8/29/2022

Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal starts off with an op-ed from Jack Miller Center President Hans Zeiger, who recounts his personal connection to David McCullough, whom he calls a “patriot who possessed an undying wonder about and gratitude for the country he loved.” Zeiger notes that he took a class with McCullough as an undergraduate student, describing him as making “more of difference in a week than many teachers make in a semester.” Zeiger continues: “He made a difference by telling masterful stories and by how he carried himself – in class, during office hours, and in a public lecture he delivered on campus. He was kind, witty, ever the gentleman.”

Colleen Sheehan explores the reaction to a recent report from the Heritage Foundation’s Brenda Hafera that examines the exhibits and public tours of three presidential houses. Sheehan writes that Montpelier, which Hafera argued is advancing an ideological account of American history, responded by claiming that the report is “full of falsehoods” that are “intended to advance a supremacist ideology.” But Sheehan notes that at a recent conference Heritage hosted that discussed the report, strong charges were levelled against Montpelier from William B. Allen, a black scholar. In Sheehan’s view, both Allen’s and Hafera’s “analyses of the current situation at Montpelier deserve our attention.” She argues that we need to stand against teachings that condemn “the nation’s origins and especially the reputations of the nation’s Founders.”

Ryan D. Doerfler and Samuel Moyn make the case in the New York Times that Americans don’t need to reclaim the Constitution but instead need “to reclaim America from constitutionalism.” They argue that our “broken” Constitution restricts the ability of lawmakers to get needed legislation passed; they should instead be allowed to make arguments “on their own merits without having to bother with the Constitution.” At the American Spectator, Adam Carrington has serious reservations about this argument. He argues that the Constitution must be protected for the sake of preserving self-government, because it allows citizens to “deliberate better about justice, commit more to the rule of law, and give ourselves time for our rational, not prejudiced, selves to rule.”