16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Slow Death of the Constitution, October 1, 2009
This review is from: Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence (American Ideals & Institutions) (Hardcover)
Although the judiciary -- and in particular the Supreme Court of the United States -- was intended to be the most politically neutral branch of government, it has become by far the most politically controversial. How and why did this come about? In Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence, political scientist and legal historian Bradley Watson reveals the philosophical underpinnings of judicial activism and the radical idea of a "living" Constitution, showing how judges of all stripes have undermined the Founders' ideal of a limited Constitution and Americans' faith in eternal truths.
Unlike other commentators on judicial tyranny, Watson shows how the roots of extra-constitutional judicial activism lie in the infiltration of America by alien progressivist philosophies during the late nineteenth century, and he shows how those ideas have inexorably developed in our jurisprudence since that time.
As Watson explains, the Founders had great faith in both revealed and rational truths that transcended time and place. They understood the Constitution to be a limited document that was consonant with, and supported, the morally ordered universe of human affairs. Today's view, in contrast, is not simply that we have an interpretable Constitution, but that we have a Constitution which must be interpreted in light of "historically situated," continually evolving notions of the individual, the state, and society. This understanding is in a considerable amount of tension with the earlier constitutionalism of limited and dispersed powers serving the "laws of nature and nature's God." Yet this modern "evolutionary" approach to the Constitution has been embraced by the judicial appointees of both Democratic and Republican presidents for a century or more. It also dominates today's law schools, which emphasize historical progress and process rather than faith in eternal verities -- and this lack of faith is transmitted to students who will someday become constitutional arbiters for the rest of us.
The legalization of same-sex marriage is only one of the most compelling contemporary manifestations of the new science of jurisprudence, argues Professor Watson. And unless we restore a proper understanding of the Constitution, we can foresee the day when, in effect, courts will routinely declare men to be women, and vice versa, according to the political pressures of the age. We are at a precipice, then, not only for constitutional law but also for thought itself.
"Sweeping in scope and penetrating in insight"
"Bradley Watson is dead on in his analysis. . .Filling an important void in recent scholarship, this work powerfully explains how modern jurisprudence began with the Progressive's mugging of America's first principles in the name of history and change." -- Matthew Spalding, The Heritage Foundation
"The transformation of the judiciary into an activist legislator of social change has been one of the most remarked-upon -- and, among conservatives, decried -- political developments of the past century. In Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence, political philosopher Bradley C.S. Watson does an impressive job of analyzing how, exactly, this happened." -- Michael Potemra, National Review
"Sweeping in scope and penetrating in insight, Living Constitution, Dying Faith provides a sure guide to any one who wishes to understand the intellectual currents set loose by Social Darwinism and pragmatism, currents which brought the judiciary, broadly encouraged by the academy, to presume authority to speak for the polity's emerging consciousness, perilously distant from the philosophic moorings of the Constitution." -- Stanley C. Brubaker, Colgate University
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0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but with flaws, July 20, 2010
This review is from: Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence (American Ideals & Institutions) (Hardcover)
On p. 31,
watson states that "One can find universals, liberals principle embedded thoughout founders of the USA, an one find geninely conservative principles." What he does not note is that the former are palsied versions of the former.
On . p. 81, Watson showed how the natural rights theory of Locke
to the economic liberalism of Adam Smith, to the utilitarianism of Bentham, and the move from individualist to collectivist liberalism.
He quoted Woodrow Wilson as saying : "there is no danger in power, if only it is not irresponsible". The rest of the 20th and 21st centure has refuted our most idealist President.
He seems to approve of the thought of William James, that "if God works for us--if religious belief is effective in guiding our action
giving us comfort-then pragmatism can't deny it." But of course, the retort to all pragmatists is, including Pontius Pilate is, ' is it true or not.
With those caveats, the rest of the book is fine.
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