S1: Every week. Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn joins Hugh Hewitt
S1: to discuss great books, great men, and great ideas. This
S1: is Hillsdale Dialogues, part of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network.
S1: More episodes@podcast.hillsdale.edu or wherever you find your audio.
S2: Morning glory and evening Grace America. I'm Hugh Hewitt, welcome
S2: to Hillsdale Dialogue. It's a special Hillsdale dialogue. They're all
S2: kind of special. I think highly of them. Many people do.
S2: We're glad to have the following that we have all
S2: things hillsdale@hillsdale.edu. All the dialogues are collected@hughforhillsdale.com, and if you
S2: go over to hillsdale.edu, you'll find them all sorted out
S2: there and and arranged for you to pick the subject
S2: matter and go deep. But as we approach the 250th
S2: anniversary of the vote on the Declaration of Independence. I
S2: thought we would devote a program to the Genius of
S2: America with Doctor Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College. He
S2: is also the author of a book called The Founders Key.
S2: He has made it part of his life's work to
S2: understand the declaration, to understand Lincoln's reliance upon the declaration,
S2: as well as a great half American, Winston Churchill. So
S2: let's go way back to the founders key doctrine to
S2: start this off. You studied that era. Why? Why were
S2: you attracted to that era and write that book and,
S2: and study with Harry Jaffa?
S3: Well, um, I'm an American and I grew up on
S3: stories of the American Revolution. I love the Lexington and
S3: Concord story where we took on the mighty British. Very
S3: well told in this movie. We've been talking about. And
S3: you know how we use different tactics than the British
S3: had ever encountered before. And they were the tactics of
S3: a free people spontaneously organizing themselves. And that's always been
S3: the strength of the American military. So I love those stories.
S3: And then, you know, I grew up in the in
S3: the 60s and 70s and everything is controversial, not as
S3: controversial as right now, but everything is controversial. And the
S3: question is, is this a good country or not? And
S3: to identify what the country is, you have to figure out.
S3: The first thing you have to figure out is what
S3: is its final cause for what does it stand? And
S3: the answer to that is in the Declaration of Independence.
S3: And Professor Jaffa, you know, I grew up in New York,
S3: a Jewish man. He fell in love with it, uh,
S3: through reading a book, a publication of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
S3: And he watched Lincoln put that document to motion to
S3: deal with the crisis of the Civil War, which is
S3: our worst crisis except for the revolution. And, you know,
S3: I think the crisis in which we are today approaches
S3: those crises. So, of course, if you want to understand America,
S3: that's where you start, because that's where America started. And
S3: then it's a very unusual document because it gives the
S3: reasons for the country. It does. It's two it has
S3: three purposes, and it's divided into three sections. It's about
S3: 1400 words long. The first section is some universal principles
S3: applying to everyone, everyone who ever lived any place. Uh,
S3: and then in the name of those principles at the end,
S3: the third section, they do the formal act of forming
S3: a country, an act of treason against the former rulers.
S3: In the name of those principles, God appears four times,
S3: always in the discussion of those principles at the very beginning.
S3: And the very end is where they're located. Uh, first,
S3: God is the maker of the laws of nature and
S3: nature's God. Then he's the creator, like a founder. Then
S3: he's the supreme Judge of the world. Kind of fellow
S3: before him whom Lawyer Hewitt would argue. And finally, he's
S3: divine Providence. That is the executive. And so God appears
S3: four times as all of the branches of government and
S3: the founder. And then the middle section describes the form
S3: of government. That would be right. It is the form
S3: we have today. And it describes them negatively in describing,
S3: these are the bad things the King has done. And
S3: what do they amount to is he's interfered with representation.
S3: That's the constitutional way of saying government by consent. They
S3: can't do anything to you unless you elect them to
S3: do it. Uh, and they've interfered with separation of powers.
S3: The uniqueness of the American Constitution is that it manages rights.
S3: Madison to draw all its authority from the great body
S3: of the people, but it does it in different ways,
S3: at different times, so that the three branches of government
S3: can be divided. And that way they all have an
S3: equal standing. The president is elected one way and the
S3: Congress in two different bodies, a second and a third way.
S3: And then the courts are appointed by them and they
S3: have tenure in office during good behavior. And so that's
S3: those the offenses of the king. There are some particular
S3: things he's done, like quartering troops and, and, uh, you know,
S3: failing to defend the country. But the core offenses are
S3: all against those principles of government representation, separation of powers,
S3: which includes the independent judiciary. And so what they're thinking.
S3: Because remember, they are the first people to work out
S3: these principles and put them into action. Never happened before. See?
S3: And by the time of the Declaration of Independence, their
S3: thinking is far advanced. They're already looking ahead to the Constitution,
S3: which has passed 11 years later. And so it is
S3: a marvelous encapsulation of the purpose and the manner of
S3: the government of the United States.
S2: What I try and teach, what I try and teach
S2: my law students when I do the declaration and most
S2: common law classes begin in 1803 with Marbury versus Madison.
S2: Mine begins in 1770 because you've got to understand the declaration,
S2: understand the Constitution. You've got to understand the Constitution to
S2: get to Marbury versus Madison and the extension of the
S2: court's authority. But in that section wherein our detailed George
S2: the Third crime, there is a particular line that sings
S2: to me. He has sent out great armies of officials
S2: to eat up our wealth and our freedom. And I'm
S2: paraphrasing from memory, but it's the idea of bureaucrats. He
S2: sent bureaucrats everywhere. This has been forgotten. You didn't mention it.
S2: I just want to make a note that the declaration
S2: specifically inveighed against bureaucracy.
S3: He has sent among us swarms of officials swarms to
S3: harass our people and eat up their substance.
S2: And if that is not true today about the administrative
S2: state of California.
S3: Oh, yeah. No. That's right. And that's, you know, that's, um,
S3: a technique of rule, right. Uh, if you ever, if
S3: people ever watch the great movie, uh, The Lives of Others,
S3: one of the best movies ever made is Bill Buckley's
S3: favorite movie at the end of his life.
S2: Oh, I didn't know that.
S3: It's about. It's about a Stasi official in East Germany.
S3: And at the end, after it's over, It has a
S3: nice ending. It's. It's not a gloomy movie. Um, uh,
S3: words come up on the screen to say that in
S3: East Germany and before. Before communism fell, one citizen in
S3: six was a member of the secret police. The. And
S3: that meant every time you went out to dinner, you
S3: were surrounded by him. If you had guests over for
S3: dinner in your home, you couldn't be sure unless you
S3: knew them extremely well, whether they were or not. And
S3: maybe not even then.
S2: Not even then.
S3: And so the point is, they're the five are working
S3: to pay so that the one can spy on them
S3: and arrest them. And, uh, the movie, I will tell
S3: you opens and see this. And remember when somebody says
S3: that without representing you or being elected, we can govern
S3: you in all cases whatsoever. And that was a shameful
S3: moment in the British House of Commons when they passed
S3: that law regarding regarding America. Right. Once you do that,
S3: then the next thing you know, they can do whatever
S3: they want, right? And they all have some reason for
S3: it that they think is, you know, they will say
S3: is good for everybody. And, but that's where you're going. That's,
S3: that's what can happen. See, you said a week ago,
S3: when we were talking about current affairs, that the public
S3: employee unions are very influential in California.
S2: Correct.
S3: Well, they have an interest, don't they? And they deploy
S3: enormous resources in politics to get their way and influence elections.
S3: And and, you know, they if you just count everything
S3: up together, they've got something like that. The the modern
S3: administrative state has half the resources of the country at
S3: its disposal.
S2: And I would argue in, in California, it probably has more.
S2: And in a somewhat sinister fashion. It has the youth,
S2: because of the vastness of the California education system and
S2: the fact that it operates out of Sacramento and it
S2: operates poorly out of Sacramento, and the teachers unions come
S2: ahead of the kids. And therefore, it's a very difficult
S2: cycle to break when you get there. But there's hope.
S2: Welcome back America. I'm Hugh Hewitt joined by Doctor Larry Arnn,
S2: Hillsdale Dialogue special edition commemorating our 250th birthday. Doctor I
S2: when I was last at Monticello, I had arranged to
S2: go early and be met by the director, and because
S2: I was running the Nixon Museum at the time, there
S2: was a fraternity there. And so I got to see
S2: the upstairs room. I got to see the restoration that
S2: David Rubenstein had paid for. It was a fabulous thing.
S2: And I learned then that they assert that the declaration
S2: is the model for the so-called Declaration of Independence of
S2: more than 80 other countries around the nation, around the
S2: world and the United Nations backed that up. If you
S2: look it up in the. In any AI engine that
S2: more than 80. More than half of the countries in
S2: the world look to our declaration as their model for
S2: their declaration. Though their governance is not always constitutional governance.
S2: What was Jefferson working from? Or. If you want to
S2: be a more expansive. In your credit, everyone at the convention,
S2: but especially Adams and Franklin, what were they working from?
S2: What was the legacy that they were using to craft
S2: their argument?
S3: Well, there are two answers to that question. One is
S3: Jefferson was an extremely well-read man. I've been to Montesquieu's Chateau,
S3: and the claim that they make there is that Montesquieu
S3: owned and had read every book. You can't do that anymore. But, uh,
S3: too many books now. But, uh, he had read everything
S3: they say. Well, Jefferson could make that claim. So he
S3: is in Paris. And, uh, during the time of the
S3: writing of the Constitution, and his friend James Madison wrote
S3: and said, uh, send me some books to get ready
S3: for the Constitutional Convention. And the number that he spent
S3: sent was over 175. And Madison apparently read them. Uh, so,
S3: you know, they were very well read men. If you
S3: read the Federalist Papers, you will see that they have
S3: reflected on the classics and the medievals and their figures
S3: in the Renaissance. So, uh, that's one answer. The second
S3: answer is Jefferson writes a letter about how he went
S3: about it, and he said he consulted no book or pamphlet.
S3: He said I was expressing the harmonizing sentiments of the day. Now,
S3: where were they to be found? They were to be found.
S3: First of all, there were two books that most any
S3: household had in it. If they had any books in the.
S3: From the American Revolution, at least through the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
S3: One was the King James Bible, and one was the
S3: works of William Shakespeare. Yep. And so, you know, and
S3: there are a lot of books around, right. The Montesquieu,
S3: Montesquieu was particularly heavily read. He was the great separation
S3: of powers philosopher. And they argue about him in particular
S3: in the Federalist Papers, because the Anti-Federalists are saying that
S3: he favors small republics. And the Federalists say, uh, okay,
S3: that proves too much, because the smallest state is bigger
S3: than the largest republic that Montesquieu indicated would be good
S3: big old country, you know, going to get bigger. They hoped. So, uh,
S3: they were very well read people, but then they had
S3: these town halls, right? I mean, self-government and by the
S3: time by 1763, so the American Revolution. America starts in 1609.
S3: Is that the right date? 16071 of those two in Jamestown.
S3: The English immigration begins then. And from then until 1763,
S3: we were pretty much left to our own devices. Our
S3: film tells about that salutary revolutionary America.
S2: The name of the film is Revolutionary America. It may
S2: be in theaters still, and it will be on some
S2: streaming platforms. Go ahead.
S3: And what did we do? We built this very elaborate
S3: system of representative government, starting from the bottom up, as
S3: the Constitution indicates. Government should work, although it's now centralized
S3: in ways that I think are not good. I mean, hugely.
S3: And so town halls get together and argue. And, you know,
S3: if you go into Faneuil Hall in Boston, a historic
S3: place where the first arguments that led to the Declaration
S3: of Independence were mostly intensely waged, most intensely waged. Uh,
S3: it's a two story thing, you know. There's a balcony, right?
S3: And so on the floor level and up on the balcony,
S3: there are people standing up and talking and everybody could hear.
S3: And the place was packed. And they're arguing about, you know,
S3: everything from picking up the rubbish to the water supply
S3: to the Tea Party and the American Revolution. And so
S3: we were used to that, and we had more of
S3: that than anywhere in the world. And, uh, that's, you know, that's, um,
S3: so when Jefferson sat down to write this, he was
S3: talking to a populace that was thinking about stuff like this,
S3: understood that they had rights that had no experience of
S3: any kind of government except by people they had elected and.
S2: And a population that was a frontier population. I know
S2: that there are developed cities like Philadelphia and Boston and
S2: to a lesser extent Williamsburg, but it's still a frontier.
S2: It's still a dangerous country. It's an adventure to live
S2: in America until well into the 19th century. I think
S2: that animate Jefferson somewhat. Uh, to be a Virginian is
S2: to is to live a long distance from your neighbor.
S2: You have to run your own farm. Your own.
S3: Yeah, yeah. And see, like, one of the, one of
S3: the reasons Jefferson became so prominent was because the revolution
S3: really became intense in Boston and to a lesser extent
S3: in New York City, big port cities, right? Well, the
S3: other big state is Virginia, and that's plantations and farms, right.
S3: Lots of commerce with Great Britain, which consumed its agricultural
S3: products and sent back manufactured products. Right. So they. So
S3: how are you going to unite the country? And John Adams,
S3: who's one of the shrewdest Americans who ever lived. He
S3: figured out we got to promote Washington and Jefferson and
S3: Washington because he never commanded a big bunch of troops.
S3: But gosh, didn't he look like he could? And turned
S3: out he finally could. But but and he's from Virginia.
S3: And then Jefferson could write like a dream. You know,
S3: the Declaration of Independence is very beautiful. After the declaration,
S3: my favorite thing he ever wrote is the last paragraph
S3: of something he wrote in 1774 called the Summary View
S3: of the Rights of British North America. And the first
S3: two sentences are just beautiful, he says, because, you know,
S3: they're addressing everybody addresses the king with great respect, especially
S3: early when the when the British start doing things. It
S3: gives rise to a pamphlet war and letters to the
S3: addresses to the throne and the Parliament pleading and making
S3: their case and arguing with each other, too. And when
S3: Jefferson takes up his pen it gets harder. And the
S3: last paragraph begins. Let those flatter who fear. Sire, it
S3: is not an American art. So.
S2: All right. We'll come back. We'll come back and talk
S2: about George. Uh, don't go anywhere, America, because there is
S2: a an antagonist in all this. He's he's the last
S2: king of America, to quote the title of the book
S2: by a mutual friend of doctor and mine, Lord Andrew Roberts,
S2: who's a skilled a craftsman as at work today. And
S2: his most recent big book about old things is called
S2: The Last King of America. We'll talk about what George
S2: missed under his nose. You know, miles away across the Atlantic.
S2: Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. It's a special Hillsdale dialogue
S2: celebrating our 250th birthday. More importantly, the ideas that animated it. Doctor,
S2: as I went into the break, I mentioned that our
S2: mutual friend, Lord Andrew Roberts, wrote The Last King of
S2: America about George the Third. I thought it was a
S2: fabulous book, much more complicated man, than is presented in
S2: the Broadway musical Hamilton, though the arrogance is there. What
S2: do you think he missed about America that made him
S2: obtuse or indifferent to what was happening here?
S3: Well, he he thought that he was born to rule,
S3: and that imposed a duty on him as much as
S3: it imposed on his subjects. Remember, they weren't called citizens.
S3: They were called subjects. This birthright citizenship controversy where you
S3: are wrong, you. You are wrong as George as George
S3: the Third was wrong because they mistake citizens for subjects. Uh,
S3: if you're born in a place where people are subjects,
S3: then the king can lay claim to you. But if
S3: you're a citizen, you got to join up. And, uh,
S3: so that's the difference. That's the distinction. But yeah, he
S3: was just wrong about that. And remember his whole life, right?
S3: He's a German. Uh, the British monarchy is the most
S3: stable of all the European monarchies, which means unstable, often,
S3: but more stable. And so they have a peaceful transition
S3: from the heirs of Henry the Eighth. I'm getting that right. Yes.
S3: To the Germans.
S2: And then to the Germans.
S3: Yeah. And, uh. And he's a German aristocrat, and he
S3: succeeds by birth. And his son will succeed after him
S3: and did. And, uh, and so that's the difference, right?
S3: Thomas Jefferson says, no, nobody is born to rule another.
S3: Just think of the beauty of Abraham Lincoln's. You know,
S3: his aphorisms, right? They're they're Euclidean poems. They're like geometry.
S3: And they're like poetry, both as I would not be
S3: a slave, so I would not be a master. To me,
S3: that is the meaning of democracy. And without that there
S3: is no democracy. The.
S2: That is beautiful. But what happened to Burke, who was
S2: inveighing against Lord North and everybody else who's running. Because
S2: there is a Parliament.
S3: Andrew. Our friend Andrew is a member of the House
S3: of Lords, and if he had been a member of
S3: the House of Lords in in 1776, he would probably
S3: be Edmund Burke, who was a friend of the American
S3: Revolution and a friend of the monarchy, as was the
S3: greatest statesman of the age, who just turned out not
S3: to be in the cabinet that George II picked. But
S3: both Pitt father and son. The pits were both understood.
S3: The claims of the American Revolution and thought that they
S3: should be accommodated. Right. And, uh, you know, Winston Churchill
S3: succeeds Now, Winston Churchill, of course, knew well and served
S3: with George V and George the Sixth, named after George
S3: the Third and George the first and second. And so
S3: he was he. And Churchill says on the 4th of July, 1918,
S3: in a speech in London, when we're allies in this
S3: First World War, the Declaration of Independence, he says, is
S3: not only an American document. It grew up on the
S3: banks of the Thames, the river that runs through London,
S3: and to Oxford. He would repeat this, by the way,
S3: in his great Iron Curtain speech in 1946 with Harry
S3: Truman there that announced the beginning of the Cold War.
S3: And he says, uh, uh, by it, the Declaration of Independence,
S3: Churchill says, we lost an empire. But by learning its lessons,
S3: we have now preserved an empire. And that means that
S3: Britain was not claiming anymore after the American Revolution that
S3: because the king was born to rule, the subjects have
S3: to do what he says. And they had stopped saying
S3: that extensively, at least inside Britain. But they thought they
S3: could say that to the colonists, you know. What was it,
S3: Grenville or Townshend, one of those two idiots who were
S3: key advisors to the king and Lord North was the third. Um,
S3: he says to Ben Franklin, you are the children and
S3: we are the mother country, and you must do what
S3: we say. And Ben Franklin, who, you know, could get
S3: along with nearly anybody, wrote back to the Parliament and
S3: said he was wrote back to the Continental Congress. He
S3: was representing us then in London as the run up
S3: to the Revolutionary War. He writes back and says, well,
S3: there's going to be a war. We're never going to
S3: agree about it.
S2: That's the fundamental.
S3: That's that's the point. If. If no 1st May be
S3: rightly governed except by his consent, then that's dispositive.
S2: And that made the revolution inevitable. When we come back,
S2: we talk about the man who made it possible. Washington.
S2: Stay tuned. America. I'm Hugh Hewitt with Doctor Larry Arnn
S2: on a special Hillsdale dialogue about our 250th birthday. Welcome
S2: back America. I'm Hugh Hewitt with Doctor Larry Arnn. A
S2: special edition of Hillsdale Dialogue devoted to our 250th birthday.
S2: Doctor Arnn, I want to remind everyone Revolutionary America is
S2: the movie that Hillsdale made that begins in 1763 and
S2: goes all the way through the framing of the Constitution.
S2: You can find it on streaming platforms. You can find
S2: it in theaters, perhaps even on this weekend. It is magnificent.
S2: You ought to do it. It ought to be seen
S2: by every student in America and their parents and teachers. Um,
S2: George Washington was not present when the declaration was voted
S2: on July 4th or signed on August 2nd. I don't
S2: know if you know this doctor. on. There's a big
S2: celebration of signing day in put in Bay in Ohio,
S2: because the war with the Brits really end up being
S2: finished off at the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.
S2: And it's a 40 years war. But Washington was not
S2: there for the Declaration of Independence. He was in the field,
S2: but had there been no Washington, there would have been
S2: no 10th anniversary, no 50th, 100th, 150th, no bicentennial, no.
S2: Two 50th. Why was Washington the indispensable man?
S3: Well, it's because he performed right. He was picked because
S3: he looked like he might, you know. And who else did?
S3: He was a very good looking man. You know, big
S3: tall man wore his uniform to the Continental Congress on
S3: the day he was picked. But then what did he
S3: prove in the war? First of all, he was personally
S3: extremely brave. He left brave people open mouthed things he
S3: did on the battlefield, sometimes with his amazing calmness under
S3: direct fire, sometimes with his energy and loud voice. And
S3: he whipped the troops to turn around. Fight at the
S3: Battle of Monmouth, at the Battle of Princeton. He led them,
S3: not knowing, according to his adjutant, whether anybody was following
S3: him or not, right into the British. And they. It
S3: was amazing, right? So he had courage. The second thing
S3: was he had moderation. Uh, George Washington, we could not
S3: stand toe to toe with the British for most of
S3: the Revolutionary War. We were not drilled. Uh, uh, and
S3: so what he did was figure out a strategy, you know,
S3: step by step, because he learned while he went of
S3: using the fact of the land and that we were
S3: at home and they were not to consume time. and
S3: the British Army. Another quality he had was, uh. He.
S3: Because he was so self-restrained. What I think is Washington,
S3: if you put all the stories you know together about Washington,
S3: he he was a very explosive individual, and he kept
S3: it under control. And people would see flashes of it
S3: and think there's a volcano in there. But it only
S3: got out when he wanted it to. And they trusted
S3: him because of that. They watched him suffer alongside them.
S3: He had amazing endurance. Uh, at Valley Forge in our
S3: Revolutionary America film. That's very well told. It's comparable what
S3: the troops did at Valley Forge because they they didn't
S3: have any. Some of them were just living with a
S3: spare blanket around them. And it was a hard winter
S3: and they were freezing. And they didn't have food. They
S3: were starving. right. And George Washington and Martha Washington came
S3: to the camp and brought food, passed it out. And and, uh,
S3: Washington is constantly he was a man of immense dignity,
S3: but also he was constantly pleading with the Congress on
S3: behalf of the troops. And we weren't very well organized.
S3: We didn't feed them properly or support them properly until
S3: long after the war. Uh, and so he had that right.
S3: And then finally at the end, he was bold. He
S3: was bold from time to time, but especially in the
S3: battle of Yorktown because, uh, the only time in the
S3: war he did this, uh, he got the French Navy
S3: off the coast of Virginia. Yorktown, where in Virginia. And
S3: he could never rely on them. They were allies, but
S3: they'd run off down to the West Indies and tech
S3: stuff down there. The. That the French had down there,
S3: and he never knew for sure whether they're going to
S3: show up or not. And he had a French army
S3: that would come and go. And so he got Cornwallis
S3: bottled up at Yorktown, and the French Navy won a battle.
S3: And the British Navy couldn't relieve them. And then he had.
S3: And he put every resource at his disposal. He put
S3: every man. He put all his diplomatic arts. And he besieged, uh,
S3: Cornwallis at Yorktown and starved him out and, uh, repelled
S3: many attempts to break out. And that's the one place
S3: where he risked everything. And that's the final, important battle.
S3: Because that's where he won the Revolutionary War.
S2: I don't know if it's apocryphal. Is it apocryphal that
S2: when George II heard, he laid down his command and
S2: went back to his farm, that he declared then that
S2: he is the greatest man in the world? Is that apocryphal,
S2: or is that true?
S3: Well, it's, uh, so that's a it's the question. The
S3: answer to that is slightly tangled, because it's a very
S3: old story from the time. And so, uh, and it's
S3: a very persistent story, but you can't quite find the source.
S3: And that's because he's George the third is said to
S3: have said to the Prime Minister who said to him, sire,
S3: you have to call a peace conference. And it took
S3: forever to get that call and then forever to get
S3: the peace concluded. Uh, such as it was, as you say,
S3: it went on till 1813. Uh, and, uh, George the
S3: Third is reported to have said, uh, George Washington will
S3: not know how to be a king. He will be
S3: a tyrant, and they will want me back. So in
S3: other words, he's making the deduction from history that conquerors
S3: become kings. Yep. Right. And and, uh, the Prime Minister replies,
S3: I understand that General Washington has retired from the Army
S3: and gone home to his farm. George the Third is
S3: reported to have said, uh, if he did that, he's
S3: the greatest man in the world. And he was he
S3: was the greatest man in the world.
S2: We'll pause there. We'll be back for one more segment
S2: with Doctor Arnn on this special. Enjoy this weekend. Coming
S2: up this this 250th anniversary. They are anniversaries of this
S2: significance are few and far between. I hope you have
S2: something more planned than hot dogs and fireworks. If you
S2: can get out and see revolutionary America. I hope it's
S2: still in the theaters, but you'll find it on a
S2: streaming platform somewhere. I'll come back with the question for
S2: Doctor Arnn. Will there be a 500th? I don't even
S2: know what we call that Quincentennial. We'll find out. Stay tuned.
S2: Welcome back America. I'm Hugh Hewitt all things hillsdale@hillsdale.edu. Don't
S2: forget Revolutionary America, their movie about from 1763 until the
S2: ratification of the Constitution. Therein is the story of our
S2: 250th anniversary of our birthday. Doctor Arnn, we, you and
S2: I have lived through the bicentennial, and now the 250th
S2: will be long gone to our reward. Meet our maker
S2: before the 500th. If there is one, do you think
S2: there will be a quincentennial?
S3: Uh. The future, though imminent, is obscure. And so, you know,
S3: you can't know the future. You can know a little
S3: bit about the present. You can know a lot about
S3: the past. And from those you can deduce eternity. Uh,
S3: so long as there is in nature, the laws of
S3: nature and of nature's God will prevail. And that means
S3: as long as there are humans, the Declaration of Independence
S3: cannot pass away. Might be we'll lose our country. Might
S3: be a million things might happen. But that cannot change.
S3: And That's, uh, you know, in a, in his greatest
S3: speech on the 150th anniversary of the declaration. Calvin Coolidge
S3: and the penultimate paragraph talks about change, how much change
S3: there is and how much advance there is in America.
S3: You know, in 1926, he says, uh, if all men
S3: are created equal, that is final. Final. If they are
S3: endowed by their creator with inalienable rights, that is final.
S3: From those principles, there is no advance possible. There is
S3: only going backwards.
S4: But we could.
S2: Is there another place on the planet poised to succeed
S2: with that principle set as we have succeeded with that
S2: principle set? I mean, we overcame enslavement, we won the
S2: Civil War. We won two great world wars. We won
S2: the Cold War. We're in the Cold War two. Is
S2: there another place on the planet that you think has
S2: the stuff of which the declaration was made here and
S2: made more perfect here.
S3: But one hopes for Africa, which is growing very much,
S3: and which is not so well organized as the West.
S3: But just remember that the principles are, you know, they're perfect.
S3: The principles. We're not in potential anywhere, right? I mean,
S3: right now, if you look at the world, it's a problem, right? Uh, uh,
S3: China is the most well, India. India is a bright spot,
S3: I hope. Yes, I pray for it has a representative form.
S3: You know, it's a massive big old mess of of
S3: a country, the most populous country now and also young.
S3: It's going to keep growing. Uh, but it has representative
S3: institutions and that's good. And, uh, so in privacy. But
S3: you should remember, since we saluting America. America is right
S3: now impossible absent an apocalypse because there isn't a new
S3: world unsettled.
S4: That's.
S2: It has been settled. We got here just in time.
S2: Doctor Larry Arnn, have a happy 250th celebration at Hillsdale.
S2: Thank you for this special on our 250th birthday, America.
S2: I'll talk to you on Monday on the next Hugh
S2: Hewitt show.
S1: Thanks for listening to the Hillsdale Dialogues, part of the
S1: Hillsdale College Podcast Network. More episodes@podcast.hillsdale.edu or wherever you find
S1: your audio. For more information about Hillsdale College, head to hillsdale.edu.