2008-09-23

Constitution Day

I started this site on Constitution Day. As a card-carrying member of the ACLU, I think it's appropriate to take a few moments to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation that preceded it. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal featured a great profile of one of the dissenters, Luther Martin.

Durham's progressives would do well to remember that the Constitution was passed only with the inclusion of the Bill of Rights. Reflecting on the arguments of Martin and the constitutional opponents, it's easy to see that the federalists laid the groundwork for the concentration of government power at the national level. One of the guiding principles of this site is that the citizens of Durham know best what is good for them; we need effective leadership from our state representatives to allow reforms that are not necessarily endorsed by our sister cities in the Old North State. I'm not going to parrot the libertarian line that "Small government is better", but I think it's accurate to say that "local government is better".

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