Reason Magazine: Nick Gillespie & Judge Andrew Napolitano: ' How Teddy Roosevelt & Woodrow Wilson Destroyed Constitutional Freedom'

Source:Reason Magazine- interviewing Judge Andrew Napolitano.

“The radical change in the relationship of the federal government to individual Americans was ratcheted up greatly in the Progressive Era,” argues Judge Andrew Napolitano in his new book, Theodore and Woodrow: How Two American Presidents Destroyed Constitutional Freedom.

The first decades of the 20th century saw an assault on individual liberties that was both unconstitutional and unprecedented in American history. From crackdowns on freedom of speech to the seizures of vast swaths of land, Judge Napolitano shows how the policies of two presidents from opposing parties laid the groundwork for a century of ever-expanding federal power.

Judge Napolitano is chief legal analyst for Fox News, a syndicated columnist, and a Reason contributor (read his archive here). He recently sat down with Nick Gillespie to talk about his latest book and discuss the relevance of the Progressive era – a time of prohibition, military expansionism, and vilification of wealth – to today’s political struggles."

Source:Reason Magazine

Libertarians which is what both Nick Gillespie and Andrew Napolitano are, (not that there’s anything wrong with that) understanding of the U.S. Constitution, is very different from every other political faction.

Every political faction in America except the Socialists on the Far-Left and the Christian-Nationalists, Alt-Right racist terrorists on the Far-Right, generally support and believe in the U.S. Constitution.

But Conservatives and even Conservative-Libertarians, now believe that government and even the Federal Government, has some role when it comes to the safety net and public welfare in the country. They believe that these programs should be run by the states and local government’s and be block granted to them.

But Progressives, Liberals, and Conservatives, all now support some role at least for the Federal Government when it comes to the public welfare and a regulatory state.

So course the Andrew Napolitano’s of the world are going to disagree with Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow, Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and other Progressives, when it comes to the general welfare clause and commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

There are Libertarians who believe taxation is theft and don’t see America as like a club with hundreds of millions of members that we are all part of and have to pay dues (meaning taxes) in order to keep our membership in that club.

So of course Libertarians are going to see Square Deal which gave us the regulatory state in America, the New Deal, which gave us the safety net in America, and the Great Society, which expanded the safety net in America, of course Libertarians are going to see these programs and agendas as unconstitutional. 

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