For Libertarians, the Constitution forms our guiding principles when it comes to the law and our view of our rights as citizens. Ideally, it should be the guide of all politicians, but clearly it is not. That is one of the reasons the Libertarian Party formed.

Much like we defend each person's right to engage in any peaceful activity, we also defend their rights as guaranteed by the Constitution and challenge government actions which infringe upon those rights.

Our nation was founded on the principles of liberty, of self-determination, respect for private property, and that the people are sovereign over the government, not the other way around. These ideals and more are stated in the founding documents of our republic, specifically the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

The State of New Hampshire also was founded on these ideals, and in many cases, our state constitution has stronger protections for civil rights and for limiting government power than the U.S. Constitution. It even starts with a Bill of Rights, and then goes into the form of government.

As a general rule, Libertarians favor a plain-language reading of the Constitution, using definitions of terms as defined at ratification. The Constitution is written in plain, although a bit formal, English, and the meaning of all of its articles can be ascertained easily.

The Constitution created a government with clearly defined and limited powers. It even states what those powers are and how they are to be enforced. It is a testament to our Founding Fathers' vision that the document has only been amended 27 times, and ten of those were the Bill of Rights. So in the last 215 years, there have only been 17 changes or additions. Not bad.