A Constitution in full : recovering the unwritten foundation of American liberty /

"When political debates devolve, as they often do these days, into a contest between big-government progressivism and natural rights individualism, Americans tend to appeal to the "self-evident" truths inscribed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But Peter Lawler...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lawler, Peter Augustine
Other Authors: Reinsch, Richard M.
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Kansas : University Press of Kansas, 2019
Series:American political thought
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

MARC

LEADER 00000cam a22000008i 4500
001 1066118516
003 OCoLC
005 20190520025907.0
008 181221s2019 ksu b 001 0 eng
010 |a 2018058252 
020 |a 9780700627813 
020 |a 0700627812 
020 |a 9780700627820 
020 |a 0700627820 
040 |a DLC  |b eng  |e rda  |c DLC  |d OCLCO  |d OCLCF  |d VLA 
042 |a pcc 
043 |a n-us--- 
049 |a VLAM 
050 0 0 |a KF4541  |b .L387 2019 
100 1 |a Lawler, Peter Augustine 
245 1 2 |a A Constitution in full :  |b recovering the unwritten foundation of American liberty /  |c Peter Augustine Lawler, Richard M. Reinsch II 
260 |a Kansas :  |b University Press of Kansas,  |c 2019 
300 |a x, 180 pages ;  |c  24 cm 
490 0 |a American political thought 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references and index 
520 |a "When political debates devolve, as they often do these days, into a contest between big-government progressivism and natural rights individualism, Americans tend to appeal to the "self-evident" truths inscribed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But Peter Lawler and Richard Reinsch remind us that these truths understood in the abstract are untethered from a prior, unwritten constitution presupposed by the Framers--one found in culture, customs, traditions, experiences, and beliefs. A Constitution in Full is Lawler and Reinsch's attempt to return this critical context to US constitutionalism--to recover a political sense of individualism in relation to country, family, religious community, and nature. Power, the authors suggest, is a public trust, not a form of obedience to either majoritarian suppression of particular liberties or the endless rights-claims lodged by autonomous individuals against society. Instead, power is ordered to the demands of a shared political enterprise that emerges from man's social nature. Building on political insights from Alexis de Tocqueville, Orestes Brownson, John Courtney Murray, and others Lawler and Reinsch seek to restore the relational person--the individual grounded in family, work, faith, and community--to a central place in our understanding of republican constitutionalism. Their work promotes the ongoing development of constitutional self-government rooted in our historical, legal, and religious foundations. The shared middle-class values that once united almost all Americans as well as any confidence in democratic deliberation or political liberty are rapidly atrophying. This book aims to rebuild this confidence by helping us think seriously about the complex interplay between political and economic liberties and the relational life of creatures and citizens. "--  |c Provided by publisher 
520 |a "The late Peter Augustine Lawler and Richard M. Reinsch II look to the political thought of the nineteenth-century New England intellectual and Catholic convert Orestes Brownson to understand this unwritten constitution. In contrast to the implicit atheism of classical liberalism, Brownson developed a relational political theory that balanced state authority and individual liberty within the context of social, familial, religious, and economic life. The full American constitution depends upon an unwritten constitution that avoids both abstract universalism and tribal secessionism by recognizing humans as material, political, and spiritual beings"--  |c Provided by publisher 
610 1 0 |a United States.  |t Declaration of Independence 
650 0 |a Constitutional history  |z United States 
650 0 |a Constitutional history  |x Political aspects  |z United States 
650 0 |a Liberty  |x History 
650 0 |a Individualism  |x Political aspects  |z United States  |x History 
650 0 |a Universalism 
700 1 |a Reinsch, Richard M. 
907 |a .b240204x 
998 |a secnd 
999 |c 114251 
852 |a Law Library  |b Second Floor  |h KF4541 .L387 2019  |p 33940004508600