The Founders Were No Libertarians and Neither Are You

One thing I've always noticed about Libertarians and even libertarians is that they are always right.  Always.  They really think they are smarter than everyone else. They purport to know exactly what the Founders intended when they wrote the Constitution and they know exactly how the Founders would react today if they were still governing.  Ignoring for a moment the narcissism in knowing that you are always right, just consider the simple fact the Founders believed in a strong central government that would be able to adapt to new and changing times before you pat yourself on the back too hard.

It's true the Founders were not Libertarians.  They were Constitutional Republicans like John Vecchione so amply demonstrates.  If there was ever a group of people who believed a federal government served a purpose in providing for the general good of its citizens by way of taxation it was the Founders.  This is hardly a notion Libertarians would ever agree to but the very first Article of the Constitution plainly states,

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;"

Sounds so liberal to us today doesn't it?

The predecessor to the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, did not grant the federal government the power to tax or provide for the general Welfare of the country.  That document was, in its purest sense, a Libertarians dream document. And it was impotent at governance.  That's why the Founders decided to start anew and write a Constitution that provided for a strong central government able to adapt to the changing times.  If there was anything strict about the intentions of the Founders it was their view the Constitution be a living document able to provide for the people under all circumstances or rot away like the Articles did.  They believed so much in the vitality of the document that the first thing they did was amend it 10 times.

Now if the Constitution promoted the ability to complain and writ conspiracy theories on end without actually ever have governed even as much as a city council then Libertarians might know something about it.