Workingman's Constitution
is the title of this important New York Times op ed by William Forbath, who teaches history and law at the University of Texas.
Forbath points out that in both the opinion for the Court by John Roberts on ACA and the dissent by the other four conservatives, there is a vision of America, and a "doctrinal and rhetorical" line of attack against the policies of the New Deal and the Great Society.
And yet, that is almost certainly a misreading of the intent of Founders such James Madison, and ignores a broad sweep of our history.
Let me start with Forbath's opening paragraph:
Forbath points out that in both the opinion for the Court by John Roberts on ACA and the dissent by the other four conservatives, there is a vision of America, and a "doctrinal and rhetorical" line of attack against the policies of the New Deal and the Great Society.
And yet, that is almost certainly a misreading of the intent of Founders such James Madison, and ignores a broad sweep of our history.
Let me start with Forbath's opening paragraph:
WORK and opportunity, poverty and dependency, material security and insecurity: for generations of reformers, the constitutional importance of these subjects was self-evident. Laissez-faire government, unchecked corporate power and the deprivations and inequalities they bred weren’t