George Will the Anti-Federalist

Well, I shouldn’t say anti-federalist, since the true anti-federalists were better federalists than modern day so-called federalists (for that reason when I could still stand being a member of the Federalist Society, I kept telling other members we ought to be the Anti-Federalist Society). A better term for Will is non-federalist.

In his column from a few months back, Despotism in New Long, Will states:

The question is: Does the Constitution empower governments to seize a person’s most precious property — a home, a business — and give it to more wealthy interests so that the government can reap, in taxes, ancillary benefits of that wealth?

Will just does not get it (despite all those brains). The Constitution does not “empower” state governments to do anything. They preceded the Constitution of course! Rather, The Constitution created and empowered the federal government to do only enumerated things; and it limited the states only in a few, narrow areas.

I am starting to think almost no one–even most libertarians–understands federalism, and that this may be our biggest problem. What is depressing is our Founders understood it better 215 years ago than even most libertarians do now. Even with their advanced understanding, society still devolved to its current state. That tells me that even if we improve overall understanding of economics and liberty, it won’t matter much. Sigh.

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3:14 am on February 4, 2005