Federalism and Liberty

[Sanford Levinson]

I agree with Mark that the liberty promoted by Jeffersonians was what today
we are inclined to call "republican" liberty of participation, which is
vitiated at the national level.  But the point of republican liberty, in
contrast to liberal conceptions of the limited state (pun intended), is that
the right of participation does not guarantee any right against *very*
unattractive outcomes.  (I put to one side the restrictions on participatory
rights throughout most of American history--see Rogers Smith's Civic Ideals.)

Sandy Levinson

Mark Graber writes:
>Surely Sandy's account of liberty and federalism is a bit too simple
>(as are all our two paragraph email missives).  For the many framers,
>liberty was defined primarily in political terms.  Persons were free
>to the extent they could meaningfully participate in government.
>Federalism, thus, promotes liberty to the extent that people are able
>to participate more meaningfully in state governments.