Forget the Founders -- what about the Keepers

There is much debate regarding whether the Founders intended a limited government or an expansive, powerful State. The old argument of Jefferson vs Hamilton has been debated to death. If, indeed, Hamilton and his ilk intended to create loopholes in the Constitution in order to get around limitations and expand State power, then this is hardy anything to celebrate or heartily defend, and the pertinent issue is what we do now and going forward -- do we allow powerful State interests to continue to take advantage of loopholes, expand State power and reduce our liberty, or do we insist on government limitations to free our market and expand our liberty? The civil libertarians think we can divide liberty between privacy, lifestyle, speech, religious concerns of liberty and concerns of economic liberty, allowing our economic liberty to be reduced by the State in return for welfare, security and safety -- this is a Faustian bargain, and once economic freedoms are gone, the other freedoms are right behind, marching dutifully into the State cage.

Will we defend our Constitution as a document which limits government power and protects our liberty, even our economic liberty? This is the big question facing the nation. The manipulated loopholes in the Constitution have allowed the State to gain practical control over our economy, and because the economy touches every area of our lives, the State has gained practical control over us. We see the abuses all around us, eminent domain cases in which people's property rights are arrogantly disregarded -- our privacy rights being violated because of "security" issues -- business people being micromananged by bureacrats -- certain industries crippled because a special interest group has influenced a certain political party -- many people thrown out of their jobs because some regulation has burdened the company with which they work -- certain fields of work blocking entry by establishing unneeded licensure requirements -- small businesses which can't grow their businesses because at the next level of growth they fall under expensive regulations they can't afford, thereby protecting the big companies from competition -- and now people will be required to purchase healthcare insurance or face some form of punishment -- the list of interventions go on and on and on, and they grow over time.

What about the Keepers of the Constitution? Will we leave the Constitution in the hands of a few elite statists, or will we reclaim it and rekindle the spirit of liberty? That's a big, wide question -- but it must be answered.