false 294202 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173470696m/294202.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173470696s/294202.jpg But this imperative, Rubenfeld argues, rests on a profoundly inadequate, deforming picture of the relationship between freedom and time. Instead, Rubenfeld suggests, human freedom—human being itself—necessarily extends into both past and future; self- government consists of giving our lives meaning and purpose over time. From this conception of self-government, Rubenfeld derives a new theory of constitutional law's place in democracy. Democracy, he writes, is not a matter of governance by the present "will of the people"; it is a matter of a nation's laying down and living up to enduring political and legal commitments. Constitutionalism is not counter to democracy, as many believe, or a pre-condition of democracy; it is or should be democracy itself—over time. On this basis, Rubenfeld offers a new understanding of constitutional interpretation and of the fundamental right of privacy.

]]> 294202 1 285478 1 3 2001 Freedom and Time: A Theory of Constitutional Self-Government 0 0 0 0 46709 3.32 1275 314 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=294202