O’Reilly: “Are We responsible for the chaos that is enveloping America?”

This “Talking Points”  commentary “by  Bill O’Reilly aired last night, January 18, and, in our opinion, rings true in many respects; foremost—elections have consequences .

• U.S. Government's Fiscal Years 2012 and 2011 Consolidated Financial Statements (GAO-13-271R, Jan 17, 2013)

The Founders' Key

Reviving America's Founding Principles

This is an outstanding, one-hour video lecture advocating limited representative government presented  by Hillsdale College president Dr. Larry P. Arnn and serves as a companion video to Arnn’s book “The Founders' Key” by Dr. Larry Arn, president, Hillsdale College.  W strongly recommend "The Founders' Key" to all our readers.

RELATED MATERIAL

• Obama invoking executive order for gun control (The Washington Times)

• The Constitution: A Reader (Hillsdale College)
  

• The Northwest Ordinance
• The Homestead Act of 1862

• Understanding executive orders and the powers they grant (Voteocracy.com blog)

Sen. Graham warns Obama to ‘tread lightly’ on gun-control measures (The Hill)

• Liberty and Learning: The Evolution of American Education

Paul Ryan: "We will Reapply our founding principles"

Paul Ryan says he and Mitt Romney pledge they "will not duck the tough issues" and will "reapply our Founding Principles during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Constitution 201: “Case Study: Religious Liberty in the Administrative State”

Welcome to part 9 of our 10-part lecture series produced by Hillsdale College entitled “Constitution 201.”

Each lecture lasts approximately 40 minutes. Lectures and other study materials will be included and are available to our readers. We expect to present all 10 parts before Election Day.

Each lecture lasts approximately 40 minutes. Lectures and other study materials will be included and are available to our readers. We expect to present all 10 parts before Election Day.

Overview

Post-1960s Progressivism has steadily eroded religious liberty and the freedom of association in America. Measures such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) and many anti-discrimination laws express a new understanding of rights that rejects the Founders’ view of religious liberty and the freedom of private associations to govern themselves. Recent Progressivism follows the early Progressive belief that effective freedom requires government to redistribute resources in order to provide equal access to the goods that promote mental development and that make life comfortable. This redistributive agenda is combined with a new emphasis on the empowerment of victim groups, sexual liberation, and an aversion to traditional Christianity and Judaism that requires government intervention in the internal affairs of private organizations. Religious liberty today is divorced from the freedom of association and the free exercise of religion, which the Founders understood to be essential for a free society.

Study Guide—“ Case Study: Religious Liberty in the Administrative State"

 Today's Lecturer

Thomas G. West is the Paul and Dawn Potter Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, where he has taught since 2011. Dr. West teaches courses in American politics, with a focus on the U.S. Constitution, civil rights, foreign policy, and the political thought of the American founding. He also teaches course in political philosophy, with particular emphasis on Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke.

Prior to joining the faculty at Hillsdale, Dr. West was Professor of Politics at the University of Dallas, where he taught from 1974 to 2011. Formerly a visiting scholar at the Heritage Foundation and at Claremont McKenna College, Dr. West is a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute, where he teaches in the Institute’s Publius and Lincoln Fellows summer programs. He is the author of the best-selling "Vindicating the Founders": Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America, and co-translator of Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, and Aristophanes’ Clouds, of which there are more than 180,000 copies in print. He received his B.A. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University.

SUGGESTED READINGS

NOTE: all readings link to Hillsdale's online Constitution Reader, also available at ConstitutionReader.com.

REQUIRED READINGS

1. "The Northwest Ordinance" – Article I
2. "The Northwest Ordinance" – Article III
3. Thomas Jefferson - "Notes on the State of Virginia" - Query XVIII: Manners
4. George Washington - "Farewell Address" (Excerpt)

Next week we will bring you “Restoring Constitutional Government,” the tenth and final lecture in Hillsdale College’s “Constitution 201, “Restoring Constitutional Government,” presented by Hillsdale College president, Dr. Larry P. Arnn.  Your comments on this series are welcome.