About the Book
What does the Constitution really mean? How did the founding generation intend for us to interpret and apply the Constitution? Are liberals right when they cite its "elastic" clauses to justify big government, or are conservatives right when they cite its explicit limits on federal power? Professor Brion McClanahan, popular author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, finds the answers by going directly to the source--the Founders themselves, who debated all the relevant issues in their state constitutional conventions.
In The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution, you'll discover
-How the Constitution was designed to protect rather than undermine the rights of states;
-Why Congress, not the executive branch, was meant to be dominant--and why the Founders would have argued for impeaching many modern presidents for violating the Constitution;
-Why an expansive central government was the Founders' biggest fear, and how the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were designed to guard against it;
-Why the founding generation would regard most of the current federal budget, including "stimulus packages," unconstitutional;
-Why the Founding Fathers would oppose attempts to "reform" the Electoral College; and
-Why the Founding Fathers would be horrified at the enormous authority of the Supreme Court and why they intended Congress, not the Court, to interpret federal law.
Authoritative, fascinating, and timely, The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution is the definitive layman's guide to America's most important--and often most willfully misunderstood--historical document.
About the Author :
Brion McClanahan holds an MA and PhD in American history from the University of South Carolina. Born in Virginia, he attended high school in Delaware and received a BA in history from Salisbury University in Maryland. He lives with his wife and children near Phenix City, Alabama, just across the river from Columbus, Georgia. David Cochran Heath has worked in radio and theater for thirty-five years. He has voiced characters for computer games and public television, hosted an instructional video series for automotive repair, and was the narrator for a long-running radio program for kids. Additionally, he was the on-camera host for a documentary on the most violent courtroom shootout in US history. David lived in a village in the Philippines for four years as a teenager, and has lived with his wife in Michigan, Washington, and California. He was with Lamb's Players Theatre in Coronado, California, for thirty-one years, working full-time as a senior member of the acting ensemble and serving as the company's director of facilities. He left Lamb's Players in 2011 to concentrate on audiobooks, and has been the narrator of over 140 books, including three versions of the Bible as sole reader: ESV, KJV, and NIrV. David gets his love of stories from his father, who was a preacher for twenty-five years, a missionary for another eighteen years, and a lifelong lover of the most important story of all: God's plan of redemption in all sixty-six books of the Bible.
Review :
"Brion McClanahan's Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution takes the guesswork out of what the Founders intended. It's all here, in their own words, which any layman can understand--and just as important, use as the standard to assess the wayward judges, congressmen, and executives of our federal government."
-- "Thomas E. Woods, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History"
"For generations, left-wing judges, professors, and lawyers have told us that we can never know what the Constitution was supposed to mean, so judges are free to do what they want. Yet, in The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution, Brion McClanahan gives us a clear, clause-by-clause explanation of the original understanding of the Constitution. Constitutional government is possible, if only officials would be true to their oaths."
-- "Kevin R. C. Gutzman, JD, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Constitution"
"Professor McClanahan provides us with an invaluable window into the intent of all the Framers. This book can best be described as intellectual hard medicine. The readers' minds will be purged of all the nonsense they have been taught about the Constitution so they can see the document as intended by the founding generation that produced it."
-- "Dr. Marshall DeRosa, professor of political science, Florida Atlantic University"
"The Constitution for the United States, like all human creations, has been changed by the inescapable ravages of time. Not only the passage of time, but ambition, rent-seeking, ignorance, deception, misunderstanding, ideology, and the lust for power have encrusted our basic instrument of government with layer upon layer of false assumptions and distorted postures that have blocked us from knowing its real meaning and intent. Dr. McClanahan, with insight, painstaking effort, and that rare thing, plain common sense, has presented here as good a picture as we will get of what the Constitution really meant to those who wrote and ratified it. This book is not only a notable feat of historianship but also an important exercise of citizenship that will enlighten those who yearn for truth."
-- "Clyde N. Wilson, emeritus distinguished professor of history, University of South Carolina"
