Robert Curry leads off this week’s curation by continuing to explore what the Declaration of Independence’s invocation of the word “unalienable” means for the American Founders’ understanding of rights. Curry argues that the Founders, rather than following the path blazed by Locke, followed Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Frances Hutcheson’s understanding of rights, in which all human beings possess rights by nature that cannot be alienated or given away. Thomas Lindsay has authored a new report that examines the rise of the Action Civics movement in K-12 civic education. He argues that the Action Civics model is grounded upon an understanding of democracy that encourages students to mobilize and participate in mass democracy rather than carefully think through their opinions. Sergui Klainerman, Higgins Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, writes about the rise of anti-racist theories at Princeton. He notes an ironic twist in this ongoing saga: the Department of Education has opened an investigation due to the self-confessed systemic racism that Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber says is embedded at Princeton. He contends that the anti-racist theories invoked by President Eisgruber use “Westerners’ sense of guilt with respect to colonialism and shameful past practices of slavery to attack the very mechanism that has allowed Western society to eliminate these practices.” Recalling former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s admonition that “all politics is local,” Michael DiMatteo argues that Americans have largely forgotten the importance of voting in local elections. As he writes, “State and municipal elections are the lifeblood of this country and affect citizens far more than the results of national elections.” Original Posts Michael DiMatteo, RealClearPublicAffairs Essential Reading Annenberg Public Policy Center The 2020 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey shows that compared to the 2019 survey, Americans’ civic knowledge has improved... Thomas K. Lindsay, Texas Public Policy Foudation The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Thomas Lindsay examines the growing Action Civics movement in civic education, which was.... In the News Larry Arnn, American Mind Mark Katkov, NPR Nadra Kareem Nittle, History.com No Labels, RealClearPolicy D. Q. McInerny, The New Criterion Colleen Sheehan, Arizona Capitol Times Biography.com Sara Georgini, Perspectives on History Susan Crabtree, RealClearPolitics W. Joseph Campbell, The Hill Patricia Barnes, Forbes Andrew D. Carico, Starting Points Sergiu Klainerman, National Review Michael Burlingame, Newsweek Allen C. Guelzo, Democrat Gazette Ilya Shapiro, Timothy Sandefur, Caroline Fredrickson, et al., National Constitution Center Join the National Constitution Center for the launch of our Constitution Drafting Project. The project brings together three teams of leading... Wilfred McClay & Lucas Morel, Jack Miller Center Scholars Wilfred McClay and Lucas Morel discuss how the New York Times's 1619 Project missed an opportunity to talk accurately about the history of slavery... Richard Brookhiser & Richard Reinsch, Liberty Law Talk Welcome to Liberty Law Talk. I’m Richard Reinsch. Today we’re talking with Richard Brookhiser about George Washington... Virginia Allen & Rachel Gerli, Daily Signal Podcast The principles of patriotism and the history of America’s founding are not being taught in schools as they once were. Now, many parents are... Justin Dyer, The 1787 Project In the coming weeks and months, the contentious deliberations about who will replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg... Amy Coney Barrett, Elizabeth Slattery, & Tiffany Bates, SCOTUS 101 Earlier this year, 7th Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett spoke to The Heritage Foundation’s “SCOTUS 101” podcast about... Carl Cannon's Great American Stories Today is the birthday of Chester A. Arthur, one of six U.S. presidents born in October. I had intended to ... Good morning, it's Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, the day the week when I reprise an instructive or inspirational quotation. Given ... On this date in 1891, Stanford University opened its doors. On the first day of school, the incoming class of ... |