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by Jeffrey a. Tucker (Foreword by), Sheldon Richman (Author)
This book challenges the assumption that the Constitution was a landmark in the struggle for liberty. Instead, Sheldon Richman argues, it was the product of a counter-revolution, a setback for the radicalism represented by America's break with the British empire. Drawing on careful, credible historical scholarship and contemporary political analysis, Richman suggests that this counter-revolution was the work of conservatives who sought a nation of "power, consequence, and grandeur." America's Counter-Revolution makes a persuasive case that the Constitution was a victory not for liberty but for the agendas and interests of a militaristic, aristocratic, privilege-seeking ruling class.
The Anti-Federalists were right: The pursuit of "national greatness" inevitably diminishes liberty and centralizes government. The U.S. Constitution did both, as Sheldon Richman demonstrates in this powerfully argued anarchist case against the blueprint for empire known as the U.S. Constitution.--Bill Kauffman, author, Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin The libertarian movement has long suffered from a constitutional fetishism that embraces an ahistorical reverence for the U.S. Constitution. Far too many are unaware of the extent to which the framing and adoption of the Constitution was in fact a setback for the cause of liberty. Sheldon Richman, in a compilation of readable, well researched, and compelling essays, exposes the historical, theoretical, and strategic errors in the widespread reification of a purely political document. With no single correct interpretation, the Constitution has been predictably unable to halt the growth of the modern welfare-warfare American State. I urge all proponents of a free society to give his book their diligent attention.
--Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Professor, San Jose State University; author, Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War "No state or government can limit itself through a written constitution, no matter how fine the words or how noble the sentiments they express. It is one of the many virtues of Sheldon Richman's book that it shows how this is true even of the American Constitution, which despite the promises of its designers and the insistence of its defenders down the years, made limited government less and not more likely."
--Chandran Kukathas, London School of Economics "Richman delivers an accessible, incisive, and well-grounded argument that the Constitution centralized power and undid some of the Revolution's liberating gains. He rebuts patriotic platitudes but avoids the crude contrarianism so common in libertarian revisionism written for popular consumption. He does not romanticize America's past or overstate his case. Radical and nuanced, deferential to freedom and historical truth, Richman rises above hagiography or demonization of either the Federalists or anti-Federalists to produce an unsurpassed libertarian exploration of the subject."
- Anthony Gregory, Independent Institute " A]fter reading this book, you will never think about the U.S. Constitution and America's founding the same way again. Sheldon Richman's revealing and remarkably well-argued narrative will permanently change your outlook. . . . Richman . . . is] one of this country's most treasured thinkers and writers . . . . H]e draws on the most contemporary and important scholarly research, while putting the evidence in prose that is accessible and compelling."
- Jeffrey A. Tucker, Liberty.me and Foundation for Economic Education
Author Biography
Sheldon Richman is a senior fellow of the Center for a Stateless Society (c4ss.org), chair of the Center's trustees, and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the author of three other books: Separating School and State: How to Liberate America's Families (1994); Your Money or Your Life: Why We Must Abolish the Income Tax (1999); and Tethered Citizens: Time to Repeal the Welfare State (2001), published by the Future of Freedom Foundation (fff.org). From 1997 to 2012 he was the editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org), following which he edited Future of Freedom for the Future of Freedom Foundation. Previously he was an editor at the Cato Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, and Inquiry magazine. Richman's articles on foreign and economic policy, civil liberties, and American and Middle East history have appeared in Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, Reason, Forbes, The Independent Review, The American Scholar, The American Conservative, Cato Policy Report, Journal of Economic Development, Journal of Palestine Studies, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Middle East Policy, Liberty, and other publications. He is a contributor to the The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Richman is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia. He blogs at Free Association (sheldonrichman.com).
