Topic: Liberal Fascism
One reason why progressives are so enamored of postmodern constitutions like that of South Africa is obvious when you think about it: Wide-ranging constitutional guarantees of universal human rights confer enormous power on government. Consider, for example, this provision in the SA Constitution’s Bill of Rights:
24. Environment
Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
In the name of this “right,” the government is given enormous power to manipulate the economy “through reasonable legislative and other measures.” Al Gore can only dream of such an amendment to the US Constitution!
Now of course the SA Constitution also embodies civil liberties of the traditional kind: freedom of speech, association, religion, etc.—albeit spelled out in much greater detail than our own Framers thought necessary. Perhaps that’s another reason why it’s so dear to the hearts of verbose lefties like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But deep in their gnarled little hearts, what progressives really like about such laundry lists of rights—to food, to housing, to education, to social security, to fairness, to happiness—is the excuse they provide for an ever-increasing concentration of power in government bureaucracies and elite institutions. And if in the pursuit of such “rights” individual liberties are trampled, well, that’s a small price to pay. Isn’t it?
