Last week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal starts with John McGinnis’s reflections at Law & Liberty on the importance of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House seres. He argues that it inculcates a “personal and emotional framework for a society of liberty” and the maintenance of self-government. The austere setting of the untamed American wilderness, McGinnis writes, “recapitulates in miniature the famous thesis of Frederick Jackson Turner about American history, in which the wide-open frontier determined our national character.” Though “not a political tract,” the series “reflects a celebration of individual choice and an acceptance of its consequences without relying on government.” McGinnis notes approvingly that Wilder rejects the “valorization of selfishness and atheism that appears in the novels of Ayn Rand’s novels,” preferring instead to emphasize “solidarity and altruism within the family and without.” In his overall judgment, the Little House series “makes the series the best introduction for a child to virtues indispensable to liberty – self-reliance, personal responsibility, and respect for individual choice” – the marks of republican government. At RealClearPolitics, J. Peder Zane laments the shrinking number of students taking up history and other degrees in the humanities. He argues that this is unfortunate since reading about how “our ancestors’ decisions shaped our world” is crucial, because it allows students to gain “wisdom as we confront the great question: How can I lead a good life?” This is in stark contrast to an alternative view that is gaining popularity, especially in colleges and universities, that’s focused on delegitimizing “the past by portraying it as a parade of horribles.” According to Zane, this view focuses on creating a narrowed range of acceptable opinions through controlling “thought, language, and reality itself.” “If you do not know that the American revolution was fought for human freedom,” Zane writes, “then you might accept the risible claim of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, that its goal was the preservation of slavery.” Instead, Americans should take the humanities seriously again, because that is a means to preserving government of, by, and for the people. In the News Christopher Nadon, City Journal Nina Totenberg, NPR No Labels, RealClearPolicy PR Newswire Ashley Kirken, WLWT John McGinnis, Law & Liberty Paul G. Summers, Tennessean Marilyn Odendahl, Indiana Citizen Jeremy Dys, Washington Examiner Sarah Pruitt, History.com Isabel Schonemann, My Champlain Valley J. Peder Zane, RealClearPolitics Avery Kreemer, Dayton Daily News Keely Doll, Centre Daily Evan Bernick, Law & Liberty American Idea Jeff and Rob McDonald discuss several interesting - and little-known - stories of individuals from the American Revolution... Giving Ventures On the latest episode of Giving Ventures, host and DonorsTrust Vice President Peter Lipsett talks with Pano... Little Patriots The American Cornerstone Institute created the Little Patriots platform for parents, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers to... Carl Cannon's Great American Stories Today's date is the birthday of a Virginian who was once a household name on both sides of the Mason-Dixon ... On this date in 1906 San Franciscans were awakened before dawn by two powerful temblors that crumbled thousands of buildings, ... Although President Biden's Secret Service code name is "Celtic," there is nothing secret about Joe Biden's pride in his Irish ... |