The Liberal Backbone of America Under democratic capitalism, the American Constitution and government structure have a fundamentally liberal backbone. Viewed as a social contract, the relationship between the state and the individual is expressed in the Constitution which dictates the liberal values ​​intrinsically intertwined in American history. Combined with the Bill of Rights, the Constitution holds representative government accountable for its actions and establishes finite limits on the power it exercises over the individual. A capitalist society like that of the United States uses taxation and the distribution of wealth as a tool to control social equality, an inevitable hypocrisy of liberal values ​​in a democratic welfare state. Classical liberal values ​​that hold the rights of the individual as paramount have been modernized to accommodate a slightly paternalistic social welfare system. Classical liberalism suggests that the state and society can be seen as one immense social contract. In a liberal democratic country like America, the constitution is the fundamental part of the social contract; it is a contract between the State and civil society. The U.S. Constitution is a guide to legislation and its interpretation. Being an essentially liberal contract, the Constitution binds not only the government, but also the people. Through the constitution, people collectively commit to adopt certain institutional procedures for managing public affairs and resolving social conflicts. The Constitution not only limits the arbitrary power of government, but also prevents public administration from being poisoned by people's short-term moods and passions. Through the constitution, people collectively pledge to control these capricious human feelings. A fundamental liberal principle on which the American Constitution is inspired is that of limiting and separating governmental power. Classically liberal distrust of majoritarian tyranny has continued in American politics today through its role in the Constitution. In a liberal constitutional system there is an important difference between the Constitution and ordinary laws. While ordinary laws can be amended or repealed to protect civil liberties by the national legislature, or be declared illegal or unconstitutional through the process of judicial review (Burns et al, 1993, p.21), the national legislature usually has no power unilaterally to amend or abrogate the constitution and the judiciary has no power to declare the constitution illegal. For example, in the United States, the constitution can be amended only after approval by the legislatures (or constitutional conventions) of two-thirds of the states, or by a vote of two-thirds of both houses of Congress, followed by ratification by three-quarters of States or their ratification conventions (Burns et al, 1993, p.