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Meagan Speed
December 9, 2013
POSI 3334
Essay 2
1
Levinson and Epstein on Good Government
“The Constitution is one of the most revered documents in American
politics.”(Levinson) However, some people believe the United States Constitution to be flawed.
Political enthusiasts such as Sanford Levinson and Richard Epstein have presented this
argument in their written works “Our Undemocratic Constitution” and “How Progressives
Rewrote the Constitution”. In these books, both Levinson and Epstein introduce their theories
to support this argument. These theories represent Levinson and Epstein’s understandings of
what good government is and the type of constitution necessary to achieve it.
Richard Epstein, a well-known libertarian, lawyer, and law professor, believes that the
government forces the constitution as law in order to have rule of law. In Epstein’s book “How
Progressives Rewrote the Constitution” he expresses concern that the original Constitution is in
the process of being abandoned with the many changes the court has made within it. Epstein
also discusses the connection between the government intervening in markets and the way
they go about regulating them. He begins making this connection by discussing Child Labor
Laws and whether or not regulation by the government was actually needed.
Epstein theorizes that child labor would have dissipated on its own without having
government legislation or intervention. However, this argument can be seen in a different view
of the government. If sided with the government’s intervention, one can see how parents
Meagan Speed
December 9, 2013
POSI 3334
Essay 2
affected child labor. Most people would believe that parents have their child’s best interest in
mind, but what if they believe they have no choice but to put their child to work? The family
could be too poor to feed, clothe, or shelter the child without having the extra money the child
could be earning, especially in these times of economic hardships. They could believe that this
is the child’s best shot towards a gateway to education. The parents are left thinking that there
is no other option for their child. By making child labor illegal, the government was preventing
these parents from entering into a contract with an employer; thereby, preventing any legality
in the process of putting these children to work. Epstein, however, believed that child labor
was declining without government intervention. His argument is supported with the evidence
