If Alexis de Tocqueville were alive today and observing the situation of America, he would probably not be surprised that the democratic ethos of civil society, the township, and the autonomous local county have been crushed by the royal prerogatives of the executive and the administrative bureaucracy built around it. Most Americans are somewhat familiar [...]
That it is the founding principles themselves to which we can turn to recover from the great evils of slavery, of the loss of virtue and moral standard, and of grotesque dehumanization should be a measure of the gratitude we owe to our Founding Fathers for their magnificent achievement. Robert R. Reilly is the author [...]
The role Gouverneur Morris played in the Miracle at Philadelphia is one that is often cropped out of the greater American Story. However, based on James Madison’s detailed account of the proceedings of the Convention, Morris has had a much greater impact on American political institutions than what Americans give him credit for. The American [...]
Too often foundations support particular political causes rather than supporting the even greater need for a citizenry schooled in the Constitution. But if we really want to make a difference in our nation, I suggest funding courses on the Constitution and the Founding documents in every high school, college, and university in the country. The [...]
After abolishing the filibuster, says Barack Obama, Democrats should ram through statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C., thereby expanding the Senate to 104 members, and adding four new Democratic senators. That new Senate, says Mr. Obama, should enact every law possible to enlarge and expand the electorate, including extending the ballot to ex-convicts. "When the [...]
As a majority of states have rejected the application of capital punishment in certain cases, United States law has moved toward mercy, away from cruelty. Consensus about human dignity and the inception of human life now calls for a similar move at the beginning of life. Just Mercy In his book Just Mercy, attorney Bryan [...]
Is our nation witnessing a soft form of religious persecution beneath the cloak of public health? I pray and hope that this is not the case and that governments, preventing the free exercise of religion, will reverse course and allow church leaders to reopen their doors to once again proceed with the most essential task [...]
The Catholic order of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, are apparently not little enough or poor enough to avoid governmental coercion and interference with their works of charity. For almost a decade now, they have been involved in court cases resisting governmental attempts, first federal and now state, to require them to incorporate [...]
As the clock struck midnight to begin 2020, talk of a new “Roaring Twenties” began in earnest. This portends a wave of retrospectives, historical, fictional, and sensational. One of these will inevitably be Prohibition, the outlawing of the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” or their import/export into the United States and its territories. [...]
Eva Brann’s contributions to American Political Thought are a starting point that allows the student to grasp the heart of her pursuits—that is, education. For Dr. Brann, the effort to understand the principles of the Declaration of Independence or discern how best to educate the citizens of a democratic republic can take place between students [...]
The governor of West Virginia has invited the disaffected counties of Virginia to leave the Old Dominion and become a part of the mountain state. The loss of these counties and their “deplorables” would mark an end to what little is left of the Old Dominion’s influence in the counsels of the nation. The American [...]
In the coming debates over the nation’s future, a return to natural law is the most secure way to fight against the legal chaos that has destroyed the rule of law. We must explore natural law notions of self-defense, private property, and even national sovereignty. This law will direct us to God, who made both [...]
Even before the 2016 election, Democrats, collaborating with a like-minded media, were using the instruments of power they possess, to first prevent and then to overturn the election results of 2016. Russiagate, the James Comey FBI investigation, the Mueller probe — aborting a Trump presidency has always been the goal. In 1868, President Andrew Johnson [...]
Many of America’s founders defended religious liberty, believing it grounded on the duty men and women have to worship their Creator. As late as the 1990s, Democrats and Republicans were able to work together to protect that liberty, but unfortunately, the political left has begun to abandon religious freedom. As the 2020 presidential campaign heats [...]