As movements, originalism in the law and libertarianism in economics were fraternal twins. Both were born of extreme nostalgia, fetishizing and distorting bygone America, so both more easily achieved mass appeal in the everything-old-is-new-again 1970s and ’80s. Both purported to be based on objective principles that transcended mere politics or special interests, even while both were vehicles for big business and the right to recover, fortify, and expand their economic and political power.
