scientists and precedent-driven approach of lawyers, supplementing key court cases with historically-rich essays, notes, and questions. These essays explain where our nation's "first principles" came from, and why they became imbedded, at least until recently, in our laws and institutions. Above all, these materials will prompt the reader to ask how, and by what authority, presidents, Congress, and even courts have come to allow the military and secret agencies to kidnap, torture, assassinate, or secretly detain citizens or aliens, and to use military and para-military force without running afoul of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. "This superb book, written by two of the nation's most acute analysts of law and politics, provides readers with materials indispensable to an understanding of the many dubious assertions of governmental power, by both presidents and Congress, that have rocked the foundations of our republic. ... It is must reading for all those concerned about the future of constitutional government." -- David Gray Adler, James McClure Professor of Public Policy at the University of Idaho "The Constitution Under Siege offers unparalleled insights arising from the authors' singular mastery of documents, events, and law. From the Barbary pirates to Islamic terrorism, no single source more definitively instructs the reader as it interweaves American law and policy abroad. This is an indispensable book." -- Robert J. Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor, SUNY, Cortland

Download or read book Keeping Faith with the Constitution written by Goodwin Liu and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chief Justice John Marshall argued that a constitution "requires that only its great outlines should be marked [and] its important objects designated." Ours is "intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs." In recent years, Marshall's great truths have been challenged by proponents of originalism and strict construction. Such legal thinkers as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argue that the Constitution must be construed and applied as it was when the Framers wrote it. In Keeping Faith with the Constitution, three legal authorities make the case for Marshall's vision. They describe their approach as "constitutional fidelity"--not to how the Framers would have applied the Constitution, but to the text and principles of the Constitution itself. The original understanding of the text is one source of interpretation, but not the only one; to preserve the meaning and authority of the document, to keep it vital, applications of the Constitution must be shaped by precedent, historical experience, practical consequence, and societal change. The authors range across the history of constitutional interpretation to show how this approach has been the source of our greatest advances, from Brown v. Board of Education to the New Deal, from the Miranda decision to the expansion of women's rights. They delve into the complexities of voting rights, the malapportionment of legislative districts, speech freedoms, civil liberties and the War on Terror, and the evolution of checks and balances. The Constitution's framers could never have imagined DNA, global warming, or even women's equality. Yet these and many more realities shape our lives and outlook. Our Constitution will remain vital into our changing future, the authors write, if judges remain true to this rich tradition of adaptation and fidelity.

Download or read book How to Save a Constitutional Democracy written by Tom Ginsburg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-10-05 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democracies are in danger. Around the world, a rising wave of populist leaders threatens to erode the core structures of democratic self-rule. In the United States, the tenure of Donald Trump has seemed decisive turning point for many. What kind of president intimidates jurors, calls the news media the “enemy of the American people,” and seeks foreign assistance investigating domestic political rivals? Whatever one thinks of President Trump, many think the Constitution will safeguard us from lasting damage. But is that assumption justified? How to Save a Constitutional Democracy mounts an urgent argument that we can no longer afford to be complacent. Drawing on a rich array of other countries’ experiences with democratic backsliding, Tom Ginsburg and Aziz Z. Huq show how constitutional rules can both hinder and hasten the decline of democratic institutions. The checks and balances of the federal government, a robust civil society and media, and individual rights—such as those enshrined in the First Amendment—often fail as bulwarks against democratic decline. The sobering reality for the United States, Ginsburg and Huq contend, is that the Constitution’s design makes democratic erosion more, not less, likely. Its structural rigidity has had unforeseen consequence—leaving the presidency weakly regulated and empowering the Supreme Court conjure up doctrines that ultimately facilitate rather than inhibit rights violations. Even the bright spots in the Constitution—the First Amendment, for example—may have perverse consequences in the hands of a deft communicator who can degrade the public sphere by wielding hateful language banned in many other democracies. We—and the rest of the world—can do better. The authors conclude by laying out practical steps for how laws and constitutional design can play a more positive role in managing the risk of democratic decline.

Download or read book The Deep State written by Mike Lofgren and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling author of The Party Is Over delivers a no-holds-barred exposé of who really wields power in Washington Every Four years, tempers are tested and marriages fray as Americans head to the polls to cast their votes. But does anyone really care what we think? Has our vaunted political system become one big, expensive, painfully scriped reality TV show? In this cringe-inducing expose of the sins and excesses of Beltwayland, a longtime Republican party insider argues that we have become an oligarchy in form if not in name. Hooked on war, genuflecting to big donors, in thrall to discredited economic theories and utterly bereft of a moral compass, America’s governing classes are selling their souls to entrenched interest while our bridges collapse, wages, stagnate, and our water is increasingly undrinkable. Drawing on sinsights gleaned over three decades on Capitol Hill, much of it on the Budget Committee, Lofgren paints a gripping portrait of the dismal swamp on the Potomac and the revolution it will take to reclaim our government and set us back on course.

Download or read book Getting Away with Torture written by Christopher H. Pyle and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2011 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follows the paper trail of torture memos that led to abuses at Guantanámo, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq.

Download or read book A People s Constitution written by Rohit De and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has long been contended that the Indian Constitution of 1950, a document in English created by elite consensus, has had little influence on India’s greater population. Drawing upon the previously unexplored records of the Supreme Court of India, A People’s Constitution upends this narrative and shows how the Constitution actually transformed the daily lives of citizens in profound and lasting ways. This remarkable legal process was led by individuals on the margins of society, and Rohit De looks at how drinkers, smugglers, petty vendors, butchers, and prostitutes—all despised minorities—shaped the constitutional culture. The Constitution came alive in the popular imagination so much that ordinary people attributed meaning to its existence, took recourse to it, and argued with it. Focusing on the use of constitutional remedies by citizens against new state regulations seeking to reshape the society and economy, De illustrates how laws and policies were frequently undone or renegotiated from below using the state’s own procedures. De examines four important cases that set legal precedents: a Parsi journalist’s contestation of new alcohol prohibition laws, Marwari petty traders’ challenge to the system of commodity control, Muslim butchers’ petition against cow protection laws, and sex workers’ battle to protect their right to practice prostitution. Exploring how the Indian Constitution of 1950 enfranchised the largest population in the world, A People’s Constitution considers the ways that ordinary citizens produced, through litigation, alternative ethical models of citizenship.

Download or read book America s Way Back written by Donald Devine and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The solution for the modern GOP . . . Intellectual ammunition for the modern conservative movement.” —SENATOR RAND PAUL How can America recover from economic stagnation, moral exhaustion, and looming bankruptcy? Donald J. Devine shows the way. Devine, a longtime adviser to Ronald Reagan, lays out a powerful case for the philosophical synthesis of freedom and tradition that Reagan said was the essence of modern conservatism. The secret of America’s success, he shows, has been the Constitution’s capacity to harmonize the twin ideals of freedom and tradition. But today, progressivism has so corrupted modern political thinking—in both parties—that leaders keep calling for the same failed tactics: more money poured into more big-government programs. In America’s Way Back, Devine not only reveals where things went wrong, and why, but also points the way to reclaiming America’s freedom, prosperity, and creativity. The solution lies in a new “fusion” of traditional and libertarian thought.

Download or read book No Treason Volume 1 written by Lysander Spooner and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1870, this essay by the American anarchist and political philosopher Lysander Spooner is here reproduced. Described by Murray Rothbard as "the greatest case for anarchist political philosophy ever written", Spooner's lengthy essay is still referenced by anarchists and philosophers today. In it, he argues that the American Civil War violated the US Constitution, thus rendering it null and void. An indispensable read for political historians both amateur and professional alike. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Download or read book Constitutional Chaos written by Andrew P. Napolitano and published by Nelson Current. This book was released on 2006-01-10 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this incisive and insightful book, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano peels back the legal veneer and shows how politicians, judges, prosecutors, and bureaucrats are trampling the U.S. Constitution in the name of law and order and fighting terrorism. Napolitano reveals how they: silence the First Amendment shoot holes in the Second break some laws to enforce others entrap citizens steal private property seize evidence without warrant imprison without charge kill without cause Pundits on the right, left, and center have praised Constitutional Chaos for its penetrating examination of our rights and liberties in the post-9/11 world. "Has the war on terrorism taken away some of your rights? In a non-ideological way, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano answers that crucial question. This book will open your eyes."-Bill O'Reilly "This book is a wake-up call for all who value personal freedom and limited government."-Rush Limbaugh "In all of the American media, Judge Napolitano is the most persistent, uncompromising guardian of both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. . ."-Nat Hentoff Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is Fox News Channel's senior judicial analyst, seen by millions on The Big Story with John Gibson, The O'Reilly Factor, Fox and Friends, and other shows. His articles and commentaries have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Newark Star Ledger, and other national publications.

Download or read book Hologram of Liberty written by Kenneth W. Royce and published by . This book was released on 2012-06-08 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Convention of 1787 was the most brilliant and subtle coup d'état in history. The nationalist framers designed a strong government, guaranteed through purposely ambiguous verbiage. Many readers insist that it's Royce's best book. A jaw-dropper. Revised for 2012 and Obamacare.