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.

Constitution 201: Post-1960s Progressivism

Welcome to part 8 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.

 >>Study Guide: Post-1960s Progressivism

Overview

Post-1960s Progressivism is an incoherent blend of the earlier Progressive emphasis on material and spiritual uplift coupled with a new, adamantly relativistic orientation. This altered Progressivism champions an understanding of freedom as “the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the meaning of human life.” Policies that attack the traditional family through the promotion of sexual liberation, the redefinition of racial equality in terms of atonement for alleged historical victimization, and a preference for the preservation of the environment over human flourishing—demonstrate that post-1960s Progressivism not only rejects the ethical ideal of earlier Progressivism; it also denies the Founders’ conception of equality and rights as grounded in “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”

Click here to view parts 1—7

Constitution 201: The Transformation of America’s Political Institutions

Welcome to part 7 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, November 6.

>>Study Guide - "The Transformation of America’s Political Institutions"

Overview

Progressives undertook the transformation of America’s political institutions—in particular the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches—to reflect their understanding that government is divided into politics (representation of the will of the people) and administration (development and implementation of civic policies and programs determined by scientific expertise). This administrative system, in which Congress delegates its lawmaking authority to regulatory agencies, replaces the centrality of the consent of the governed with the rule of unelected, bureaucratic experts.

About The Lecturer

Kevin Portteus is associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College, where he has taught since 2008. Dr. Portteus is faculty advisor for the Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program, and teaches courses in American political thought and American political institutions.

A visiting graduate faculty member in the American History and Government program at Ashland University, Dr. Portteus formerly taught at Belmont Abbey College and Mountain View College, in Dallas. Having published online through the Washington Times, Human Events, and BigGovernment.com, his book, Executive Details: Public Administration and American Constitutionalism, is under review for publication. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Ashland University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in politics from the University of Dallas.

>>Lectures 1-6

Constitution 201: Total Regulation LBJ’s Great Society

Welcome to part 6 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, November 6.

>>Study Guide - Total Regulation: LBJ's Great Society

Overview

President Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society is the logical extension of Progressive political thought and FDR’s New Deal. While the Founders held that the task of good government is to secure its citizens’ natural rights, LBJ argued that government must eradicate all external constraints—legal, economic, educational, and environmental—which hamper the “spiritual fulfillment” of its citizens. The extensive regulations and programs of the Great Society are thus meant to guarantee not only the right to pursue happiness but also the full achievement of it.

About the Lecturer

Kevin Portteus is assistant professor of politics at Hillsdale College, where he has taught since 2008. Dr. Portteus is faculty advisor for the Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program, and teaches courses in American political thought and American political institutions. 

>>Visit the LBJ Presidential Library

Constitution 201: FDR’s New Bill of Rights

Welcome to part 5 of our 10-part lecture series presented 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, November 6.

OVERVIEW

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROSEVELTThoroughly educated in Progressive principles, President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that the task of statesmanship is to redefine our rights “in the terms of a changing and growing social order.”   While the Founders thought the truths they celebrated in the Declaration of Independence were self-evident and so also timeless and unchanging, FDR argued for a new self-evident economic truth. His proposed “Economic Bill of Rights” lays out the means by which our new economic rights are to be secured, thereby achieving social equality and social justice.

Study Guide - "FDR's New Bill of Rights"

 About the Lecturer:

Will Morrisey is the William and Patricia LaMothe Chair in the U.S. Constitution and Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, where he has taught since 2000. He teaches courses in American politics, political philosophy, and comparative politics.

 Dr. Morrisey is the author of eight books on statesmanship and political philosophy including Self-Government, The American Theme: Presidents of the Founding and Civil War; The Dilemma of Progressivism: How Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson Reshaped the American Regime of Self-Government; Regime Change: What It Is, Why It Matters; Culture in the Commercial Republic; and Reflections on DeGaulle. He is currently working on a study of the geopolitical strategies of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle. He has written for the New York Times, Washington Times, the American Political Science Review, the Claremont Review of Politics, and Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, of which he has served as an editor since 1979. He received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Kenyon College, and his Ph.D. in political science at the New School University.

Constitution 201: Founders vs. Progressives

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Declaration of Independence

JOHN DEWEYWelcome to part 4 of our 10-part lecture series presented 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, November 6.

Overview

Progressivism represents a radical departure from the Founders’ understanding of the purpose and ends of government. Comparing and contrasting the arguments of the Founders and of the Progressives regarding six key principles of government—the meaning of freedom; the purpose of government arising from the meaning of freedom; the elements of domestic policy; the extent of foreign policy; the centrality of the consent of the governed; and the size and scope of government—shows decisively that Progressivism is not a logical outcome of the Founders’ principles, but rather a conscious rejection of them.

Study Guide - "Overview: Founders versus Progressives"

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Constitution 201: Woodrow Wilson and the Rejection of the Founders’ Constitution (Part 2/2)

Welcome to part 3 of our 10-part lecture series presented 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, November 6.

>>Part 2 Study Guide 

Overview:

Woodrow Wilson argued that the separation of powers established by the Constitution prevented truly democratic government.  In order to render government more accountable to public opinion, Wilson held that the business of politics—namely, elections—should be separated from the administration of government, which would be overseen by nonpartisan, and therefore neutral, experts.  The president, as the only nationally elected public official, best embodies the will of the people, resulting in a legislative mandate.

Poll: How citizens feel about Constitutional changes and privacy

Is the Constitution an enduring document or irrelevant in today’s world? The latest AP-National Constitution Center poll shows concerns some Americans have about constitutional issues.  >>Continue reading.

Constitution 201: Woodrow Wilson and the Rejection of the Founders’ Principles (Part 1/2)

WOODROW WILSONWelcome to part 2 of our 10-part lecture series presented 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, November 6.

Overview: Woodrow Wilson and the Rejection of the Founders’ Principles

Progressives believe that America needs to move beyond the principles of the Founding.  Woodrow Wilson—who served as president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey, and as America’s 28th president—was one of the earliest Progressive thinkers.  His critique of the Founding—namely, his rejection of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s system of the separation of powers—is one of the most articulate expressions of the Progressive movement’s core beliefs.

Constitution 201: Challenge of Progressivism

Today we begin a 10-part lecture series presented by Hillsdale College entitled “Constitution 201.”

Each lecture lasts approximately 40 minutes.  Lectures and study materials will be made available to our readers.  Today we present part 1 "The Founders’ Constitution and the Challenge of Progressivism."

We expect to present all 10 parts before Election Day, November 6.

Overview

The principles of the American Founding, embodied in the Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the Constitution, came under assault by Progressives of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Progressivism rejects the Founders’ ideas of natural rights, limited government, the  separation of powers, representation, and federalism.  Progressive government, exemplified by the modern administrative state, has fundamentally transformed key aspects of the American way of life.

>>"The Founders’ Constitution and the Challenge of Progressivism” Reader.

Progressives believe that America needs to move beyond the principles of the Founding.  Woodrow Wilson—who served as president of Princeton University, governor of New Jersey, and as America’s 28th president—was one of the earliest Progressive thinkers.  His critique of the Founding—namely, his rejection of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s system of the separation of powers—is one of the most articulate expressions of the Progressive movement’s core beliefs.