A Constitutionalist?

A friend was sitting in a restaurant with me, chatting about life and stuff.  A couple of men in the next booth had been chatting about recent elections and taxation, among other things. For some reason, they turned their attention to us and asked what we thought about the election and situation. It came out that one was a local journalist and the other was a local city councilman. After exchanging pleasantries, they posed some questions and respectfully listened to our answers.  When we had all finished, the journalist asked if we had any suggestions about how we might do things differently.  Providentially, or coincidentally, I had a copy of ‘The Catechism of the Constitution’ with me, and I drew it from my backpack and pointed to the cover.  “There’s nothing going on here that couldn’t be fixed by getting back to this”, I said. The journalist gave a smirky smile and said “Ah, a Constitutionalist, eh?”  I had never been labeled anything in the political realm before, so I didn’t know how to answer him.  After a pause, I finally, just said “Yes, I guess that works.” The conversation ended there as they got up from the table and graciously said their goodbyes.

 This little encounter got me thinking about how I might classify myself.  Certainly not Socialist, or Communist; Capitalist perhaps, but that didn’t quite say it all. Constitutionalist? Maybe, whatever that means. None of the various tribes that came to mind seemed fully to fit.  This was not surprising, since I tend to feel like an outsider pretty much no matter to whom I’m talking.

 The topic had largely been shelved in my mind for some years. After many books, articles and videos, the question returned to my mind.  By now I was a fan of Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams and Milton Freidman, among others. Williams and Freidman have been described as libertarian, but as much as I like much of what they say, I would never have described myself as libertarian. In fact, I don’t think that it describes my view now.  However, on further reflection, I was surprised how much I agreed with many Libertarian ideas.  At the end of the day, I still don’t have a classification to squeeze myself into. Socialists and Libertarians seem to me to share the same blind spot.  In my view, that failure is the perception of human nature. However good the intentions of Socialists are, they miss the signs that their solutions are deadening to the human soul and require coercion to overcome opposition, as well as making a path for the worse of humankind to rise to power. Libertarians pare government to a level that borders on anarchy and needed checks and balances are weakened to the point that greed and monetary domination seem to be a logical outcome.  For now, I think I’d be content to be thought of as a Constitutionalist.