A Republic, if you can keep it

[Vexari]

Welcome to the Constitution Society

http://constitution.org/c5/


The Constitution Society is a private non-profit organization founded in 1994 and dedicated to research and public education on the principles of constitutional republican government. It publishes documentation, engages in litigation, and organizes local citizens groups to work for reform.

This site aims to eventually provide almost everything one needs to accurately decide what is and is not constitutional in most situations, and what applicable constitutions require one to do. It is for constitutional exegesis and decision support.

This organization was founded in response to the growing concern that noncompliance with the Constitution for the United States of America and most state constitutions is creating a crisis of legitimacy that threatens freedom and civil rights. Although the focus here is on government in the United States, coverage also includes the rest of the world, and private as well as public organizations.

We maintain that the principles of constitutional republicanism and constitutional design are universal, and applicable to all nations, although not well understood or upheld by most.

We also examine the related principles of federalism and nomocracy, the rule of law, of nomology, the science of law, and show how those principles are applicable to solving the fundamental problem of avoiding excessive or unbalanced concentrations of power.


Don't despair

Keep in mind that legal practices everywhere are corrupt and incompetent in various ways and to varying degrees, and always have been, but it makes a difference in what ways and to what degree, and it requires a continual struggle by good people to reduce corruption and incompetence to the extent that can be done. The legal system is imperfect, but violence is likely to be worse, so it is usually better to give the legal system a chance to work before resorting to other alternatives, although for some issues you will need to go directly to the electoral process. We urge you to regularly devote some part of your time and resources to trying to get the legal system to produce just outcomes, not only for yourself but for everyone else, but also to be prepared to resort to extrajudicial methods, such as educating and organizing the public, lobbying, and working to elect constitutionalists. Never support any candidate for public office who does not demonstrate a commitment to strict constitutional compliance.

We define "constitutionalism" as a commitment to strict enforcement of a written constitution of government as it was originally meant and understood by its framers and ratifiers, or "legal formalism". Its opposite is the doctrine and practice of "legal realism", which holds that the "law" is whatever judges do or can be expected to do, whose main tenet is the doctrine of binding stare decisis as presently practiced, and which is fundamentally in conflict with adherence to a written constitution as originally meant and understood

Some have come to despair of the Constitution itself, or even blame it for the mess we are in. But constitutions and laws don't enforce themselves. The design of the Constitution is good enough, and better than any alternative we might get. It is not well understood by most people, or something which most people are diligent about enforcing. That is not to say the Constitution could not be clarified for the sake of modern people who don't want to learn the legal English of 1787, and we have proposed Clarifying Amendments, but the problem is not the Constitution. The problem is the people. Of course one can't hold the people as a whole accountable. Historical events will do that. Probably another depression that is about to descend on us.We can hope than when enough people are in enough agony some of them will pick up on what we have long been telling them.

Never fear. The shock is near..

http://constitution.org/c5/