The Origins of Originalism

If you listen to progressives, “originalism” is nothing more than a crackpot conservative way to discriminate against minorities through “bad” court decisions.

Or maybe it’s just to overturn what they consider to be “good” court decisions.

Either way, the fear is that conservatives will scrap their ability to legislate from the bench.

Most progressives believe that “originalism” wasn’t an intellectual movement until the 1980s.

But what if “originalism” was at the heart of the American War for Independence?

You see, the men fighting for independence began talking about unconstitutional acts of Parliament as early as 1764. Their arguments sounded a lot like modern originalism.

The British had a constitution and the Parliament continually violated it. That, more than anything else, led to the final break in 1776.

It wasn’t about John Locke or Enlightenment theory, or the proposition that all men are created equal.

It was about unconstitutional government. That places the entirety of American history in a different context. If the founding generation was willing to seek independence over excessive unconstitutional government–and by excessive I mean violations that were far less dangerous than those we suffer through today–what does that mean for modern America?

And if “originalism” formed the basis of the American experience, then progressives are the people living in a fantasy world that only exists through their clear deceptions and constitutional machinations.

The only way they win is by keeping the real history of American wrapped in ideological garbage.

I discuss the problem on episode 645 of The Brion McClanahan Show.