God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Folks, on good-news-only-day, some especially good news:
I just received the galleys of our own Adam Freedman's forthcoming book, The Naked Constitution, opening it with the special dread one feels when opening a book by a friend. (If it's no good, you're going to have to lie to your friend and tell him it is. If it is good, you'll find yourself wishing you'd written it yourself.) Adam's book? Wonderful--brilliant, lively, straightforward, and pugnacious. Also very, very ambitious. Adam intends in The Naked Constitution to reclaim our founding document for us, the laymen, the ordinary citizens the Constitution was intended to serve.
A taste:
At America's law schools, students are taught to regard the Constitution as an enigmatic puzzle accessible only to tenured faculty and enlightened judges. Entire academic careers have been built upon the proposition that the Constitution cannot possibly mean what it says. To get a sense of the bogus mystery surrounding the Constitution, just take a look at some of the titles at your local law school library: Our Elusive Constitution, Our Unsettled Constitution, Our Unknown Constitution, The Invisible Constitution, The Dynamic Constitution, and The Unpredictable Constitution.
Get a grip. We're not talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Prophecies of Nostradamus. We're talking about a document of 4,300 words--7,500 if you throw in all the amendments. The average New Yorker essay is just getting warmed up at 7,500 words. The Constitution is not simple, but it's not all that complicated either....
Why all the hocus-pocus? It's not because the Constitution is obscure, but rather because it is all-too clear, and it stands for things that politicians, judges, and academics can't abide.
In a word, The Naked Constitution is a beaut.
Oh, and that part about wishing I'd written it myself? No problem. Although Adam has composed the book in a lucid, easy, accessible style, only a lawyer could have marshaled the history and the arguments that Adam marshals, and I'm no lawyer. I can therefore read The Naked Constitution with a pleasure uncomplicated by, ahem, envy.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Adam and Peter,
I love the quote. I'm going to get the book and read it. Adam enjoy the royalty.
Why all the hocus-pocus? We just found out one answer. Hidden in the 2600 page hocus-pocus unconstitutional ObamaCare Law was $17 Trillion in unfunded liability. I think you'd call that Grand Theft Larceny.
I think the big crooks just got caught.
I'll be reading the book.
Regards,
Jim
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Peter, you're too kind.Jim: my first sale -- Hooray!
Sep '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
I will take no end of joy in buying copies not only for myself, but for all those poor unsuspecting college students I meet who announce they're going to a US law school.
Oct '11
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Preordered it. I will be pleasantly surprised one evening in October.
May '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Sounds fantastic and congratulations.
Naming it Eight Million Stories in the Naked Constitution might have gotten it in more law libraries.
May '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Looking forward to it!
Sep '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Preordered! I really enjoyed Adam's recent commentary on the arguments for and against Obamacare before the Supremes, so I'm looking forward to this one.
Oct '11
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
On my way to Amazon to preorder it!
Does this mean you're free to have a Brooklyn Ricochet meetup some time soon?
May '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
"If it's no good, you're going to have to lie to your friend and tell him it is."
Why? Your friend is better off if you offer honesty.
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Why? Your friend is better off if you offer honesty. · 37 minutes ago
In theory, yes, of course. In theory.
Jun '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Peter Robinson
Why? Your friend is better off if you offer honesty. · 37 minutes ago
In theory, yes, of course. In theory. · 24 minutes ago
I think we had a post about this recently: "Do I look Fat?"
Jun '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
It's obvious that the leftists want to create a priesthood (not a new idea, I know) and the first step is to pretend that the text of the Constitution is so complicated that we need someone very pure and smart and "nuanced" to be involved in its interpretation. Only in this way can they get away with hogwash about "emanations" from penumbras instead of the clear words that are there and the intent of those words as they were first written and understood.
I love Walter Williams' retort to the notion of a "living Constitution" -- he says, "OK, how would you like to play basketball with me where the rules are living?"
If you are not in charge of determining those living rules then it will be difficult to keep your enthusiasm going after the first rule change.
Most important of all is that the one who posits the living nature of the Constitution has a distinct advantage over the person who thinks we must work with the actual text and not our imaginations.
How many times do we all fall for rational sounding statements only to realize -- too late -- that they were only pretending interest as a diversion.
Nov '11
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Sounds interesting and I will read it, however I would leave out the 'written by a lawyer' in further reviews.
Mar '11
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Adam, you've got another sale! I look forward to reading it.
May '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
A very gracious and I'm certain apt review Peter, though I believe that Adam has been trying very hard to shed the descriptor 'pugnacious' since high school...
May '10
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Looking forward to it. Shame we have to wait until October. This is a subject we need to talk about throughout this election season.
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Thanks everyone for your good wishes, and pre-orders! I'll have to figure out some way to organize a Ricochet book signing.
And Trace - are you kidding? "Pugnacious" was my favorite part of the review!
Apr '12
Re: God Bless the Constitution of the United States--and God Bless Adam Freedman
Sounds good. I recently was writing an article which I may have to include as an informed current reference:
Government Vs. Liberty, sub-title: Buying blind loyalty and votes with more dishonest, immoral promises and envy
As our forefathers recognized, understood and explained in the Declaration of Independence and provided for in our short written Constitution, the only safe and legal government in America for Americans is a strictly limited government with specified divided powers and a people properly schooled in Law, Liberty and Self-Control under the Creator God. See Shredding the Constitution, AmThinker.com, 4/187/12, by Janet Levy and Excerpts from Romney’ Speech to the NRA
Because of human nature’s natural born proclivity to blind, selfish, immoral, arrogant and destructive self-love properly identified as envy, as government grows the God-given rights and freedoms of the American people decline exponentially!