“While all revolutions aim to overthrow government, the inconsistency claim is wrong in maintaining that all revolutions aim to destroy the existing constitutional order.
On the contrary, some revolutions are made to preserve the traditional order against the efforts of innovative government officials to change it; indeed, the American revolutionaries began their war as professed defend- ers of the British Constitution.
Armed revolt against such a government is therefore not an attack on the constitution but an attempt to protect it.
Thus, the chief error made by the inconsistency claim is to assume that government and constitution are the same thing, so that a revolt against one is necessarily a revolt against the other. In fact, the two are conceptually quite distinct. In some circumstances the government might even be opposed to the constitution.
Therefore, a constitution could conceptu- ally protect a right to conservative revolution-a right to protect the preexisting constitutional order against government officials who would subvert it.”
“While all revolutions aim to overthrow government, the inconsistency claim is wrong in maintaining that all revolutions aim to destroy the existing constitutional order.
On the contrary, some revolutions are made to preserve the traditional order against the efforts of innovative government officials to change it; indeed, the American revolutionaries began their war as professed defend- ers of the British Constitution.
Armed revolt against such a government is therefore not an attack on the constitution but an attempt to protect it.
Thus, the chief error made by the inconsistency claim is to assume that government and constitution are the same thing, so that a revolt against one is necessarily a revolt against the other. In fact, the two are conceptually quite distinct. In some circumstances the government might even be opposed to the constitution.
Therefore, a constitution could conceptu- ally protect a right to conservative revolution-a right to protect the preexisting constitutional order against government officials who would subvert it.”