| The Constitution and American Sovereignty
Rabkin, Jeremy
Imprimis, A Publication of Hillsdale College, July/August 2009, v38, #7/8, online edition, 5p
"People who expect to retain the benefits of sovereignty—benefits like defense and protection of rights—without constitutional discipline, or without retaining responsibility for their own legal system, are really putting all their faith in words or in the idea that as long as we say nice things about humanity, everyone will feel better and we’ll all be safe. At the end of The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton writes: “A nation, without a national government, is, in my view, an awful spectacle.” His point was that if you do not have a national government, you can’t expect to remain a nation. If we are really open to the idea of allowing more and more of our policy to be made for us at international gatherings, the U.S. government not only has less capacity, it has less moral authority." At a recent lecture sponsored by Hillsdale College’s Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship, Jeremy Rabkin addressed controversial and contentious issue of American sovereignty.
Jeremy Rabkin is a Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law.
Go to the article at:
http://www.hillsdale.edu/hctools/ImprimisTool/archives/2009_07_Imprimis.pdf
C11/06-09. Posted October 19, 2009
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