Are libertarians constitutionalists?

In the past month or so I've been impressed by some of the commentary posted on LewRockwell.com attempting to answer this question.

To answer it for yourself, I invite you to read the essays linked below.

It's a short post on an important topic. I offer my observations at the end.

"Today the Constitution is worse than a dead letter, for it provides the facade of legitimacy behind which government actors are enabled to do as they please."

--Jack Dennon, "No U-Turns"

"[T]he Constitution has proved to be an instrument for ratifying the expansion of State power rather than the opposite."

--Murray Rothbard, For a New Liberty, Chapter 3, The State (MP3 file)

"The entire concept of constitutionalism has failed in its fundamental purpose: to restrain state power in order to prevent tyranny from arising."

--Butler Shaffer, "The Death of the American State"

"Clever idea, the Constitution. Too bad it didn’t work."

--Joseph Sobran, "President Disastro"

The most common argument goes like this: "We would be better off if we returned to the Constitution." Fair enough. We would be, but that's not because the Constitution equals freedom. That statement is only true now because we are living in an era of unbridled sociofascism and thus we would enjoy more liberty if the Federal government were reduced. But that argument, however, cannot ever be used to advance the cause of liberty. It is at best a piece of historical data. Libertarianism aims to be universally valid; it must apply anywhere and any time. Thus, would today's libertarians favor the Constitutional Convention? Would they favor replacing the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution? Surely not, unless the Articles were to be replaced with a Giant Nothing. If the Constitution gave more power to the central government than it had under the Articles – and it did – then libertarians should have opposed it then (and some did) as they should today.

--Manuel Lora, "Constitution Worship Undermines the Cause of Freedom"

In my view, constitutionalists and libertarians have many goals and values in common. One of my favorite articles spelling out these goals and values is "Reclaiming the Constitution" by Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs at the Cato Institute and director of its Center for Constitutional Studies.

But there are important differences among those who self-identify as constitutionalists and libertarians.

If the goal is liberty, I'm persuaded by my experience and reason that faith in the U.S. Constitution's ability to protect liberty may be aspirational and romantic, but is ultimately destined to fail.

When James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights to the First U.S. Congress, he noted the weakness of "paper barriers against the power of the community."

We're now seeing what happens when a U.S. president views the U.S. Constitution as just a piece of paper.

If you haven't already, consider what steps you could take now to protect your liberties before more people come to share the president's view, and usher in a post-constitutional America.

You may find the exercise surprisingly liberating.

Yours in liberty,

Rob Latham, Chair

Libertarian Party of Utah