Elections, Civility, and Strawberry Matcha Lattes: What I Learned Living Abroad, and Alone, at 19-Years-Old, and What We All Could Learn from Northern Ireland
Election season in the United States. For even the most politically-involved Americans, the time between January and November every four years is filled with heightened cortisol levels…
Federalist 11
Having dealt with the disease of faction attendant to republican forms of government, Hamilton, in Federalist #11 returns to the issue of unity.
What Undecided Voters Might Be Thinking
Since the populist surge that gave us Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump, politics in the Western world has polarized into a distinctive stalemate
Carter, Ford: Nonviolent Campaigns are the Only Safeguard for Democracy
The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 is a stark reminder that the specter of political violence casts a long shadow over our democratic ideals.
Federalist 10 Part II
In my last essay, part 1 of a reflection Federalist #10, I dealt with Madison’s definition of faction.
Why a President Cannot Whip Inflation
One of the greatest challenges facing the administration of US President Gerald Ford when he assumed office in 1974 was the poor state of the US economy, which was suffering from a condition dubbed stagflation – stagnation and inflation.
Constitution Day Reflections on America’s Founding Documents
When it comes to celebrating Constitution Day, it may be considered atypical to think of the Declaration of Independence.
Federalist 10, Part 1
Federalist 10, along with 51, are the two best-known of the 85 essays.
September 17th at the Convention
The main source we have for information on the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, occurring in the summer of 1787, is James Madison’s notes on the convention.
Federalist 9
After directing his attention to the problems of internal dissolution, Hamilton expands on the problem in Federalist #9, one of his most carefully thought through essays, and one that draws on a number of different sources for his argument.
On Empathy
I have spent weeks trying to write something arguing that empathy is the answer to everything…
Watering A Nation’s Roots
In 1967, Pepperdine College commissioned the historian and conservative man of letters Russell Kirk to write a history textbook for the southern California Christian college.
Rootedness Over Time and Affection for the Real
Outside the screened-in porch and downwind from us fourteen lambs graze in the dark.
Dissolution From Within: Federalist 6 - 8
John Jay fell ill after he completed the fifth Federalist, contributing only one more to the series (No. 64).
Little Convents on the Prairie
Like so many other Americans, I was captivated as a child by the stories in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House novels and in Michael Landon’s TV show inspired by the books.
Robert A. Goldwin: The Scholar as Teacher, the Teacher as Healer
Among Gerald Ford’s firsts was to be the first Republican to make a place in the White House for a full-time scholar.
The Impact of the 1984 First Ladies Conference Convened by Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter
The First Ladies Association for Research and Education, FLARE, held it first national conference entitled, “In Celebration of Betty Ford’s 50th Anniversary as First Lady and Betty Ford’s 40th Anniversary of her historic 1984 first ladies conference” on April 26, 2024, at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Jay Papers: Federalist 2-5
John Jay is the neglected author of The Federalist. He only wrote five of the papers, but four of them are among the first five.
Abraham Lincoln and the Long Arc of History
Today is the birthday of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd U.S. president and the only president ever elected from the state of Indiana, which is not far from where I’m writing this morning.
Reflection and Choice
Last week we introduced our readers to The Federalist, that collection of essays essential to understanding the animating ideas and principles of American Constitutionalism.