Our first guest on the show today is author, Randy E. Barnett. Barnett represented the National Federation of Independent Business in its constitutional challenge to Obamacare. He is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center. He discusses his book, Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People.
Our second hour guest is author and sought after speaker, Carol Kent. She tells us more about her book, Waiting Together: Hope and Healing for Families of Prisoners.
Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Legal Theory at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and directs the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. A recipient of both a Guggenheim Fellowship in Constitutional Studies and the Bradley Prize, Professor Barnett is the author of eleven books, including Restoring the Lost Constitution and The Structure of Liberty.
The Constitution of the United States begins with the words: “We the People.” But from the earliest days of the American republic, there have been two competing notions of “the People,” which lead to two very different visions of the Constitution.
Those who view “We the People” collectively think popular sovereignty resides in the people as a group, which leads them to favor a “democratic” constitution that allows the “will of the people” to be expressed by majority rule. In contrast, those who think popular sovereignty resides in the people as individuals contend that a “republican” constitution is needed to secure the pre-existing inalienable rights of “We the People,” each and every one, against abuses by the majority.