Guest Appearance on Constitutional Chat

Constituting America has organized a series of Zoom chats on the Constitution. The chats are hosted by actress Janine Turner (Northern Exposure, Friday Night Lights, Cliffhanger) and Cathy Gillespie, co-founders of Constituting America. On the panel will also be "We The Future" Contest winners Dakare Chatman and Tova Love Kaplan.

I've been invited as a guest presenter for September 15, 2020. The subject will be The Preamble & The Constitutional Convention. You can sign up for the remaining sessions at this link (scroll down).

Tuesday September 1:     Countdown to Constitution Day Series, Articles IV & V

Tuesday September 8:     Countdown to Constitution Day Series, Article VI & VII

Tuesday September 15:   Countdown to Constitution Day Series, Preamble & Constitutional Convention

Thursday September 17: LIVE VIRTUAL CONSTITUTION DAY PROGRAM

December 15, 1791: Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution Are Ratified

Bill of Rights

Despite a modern perception that the first ten amendments bestow rights, it’s clear that the Bill of Rights is really a list of government prohibitions. The Founders did not believe in government benevolence and would never have accepted government as the arbiter of rights. 

Read all about it at Constituting America

Guest essayist at Constituting America: U.S. Constitution Sent to the States for Ratification

Constituting America

Read all about it at Constituting America

The Founding of this great nation was unique. Until 1776, with a few brief exceptions, world history was about rulers and empires. The American experiment shook the world. Not only did we break away from the biggest and most powerful empire in history, we took the musings of the brightest thinkers of the Enlightenment and implemented them. Our Founding was simultaneously an armed rebellion against tyranny, and a revolution of ideas—ideas that changed the world.

That is why we still care about America’s founding and the Framers of our Constitution.

Constituting America: 2020 90-Day Study Launches

In Celebration: 10th 90 Day Study Launches Today!

I'll be participating again this year. I'll let you know when my essays are published, but in the meantime, take a gander at this.

Introduction:

Recovering Our Legacy: The Many Uses of the American Past

By Dr. Wifred McClay

"Many Americans, including perhaps a majority of young people, believe that the present is so different from the past that the past no longer has anything to teach us. This could not be more wrong." Dr. Wifred McClay, from the Introduction.

Happy Birthday To The Bill Of Rights! 228 Years of Protection

Buy at Constituting America

Is our Bill of Rights a list of government-guaranteed rights? Absolutely not. The first eight amendments are filled with phrases like, “Congress shall make no law, shall not be infringed, shall not be violated, nor be deprived, shall not be required.” These are not a list of rights generously bestowed by a benevolent government. Instead they are a list of restrictions on government. As a safety measure, they added the caveat that this was not a complete list (IX Amendment).

Rights endowed by God was not a new concept. It went back at least to Marcus Tullius Cicero and the Roman Republic. Cicero searched for what he called natural law. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC–46 BC) on Natural Rights: 

True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting. There will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all time. If so great a power belongs to the decrees of fools that the laws of Nature can be changed by their votes, then why do they not ordain that what is bad be considered good?

John Locke and the Enlightenment magnified awareness that rights came from God. Locke wrote that humans were “by nature free, equal and independent.” Our First Congress wrote these rights as amendments to the Institution and the states ratified the ten amendments we call the Bill of Rights.

Happy Birthday to the Bill of Rights 

Here are two great articles on the Bill of Rights from Constituting America

The Bill of Rights: America's Bulwark of Liberty by Horace Cooper, Constituting America Fellow

Happy Bill of Rights Day by Tony Williams, Constituting America Fellow

Essay at Constituting America: Nebraska’s State Constitution

Constituting America has begun their 90-Day Essays for 2019. This year, they are centered on "Boundaries on Federal Government" and will cover our federalist form of government, including the state Constitutions. I'm writing the essay on the Nebraska Constitution, which was published today.

You can read it here,

 or 

Listen to the essay on Soundcloud

Be sure to explore the other excellent essays. Also, you might want to check out your state's Constitution.

Constituting America's Annual Essay

Constituting America has begun their 90-Day Essays for 2019. This year, they are centered on "Boundaries on Federal Government" and will cover our federalist form of government, including the state Constitutions. I'll be writing the essay on the Nebraska Constitution.

Essay at Constituting America

Read the essay here and read all of this year's essays here.

New Essay at Constituting America

Read the essay here and read all of this year's essays here.

Today's Essay at Constituting America

Today, I again had the privilege of participating in Constituting America's 8th annual 90-Day Study. This year, their study looks at the Founders’ vision and purpose for a legislature that belongs to, is comprised of, and serves the American people. 

You can read or listen on SoundCloud here, and all of this years essays can be found here.