Is this an America that we can afford? Watch William Voegeli's lecture on Never Enough: America's Limitless Welfare State. Is the judiciary really the least dangerous branch? Check out orderinthecourt.org for an inside look on the judicial branch. Around the Country
Matthew Spalding is on the road again—this time to the Princeton, NJ for the Lerhman American Studies Center Summer Institute, a two-week program for young scholars on the foundational principles of the American Republic.
First Principles meets the outdoors. Join the Evergreen Freedom Foundation for a First Principles Hike this in July or August. Not the outdoors type? Check out their classes on Federalism and First Principles of Freedom. Quick Thoughts
Have you ever heard the story of the Seal of the United States? What will the Constitution look like in the 21st Century? Check out Hillsdale College's guide to the coming constitutional debate. What We're Reading: The Rise of Modern Judicial Review, by Christopher Wolfe.
Will the Constitution Survive?
Next week, the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin confirmation hearings for President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan. This nomination provides an opportunity to ask serious questions about the Constitution and its meaning.
Since the early 20th Century, progressives have called for a "living constitution," a document not bound by eternal truths of the Declaration but one that evolves as the necessities of modern times dictate. This attempt to divorce the Constitution from the eternal principles of limited government is by no means finished.
Are we prepared to withstand this assault and recover America's constitutional principles? Will we defend the proposition that the meaning of our Constitution is found in the meaning of the words, rather than the inventions of the modern Supreme Court?
We have a variety of sources to help you think about and defend this important Founding document. Matthew Spalding offers an overview of the significance of the Constitution in his book, We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future, arguing that the Constitution contains eternal principles that do not evolve.
If that is the case, how should one read it and apply it to modern problems? Keith Whittington explains the originalist approach in a How to Read the Constitution: Self-Government and the Jurisprudence of Originalism. And, for a clause by clause analysis of the Constitution with essays from leading Constitutional scholars look no further than The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.
If you want to keep up with all the issues in this Supreme Court vacancy, visit The Federalist Society's SCOTUSreport for key news and commentary.
If Ms. Kagan is confirmed, she must pledge to perform her duties faithfully according to the Constitution. But it's not the job of a Supreme Court justice alone to defend the Constitution--it is the task of every government official. Moreover, each citizen should take the time to learn and to defend this document. After all, our Constitution created a republic, but it's up to us to keep it.
If it were to be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the constitution and Laws - the first growing out of the last. . . . A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.
~ Alexander Hamilton,
Essay in the American Daily AdvertiserFor more quotes, visit westillholdthesetruths.org
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Thursday, June 24, 2010
Fwd: Will the Constitution Survive?
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