The Farmer’s First Harvest

The first batch of letters—31 in all—from the Letters from an Ohio Farmer project that I’ve noted here a few times is now out in book form under the title A Constitutional Conversation. It’s available right away on Kindle, but also coming soon in traditional hard copy.

These short essays are written in the spirit of the Federalist, intended to focus more seriously on the constitutional dimensions of our current political scene—“a constitutional conversation in the broadest sense.”  You might say it is an attempt to help the Tea Party brew strong rather than weak tea, as the Preface hints:

The American people have started a historic conversation—about the foundations, purposes, and scope of our government.  In a spontaneous movement they rose to challenge long-established orthodoxies, and a sustained exertion of their sovereign power is change the direction in which the country is heading.  The movement began with no headquarters, no recognized leader, and no agreed upon platform.  Thousands of independent groups of private citizens gathered in thousands of public squares across the land.  Through all the diverse ideas expressed at these gatherings, one theme shone clearly: the federal government has, over the last several decades, stepped further and further outside the bounds of the Constitution.

Like Publius in 1787 and 1788, the Ohio Farmer is not one person, but a group of people who decided to write under a pseudonym.  I’ve contributed a couple of essay to this series.  I won’t say which ones; you’ll have to get a copy and try your hand at close textual analysis to guess!

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