-Caveat Lector-
Via SpinTechMag.CoM
> SpinTech: July 12, 1999
> <Picture>
>
> How The Constitution Aids Federal Power-Grabbers
> by Sunni Maravillosa
>
> Hologram of Liberty, by Kenneth Royce (AKA Boston T. Party)
> (Javelin Press, 1997) 229 pgs. ISBN # 1-888766-03-4
>
> At age five or so, I discovered that Santa Claus is a myth.
> Having been suspicious of the story for some time, that discovery
> did not shock me nearly as much as the realization that my
> parents -- whom I’d completely trusted up until then -- had lied
> to me. Thus began my tendency to be skeptical of nearly
> everything, and everybody. My skepticism has been lulled in
> certain areas by my public school indoctrination, most notably
> American history. Kenneth Royce’s book Hologram of Liberty has
> permanently changed that.
>
> Royce is better known as Boston T. Party, author of several
> libertarian books, including Bulletproof Privacy and Boston on
> Guns and Courage. In Hologram of Liberty, he examines the
> historical record surrounding the Constitutional Convention as
> well as the Constitution itself, and concludes that the primary
> reason for our current non-free condition is the Constitution
> itself -- it was not intended to preserve states’ or individuals’
> liberties, but to be a slow-working power-grabber for the federal
> government.
>
> Hologram of Liberty is not based on "patriot mythology", nor on
> minutiae or legalistic sleight-of-hand. Royce’s research is
> thorough and relies on many respected scholarly works. While some
> hypotheses leave more room for nagging questions than others, the
> essential points of his work are solidly grounded. As I was
> recently chastised for questioning the Constitution and its
> authors in an essay, Royce provides me with evidence that both
> deserve tighter scrutiny from libertarians than they’ve received.
>
>
> Let me say before going any further that Royce -- and I -- are
> not out to mindlessly bash the Constitution, nor to denigrate the
> founders of the United States. Royce states in Hologram of
> Liberty that he is "for true Liberty under a constitution"
> (emphasis in original). My motives overlap his in writing the
> book; in reviewing it, I want to share information and ideas, and
> spark further thought with the goal of creating a better, more
> freedom-respecting system of government. Given the current
> abysmal state of the American system, it is better to eye sacred
> cows critically -- and to slaughter them if necessary -- with the
> intent to improve the system rather than to fence them off
> worshipfully while tyranny grows.
>
> Royce focuses his attention on two primary areas: the men who
> wrote the Constitution; and the actual writing of the document.
> From each he builds his case in a clear, logical style that makes
> it easy to understand his points. He challenges all who claim to
> love liberty to set aside preconceived ideas and examine his
> evidence, and invites scholarly refutations of his claims.
>
> The Founders: Patriots or Elitists?
>
> The first myth debunked by Royce is that all Founders are created
> equal. While most people seem to think of the Founding Founders
> as a specific group of men -- those who signed the Declaration of
> Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and collaborated
> on the framing of the Constitution -- whose goals and motives
> were generally similar and freedom-oriented, this is not the
> case. Of the 55 delegates who comprised the Constitutional
> Convention, only eight were signees of the Declaration of
> Independence, and only six signed the Articles of Confederation;
> most were politicians and lawyers. More importantly, the
> revolutionaries whose inspiring words we rightly cherish were not
> among those 55: some were not chosen as delegates, while others
> refused to serve, and Thomas Jefferson and James Adams were out
> of the country. Thus, the flavor of the groups that participated
> in various aspects of this country’s formation are quite
> different.
>
> Most individuals are aware that the debate concerning the
> Constitution centered on the philosophical differences between
> Jefferson -- an agrarian and staunch defender of liberty -- and
> Alexander Hamilton -- an Anglophile federalist who advocated a
> strong federal (i.e., national) government. Royce fills out the
> picture even more with his careful documentation of the
> federalists’ careful advance planning and propaganda campaign to
> create an atmosphere of concern with respect to the Articles of
> Confederation, and the need to devise a "better" system.
>
> Although many naïvely view the Founders as being "above
> politics", Royce in many cases uses the federalists’ own words to
> debunk that myth. He shows the "bait and switch" used by the
> federalists to co-opt the Convention from its original purpose.
> Quoting extensively from The Federalist, Royce documents the
> overblown rhetoric and specious arguments employed by (mostly)
> Hamilton and James Madison to enlist popular support for the
> Constitution. Their motives for seeking a strong national
> government are also laid out, thus showing their interest in
> self-advancement over liberty. Royce also presents evidence
> advanced by others of machinations to suppress the
> anti-federalist perspective from gaining a wide audience.
>
> Another bit of American mythos is given a different view in
> Hologram of Liberty. Traditional history texts paint a picture of
> the men -- sworn to secrecy -- cloistered in the second-floor
> hall with windows closed because of the hard work being
> undertaken. These conditions were endured, Royce argues, not
> because of the arduous work of crafting the new form of
> government (which had already been drafted to a large degree by
> Madison before the convention started), but due to the strife
> between the federalists and anti-federalists regarding the nature
> of the convention and the proposals being considered.
>
> Royce makes it clear that the delegates to the Constitutional
> Convention were among the brightest of the day; that much appears
> to be accurate. However, much of the activity was ugly, dirty
> politics on a level equal to much of what occurs today. Many of
> the federalists had personal gain at stake in ratification, and
> their extant writings support Royce’s argument that those motives
> drove their actions, rather than the love of freedom that
> traditional history books espouse.
>
> Word Games and Smokescreens
>
> Royce’s central thesis is that the Constitution was not designed
> to protect individual and states’ liberties, but rather to allow
> a strong federal government to come into its own over time. The
> purpose of this was to allow the rich and powerful to enjoy the
> benefits of the system, while farmers and other workers
> shouldered much of the burden. How, then, did this come about
> while appearing to protect liberty? By the clever use of words
> and phrases, and via the complexity of the system of checks and
> balances among the three branches of the proposed federal
> government.
>
> It was curious phrasing in the preamble to the Constitution
> which, Royce claims, led him to conduct the research that
> resulted in Hologram of Liberty. Anticipating skepticism from
> readers, he slowly, compellingly builds his case, beginning with
> a discussion of the differences between "United States" and
> "United States of America" (which is expanded upon later in the
> book) and building to a detailed examination of the work of the
> Committee of Style, which was charged with making the
> Constitution flow and be internally consistent. Even without
> accepting all Royce’s claims, there’s enough evidence presented
> to give one pause.
>
> Given particular attention is a few switches of preposition here
> and there. For example, the Preamble speaks of the "Constitution
> for the United States of America", whereas the Presidential oath
> (written into the Constitution) refers to the "Constitution of
> the United States" (also note that the ‘of America’ is dropped).
> Royce explores the implications of each of these changes, leading
> to an extremely interesting hypothesis -- that there are actually
> two constitutions -- that seems to be rather far-fetched. Royce
> readily admits his only evidence is circumstantial.
>
> Irrespective of one’s opinion on that matter, the fact that the
> Committee of Style saw fit to change certain other prepositions
> but left that discrepancy intact is, at the very least,
> interesting. Royce allows for the possibility of oversight
> leading to some of the curious phrasings; however, the evidence
> makes that conclusion unlikely. As Royce reminds the reader, the
> Constitution is not only a document, but the law, and as such,
> must be given careful attention in both creation and
> interpretation. While quibbles over words seem tiresome in
> general, in the law it is necessary, as "the devil is in the
> details". Through his extensive quotations and detailed
> presentation of his arguments, Royce makes it clear in Hologram
> of Liberty that there is merit in re-examining the structure and
> the result of the Constitution.
>
> Royce also documents how the complex system of checks and
> balances which we are taught protect our liberties and help
> staunch the growth of federal government is a smokescreen. The
> lack of a check on the Supreme Court is but one obvious glaring
> deficiency which was noted at the time, yet was left intact.
> Indeed, many anti-federalists, including Jefferson, saw through
> the hall of mirrors presented in the Constitution yet were
> powerless to change it in the wake of the propaganda campaign
> mounted by Hamilton, Madison, and others. Many are quoted in
> Hologram of Liberty as fearing precisely the kind of government
> we are now suffering with.
>
> Kenneth Royce has done his research well, and even if one takes
> issue with many of his conclusions, there’s simply too much data
> presented to reject everything out of hand. Not content to
> complain about the results of governance under the Constitution,
> Royce offers ideas and solutions to create a Jeffersonian
> republic of individual liberty and very limited federal
> government. Hologram of Liberty is written in a casual yet
> informative style that helps the reader follow Royce’s reasoning.
> At 229 pages, it isn’t a behemoth, yet due to the content,
> Hologram of Liberty is not a book to breeze through in an
> afternoon. It requires focus and effort, and pays well on those
> investments. Anyone who is interested in challenging the
> mythology surrounding the Constitution and several of the men who
> crafted it will benefit from reading Hologram of Liberty.
>
> --------
> Sunni Maravillosa is a psychology professor and co-founder of the
> Liberty Round Table.
>
> Copyright 1999 Sunni Maravillosa.
A<>E<>R
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