Saturday
The constitution and laws of a State are rarely attacked from the front; it is against secret and gradual attacks that a Nation must chiefly guard. Sudden resolutions strike men's imagination; their history is written, and their secret sources made known; but changes are overlooked when they come about insensibly by a series of steps which are scarcely noted. One would do great service to Nations by showing from history how many States have thus changed their whole nature and lost their original constitution.
- Emmerich de Vattel, The Laws of Nations or Principles of Natural Law, 1758
I found it online here. I'm not sure about reading it all on a computer but I can get a pretty good idea if I want to get a hard copy.
Posted by Midwesterner at October 21, 2006 08:18 PM
I would suggest the Federalist Papers as a companion book. It was depressing for me to read it and see how far we in USA have fallen by the hand of the "Living Document" types.
Posted by Uain at October 22, 2006 03:20 AM
Do not forget the antifederalist papers (Patrick Henry, George Mason and the others), but yes James Madison and the others are certainly worth reading.
Yes the "Living Document" people are scum. Oddly enough one can trace the decline of the word "liberal" to this subject - as in a "liberal interpretation of the powers of the federal government of these States".
Liberal as in "broad" - it goes back a long way.
If the collectivists want to amend the Constitution they can try to do that, and if they want a new one they can call for a Convention (if two thirds of the States agree they get a Convention - in theory it is less difficult that getting an Amenment). But they choose to do neither - they choose to ignore or twist the words of the Constitution, that is why they are scum.
I seem to remember that Vattel was a Swiss who took the best in Pufendorf (and left out the bad stuff).
I recall Edmund Burke citeing V.
Posted by Paul Marks at October 23, 2006 10:52 PM
