- Joined
- Sep 4, 2019
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 60
- Location
- Texas
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
A "Parchment Barrier" Needs Enforcement | | Tenth Amendment Center
The Constitution can’t enforce itself.
People often quote Lysander Spooner to make the case that constitutional limits on federal power mean nothing.
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.”
But I find a very odd assumption buried in this line of thinking – this idea that the Constitution can or should somehow enforce itself.
Think of it this way – if a person tells you to shut up, you will almost certainly ignore them unless you know they have the ability to actually make you be quiet. Their words mean nothing unless they possess the power to back them up and put them into effect.
Constitutions work the same way. You can’t just wave the document in front of out-of-control government officials or agencies like a red cloth in front of a bull and expect them to simply stop what they’re doing. Without some enforcement mechanism, the Constitution is of little use when it comes to limiting the power of the federal government.
James Madison understood this dynamic. In Federalist #48, he described limits on power in constitutions as mere “parchment barriers.”
The Constitution can’t enforce itself.
People often quote Lysander Spooner to make the case that constitutional limits on federal power mean nothing.
“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.”
But I find a very odd assumption buried in this line of thinking – this idea that the Constitution can or should somehow enforce itself.
Think of it this way – if a person tells you to shut up, you will almost certainly ignore them unless you know they have the ability to actually make you be quiet. Their words mean nothing unless they possess the power to back them up and put them into effect.
Constitutions work the same way. You can’t just wave the document in front of out-of-control government officials or agencies like a red cloth in front of a bull and expect them to simply stop what they’re doing. Without some enforcement mechanism, the Constitution is of little use when it comes to limiting the power of the federal government.
James Madison understood this dynamic. In Federalist #48, he described limits on power in constitutions as mere “parchment barriers.”
