“The Obama Administration vs. the Constitution”

From Hillsdale College:

First Principles on First Fridays

“The Obama Administration vs. the Constitution”

Ronald J. Pestritto
Associate Professor of Politics, Hillsdale College

May 6, 2011

The Obama administration’s dramatic expansion of the federal government, all accomplished in the name of “progress,” has come at the expense of core constitutional principles like separation of powers and federalism. With specific examples that explain the idea of the “administrative state,” this lecture will detail the direct link between today’s politics and the Progressive ideology of a hundred years ago.

R. J. Pestritto is Charles and Lucia Shipley Chair in the American Constitution, Associate Professor of Politics, and Kirby Center Senior Fellow at Hillsdale College. He earned his B.A., magna cum laude, at Claremont McKenna College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in government at the Claremont Graduate University. Dr. Pestritto is the author of Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism, the editor ofWoodrow Wilson: The Essential Political Writings, and the co-editor of American Progressivism: A Reader, among other books. He has also written for The Claremont Review of Books and The Wall Street Journal.