Originalism vs. Cultural Relativity

Cultural relativism is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture-specific; what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality exists, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs. http://www.gotquestions.org/cultural-rel…

This has led to the Progressive idea of the Constitution as a "living document" that can be "interpreted" to include the current morally relativist positions of our political leaders and/or those who's political action committees support the campaigns of our leaders.

As a denial of "universal" human rights as protected specifically by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, and by the Constitutional provision that Amendments must be enacted to change what is concretized in the Constitution, it is a denial that men have "unalienable" rights. Those unalienable rights are defined in natural law, and they vary somewhat between philosophers, but essentially they are a refutation of relativism.

President Obama's ideal of six years of national service to the United States government in return for school loans, which were made forbidden by lending institutions specifically so that this six year committment could be instituted, is one such case of relativism.

The first known case of relativism was the statement by Protagoras: "Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they are, and of things which are not, that they are not".

But if you believe that governments are constituted by the consent of the people, rather than coming from the blunt force of powerful people or from one faction or tribe being bigger and more terrifying than another, than you must believe relativism is wrong.

Consent of the governed is terminology of "popular sovereignty" as defined by Locke and Rousseau, whereby each individual gives up a bit of his freedom to a common government. Jefferson deduced that before any individual could give up such freedom to the "common sovereignty" that he himself must have "individual sovereignty". One cannot give up what one does not have to give.

"Individualism regards man—every man—as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being. Individualism holds that a civilized society, or any form of association, cooperation or peaceful coexistence among men, can be achieved only on the basis of the recognition of individual rights—and that a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its members." http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/indivi…

That statement is the direct denial of cultural relativism. So is the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights.

Cultural relativism taken to an extreme means a tribe still has the right to throw virgins into volcanoes, or to eat other men who happen to be in the way when the tribe is hunting for food, or to rape virgins in order to prevent getting HIV/AIDS when screwing other women who already have it. (This is a true scenario in some parts of Africa.)

"Do not make the mistake of the ignorant who think that an individualist is a man who says: “I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense.” An individualist is a man who recognizes the inalienable individual rights of man—his own and those of others.

"An individualist is a man who says: “I will not run anyone’s life—nor let anyone run mine. I will not rule nor be ruled. I will not be a master nor a slave. I will not sacrifice myself to anyone—nor sacrifice anyone to myself.” http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/indivi…

Do not make the mistake of believing that I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense, as a statement of moral relativism by a person, tribe, city, or nation, is superior to objective standards of ethics.

© 2010 FAMN LLC (MI)

Overcoming the "Overcoming of Originalism"

In my original post of this blog I wrote: "Taken as a 'living document' progressives and liberals have been allowed to abrogate the provisions of the Constitution that otherwise would cause the necessity for Amendments. A 'living document' needs no Amendments. It can be twisted to meet the needs of whatever political party has power."

This morning while searching for something else, I came across this progressive or liberal defense, by Peter Ianakiev, of such "twisting": "Given the difficulty of getting the Constitution amended, doesn’t it make much more sense..." The author talks about a specific obstacle to Originalism, but earlier in the piece he wrote, that Originalism "does not provide us with an effective model of jurisprudence." 


What justification does he give for "overcoming originalism" (the title of his piece)? It does not provide us with any practical way" with "legal reasoning and judicial decision-making."
Ianakiev uses the example of the execution of mentally ill convicts as "cruel and unusual" as determined by the Supreme Court in 2002.


But if the Court had determined that such was the case, and then stayed the execution until such time as Congress or the American people could decide what to do, there would have been no "overcoming" of the Originalist reading that failed to provide for community standards that change. An amendment could have been brought forth for consideration by the States, or perhaps Congress could have legislated a solution.


But "difficulty" in following Constitutional law is no defense for "overcoming" the upholding of a legal set of principles which every jurist and every legislator is sworn to uphold. Ianakiev is not quite right to define Originalism as "what a reasonable person in 1787 interpreted the constitution to mean." It actually means, what do the historical documents written by the Founders themselves, as pertains to specific elements of law under consideration by the Court in question, say about that element of law? 


For example, the "separation of church and state" is nowhere in the Constitution, and yet it is included because all the historical material that shows us that is what Jefferson (and others) intended. Originalism has to do with the Founder's "intentions". You cannot use the example of a mere "reasonable person" because reasonable people lost in Court quite often when they attempted to discover their rights under the new Constitution.


The difficulty of getting an Amendment passed is what I have always believed to be the excuse, usually implicit, in the actions of those who attempt to "overcome" Originalism. If it is that difficult, then let's take on the difficulty one more time with an Amendment that would allow for an easier method of passing such Amendments after that one passes---if the American people believe it ought to be easier.


If they do not believe it ought to be easier, than they have chosen to maintain the objectivity inherent in Originalism. The people will have finally heard the arguments on both sides, arguments which I'm certain the majority of people are not even familiar with at this point, and they will have their day in the voting booths. 


Then it can no longer be said that such "difficulties" are justification for ignoring the very machinery of freedom that was in the minds of those Originalists who wrote what liberals and progressives are tearing asunder because of the expedience required if they are to "overcome" the law as it is written.

© 2010 FAMN LLC (MI)

Individual Sovereignty and Ayn Rand

America's Founding Fathers challenged the institution of the state as the ruler of the individual. Man’s right to exist for his own sake, wrote philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand, was their guiding principle, and they were "determined to establish on earth the conditions required for man’s proper existence, by the 'unaided' power of their intellect."

Those Founders, she wrote, knew man as "an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life." From the Lockean concept of "popular sovereignty," differing from both Hobbes and Rousseau, where he laid the premise that the legis­lature was only empowered to legislate for the general welfare, the Founders discovered a political axiom.


Whether Locke meant to imply that sovereign power was only in the legislature or in the people, Jefferson and others concluded it was in the individual, the only political entity capable of thought, and the one ultimately responsible for his own welfare, and each must be the one in whom the primary authority rests. Without his consent, there can be no legislative body.


Black's Law Dictionary says sovereignty is "The state of condition of being free from dependence, subjection, or control." But under the U.S. Constitution, the people create a deliberate dependence on their governments to protect the rights they also claim to be able to recover when and if they should so decided to change their form of government. This implies directly that they freely submit some of their sovereignty to their government. That which is freely submitted is the power Locke called "popular sovereignty".

References from the Ayn Rand Lexicon:

1. For the New Intellectual
2. The Virtue of Selfishness 

Black's Law Dictionary; Fourth Edition

© 2010 FAMN LLC (MI)