I got Active Liberty : Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution, Stephen Breyer's new book, from the library and started reading it. Breyer believes he should interpret the Constitution in ways which promote active citizen participation in our democracy. Good thesis. I'm all for it. I will be interested to find out how he supports it. I have to wonder why he isn't more of a Federalist, though. The less power in Washington and the more at the statehouse the easier and more effective my democratic participation will be. In fact less power in the statehouse and more power at the county, city and even school board levels the more power I have. One school board per school is good, too.
When the Constitution was drafted, the entire population of our Republic was less than some cities today. Lot's of place were governed by town meetings, where everyone, not just a few aldermen, got to vote. I'd say that means we need even less power in Washington, not more.
