June 26, 2005
Originalism as ISO9000
Our favorite Grumbler, Eric, gave a very strong explanation of why we, as libertarians, advocate originalism so strongly. Generally, he talks about setting up corporations, groups, etc, and how the structure of bylaws and the rules of operation work together. An excellent piece, and I suggest you read it.
I’ve mentioned before that I work in the electronics industry. In our industry (and in a great many others) there is a group called ISO (Industry Standards Organization) that ensures that companies are set up properly. Let me first point out, that ISO is not a government organization. It is like a much more advanced and stringent form of the Better Business Bureau. For people in manufacturing/design of products, a company can go through “ISO9000″ certification, which signifies to your customers that you have jumped through some hoops to prove that you’re worth doing business with.
So here’s how it works. To acheive ISO9000 certification, they don’t come in and tell you how to run your company. They don’t look at your company and ask you whether the way you do things is the right way to do something, the most efficient way to do it, or the most customer-centric way to do it. All they do is ask that you have written procedures for how you conduct business, and verify through regular audits that you are indeed doing what is in your procedure documents. It gets a little more in-depth than this, in that they require that you have ways to correct deficiencies in your process, how to change those procedures, and a few other issues that affect every company, regardless of type. But for the most part, they ensure that you carry out your duties in the same way that your written procedures state.
How does this apply to the Constitution? Well, the Constitution is our ISO procedure. All the Constitution provides us, as a nation, is a procedural document for how things are done. It explains how the government is set up, what its powers and restrictions are. That’s it. It may be right or wrong, that’s not the issue. The issue is that it is our procedure for what our government does. As Eric points out, part of the Constitution spells out what needs to be done to change that procedure, by the amendment process.
There were several flaws in that original document. The 13th Amendment rectified one major flaw. The 18th Amendment was a fully proper change to the Constitution, although we didn’t like it much and had to repeal it. The 19th Amendment was a significant process change, that some folks (such as myself) think was a bad idea, but it’s the law of the land, and we’re willing to deal with it. We, as libertarians, are not saying that the Constitution is always right. But where it is wrong, it should be changed, not ignored.
That is the one absolutely major flaw that needs to be rectified. Who decides whether or not a government’s law is Constitutional? Of course, everyone who has passed high school civics (if they still teach that!) will answer “The Supreme Court.” But I ask you, where in the Constitution does it provide for the Supreme Court to perform Judicial Review? Nowhere. It was a power assumed by the Supreme Court under Marbury v. Madison. We need someone to do this crucial function in our government, but it has never been expressly written that the Supreme Court holds that responsibility, nor what their limitations are.
So what would we do in the ISO9000 world, if we saw a systemic issue such as this? We’d institute a Corrective Action. Meaning, that we would either rewrite our procedure to establish Judicial Review as part of the Constitution, or we would stop the process altogether. I don’t know what we need to do to fix the problem of our blatant disregard for the Constitution, but there’s a significant disconnect between what’s spelled out in the Constitution and what our government is now doing. The crucial factor is that we have a constant, written procedure, we follow that procedure, and when we think that procedure needs to be modified, we have a way to do so. The Constitution is not, by it’s very nature, holy writ. It is a strong template for a country governed by the rule of law, an excellent starting point. The rule of law has now been subjected to the rule of 9 justices who are the “guardians” of the law. But when the guardians are no longer trusted, the whole system can come crashing down.
Eric's Grumbles Before The Grave linked with Wow, What a Bunch of Busy Beavers
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sweet. Maybe the folks reading these pieces can understand it when we put it in a business context.
Wow, What a Bunch of Busy Beavers
The LLP community has been a bunch of busy beavers this weekend. The volume and quality of posts coming out is truly awesome. I am truly inspired by it. I feel pushed to post just to keep up. And I…
I am enjoying the reasoning powers that have been expressed via different aspects of everyday life. The ISO concept being applied to the workings of government is far to logical to be adopted. Keep working on a solution as to how to implement ISO in our next attempt at a freedom loving society after this current one falls into the toilet; have it ready by next Tuesday and you get extra points.