We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few, by Robert Ovetz.
The US Constitution is hailed by some political scientists, some lawyers, and some political pundits as the most important document of natural rights ever penned by human creatures. Challenging this assertion is anathematic. This common-sense assumption grounds the radical right's employment of book-banning and curriculum control through legislative fiat. It also serves as a built-in argument for not signing international treaties on human rights.
The US Constitution has been a model for the founding statements of many nations, particularly but not exclusively in Latin America. A report published on September 7, 2011, suggested that "the United States may be losing its influence over constitutionalism in other countries because it is increasingly out of sync with an evolving global consensus on issues of human rights."
A new book by Robert Ovetz goes a step further by challenging the original assumptions about the innocuously equal and positively democratic intentions of the framers of the Constitution.
We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few highlights the ideas and justifications slave-owners and land speculators that penned the document as a counter-revolutionary statement by examining "the constitution for what it is – a rulebook for elites to protect capitalism from democracy. Social movements have misplaced faith in the constitution as a tool for achieving justice when it actually impedes social change through the many roadblocks and obstructions we call 'checks and balances.' This stymies urgent progress on issues like labour rights, poverty, public health and climate change, propelling the American people and the rest of the world towards destruction."
