The events of the past two years have been a wake-up call to those of us who naïvely believed our liberties were more or less secure under Western democracy.
“ Fifth, citizens must reconceive their role as going far beyond that of merely expressing an opinion about their governments from time to time at the polls. ”
And, if you take that to its logical conclusion, it implies a radical decentralization, eliminating a central point of capture. That means having a central government strictly confined to a small set of enumerated and clearly delineated rights, and constitutional protection that forbids stealth scope increases such as through “commerce clauses”.
Agreed. The powers of a central government should be explicitly delegated and ideally authorised by the constitutive governments of a federation. By default, governmental powers should be assumed to reside at the local, not the national level, and they should be limited by a modest and broadly agreed list of civil and human rights.
“ Fifth, citizens must reconceive their role as going far beyond that of merely expressing an opinion about their governments from time to time at the polls. ”
And, if you take that to its logical conclusion, it implies a radical decentralization, eliminating a central point of capture. That means having a central government strictly confined to a small set of enumerated and clearly delineated rights, and constitutional protection that forbids stealth scope increases such as through “commerce clauses”.
Agreed. The powers of a central government should be explicitly delegated and ideally authorised by the constitutive governments of a federation. By default, governmental powers should be assumed to reside at the local, not the national level, and they should be limited by a modest and broadly agreed list of civil and human rights.