The Glenn Beck Program - Glenn Beck Presents： The 1776 Report the Left Didn't Want You to See

00:00:00.000 Welcome to this special presentation of the 1776 Report.

00:00:05.060 You may recall that the 1776 Commission was established by President Trump in the fall of 2020

00:00:11.580 with the purpose of promoting patriotic education.

00:00:16.060 That I will soon sign an executive order establishing a national commission to promote patriotic education.

00:00:22.940 It will be called the 1776 Commission.

00:00:27.620 Well, the media and academia almost lost their minds over this now controversial idea

00:00:33.320 that we should teach young Americans to actually love and appreciate the nation they've inherited

00:00:39.200 by telling them the whole truth.

00:00:42.420 The 1776 Commission had to rush the development of this report because they knew

00:00:47.120 that as soon as Joe Biden was sworn in as president, the commission's days would likely be numbered.

00:00:52.760 The 1776 Report was instantly demonized by the media,

00:00:58.300 mostly because it was commissioned by the Trump administration.

00:01:01.300 But it was clear from the avalanche of criticism that virtually no one actually read the report

00:01:07.920 or even gave it a chance.

00:01:10.500 Predictably, just hours after Biden took the oath of office,

00:01:14.960 he signed an executive order to dissolve the 1776 Commission.

00:01:19.520 That was one of his first acts in office.

00:01:22.800 President Biden had an opportunity to work toward his campaign promise to be a uniter

00:01:27.440 by keeping the commission going.

00:01:30.200 Instead, he squashed the commission on day one

00:01:33.240 and had sent a clear signal about his true priorities and his belief of America and our founding.

00:01:40.200 He called the 1776 Commission's work, quote,

00:01:43.700 I'm not sure how recounting real truth in American history

00:01:54.540 and teaching somebody to love one's nation,

00:01:59.380 I don't know when that became offensive,

00:02:01.800 but that is now, unfortunately, where we find ourselves.

00:02:05.980 So, why am I presenting the 1776 report in its entirety?

00:02:10.380 Well, for one, because I want to encourage you to actually hear the report for yourself,

00:02:17.200 unlike the media and President Biden.

00:02:19.740 They will hide it from you.

00:02:21.780 So, I'm going to show it to you.

00:02:24.880 And I'd love if you would share this series far and wide

00:02:27.880 after you hear the entire report for yourself.

00:02:31.020 Then you can decide if anything in it is offensive and counterfactual,

00:02:35.380 as the president now says.

00:02:36.900 Secondly, I know how busy you are with family and work.

00:02:41.080 You might not be able to spare the time it takes to read the whole 1776 report,

00:02:45.360 but you might be able to watch it or listen to it instead and share it with your family.

00:02:51.120 This report is about baseline principles that most Americans used to agree on.

00:02:58.160 It is a sounding of the alarm to say,

00:03:00.760 look, a lot of our fellow Americans don't believe in baseline principles anymore.

00:03:06.920 And that's partly because they never knew them in the first place.

00:03:11.140 I believe this project is worth doing

00:03:13.020 because we must try to get back to the commonality of American principles.

00:03:19.280 We must make the effort

00:03:20.980 because there are forces now hard at work,

00:03:23.940 like the purveyors of critical race theory

00:03:26.520 or things like the 1619 project

00:03:29.860 where they want you to reimagine American history.

00:03:33.400 Those things are trying to derail the grand experiment of America

00:03:37.520 and chart a completely different course for the nation,

00:03:41.020 leading to further bitterness and divide, I believe.

00:03:46.280 America's founding was good.

00:03:48.700 But because it was implemented by men, it is imperfect.

00:03:53.860 Just because implementation has faltered

00:03:56.360 doesn't mean the principles themselves are flawed.

00:04:00.500 We are trying to be a more perfect nation.

00:04:04.600 America has drifted dangerously close to the edge,

00:04:08.080 far from its mission statement in the Declaration of Independence.

00:04:12.240 We must get back to basics.

00:04:14.840 So without further ado,

00:04:16.300 here is the 1776 report.

00:04:22.460 In the course of human events,

00:04:25.540 there have always been those who deny or reject human freedom.

00:04:30.600 But Americans will never falter

00:04:32.700 in defending the fundamental truths of human liberty

00:04:36.620 that was proclaimed on July 4th, 1776.

00:04:40.640 We must always hold these truths.

00:04:44.780 The declared purpose of the President's Advisory 1776 Commission

00:04:49.600 is to enable a rising generation to understand the history

00:04:53.760 and principles of the founding of the United States in 1776

00:04:57.620 and to strive to form a more perfect union.

00:05:01.440 This requires a restoration of American education,

00:05:06.260 which can only be grounded on a history of those principles

00:05:09.820 that is accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling.

00:05:15.280 And a rediscovery of our shared identity rooted in our founding principles

00:05:21.060 is the path to a renewed American unity and a confident American future.

00:05:26.440 The Commission's first responsibility is to produce a report

00:05:31.360 summarizing the principles of the American founding

00:05:33.660 and how these principles have shaped our country.

00:05:36.600 That can only be done by truthfully recounting the aspirations and actions

00:05:42.800 of the men and women who sought to build America

00:05:46.580 as a shining city on a hill.

00:05:49.560 An exemplary nation,

00:05:51.380 one that protects the safety and promotes the happiness of its people.

00:05:55.420 As an example to be admired and emulated by nations of the world

00:05:59.320 that wish to steer their government towards greater liberty and justice.

00:06:04.700 The record of our founders striving and the nation they built

00:06:09.580 is our shared inheritance, and it remains a beacon.

00:06:14.500 As Abraham Lincoln said,

00:06:15.920 not for one people or one time, but for all people, for all time.

00:06:22.500 Today, however, Americans are deeply divided

00:06:25.340 about the meaning of their country, its history,

00:06:28.260 and how we should be governed.

00:06:30.600 This division is severe enough to call to mind the disagreements

00:06:34.560 between the colonists and King George,

00:06:36.600 and those between the Confederate and the Union forces in civil war.

00:06:41.320 They amount to a dispute over not only the history of our country,

00:06:45.280 but also its present purpose and future direction.

00:06:50.500 The facts of our founding are not partisan.

00:06:53.820 They are a matter of truth and fact and history.

00:06:59.280 Controversies about the meaning of the founding can begin to be resolved

00:07:03.620 by looking at the facts of our nation's founding.

00:07:06.920 Properly understood, these facts address the concerns and aspirations

00:07:11.300 of Americans of all social classes, income levels, races, and religions, regions,

00:07:17.080 and all walks of life.

00:07:18.880 As well, these facts provide necessary and wise cautions

00:07:23.960 against unrealistic hopes and checks,

00:07:26.880 against pressing partisan claims or utopian agendas,

00:07:31.460 too hard or too far.

00:07:33.680 The principles of the American founding can be learned

00:07:38.560 by studying the abundant documents contained in the record.

00:07:43.640 Read fully and carefully.

00:07:46.520 They show how the American people have ever pursued freedom and justice,

00:07:51.480 which are the political conditions for living well.

00:07:56.080 To learn this history is to become a better person, a better citizen,

00:07:59.900 a better partner in the American experiment of self-government.

00:08:03.940 Compromising actions by imperfect human beings.

00:08:07.980 The American story has had its share of missteps,

00:08:11.480 errors, contradictions, and wrongs.

00:08:15.140 These wrongs have always met resistance from clear principles of the nation.

00:08:20.860 And therefore, our history is far more,

00:08:23.580 far more one of self-sacrifice, courage, and nobility.

00:08:28.060 America's principles are named at the outset to be both universal,

00:08:34.640 applying to everyone,

00:08:35.980 and eternal, existing for all time.

00:08:39.860 The remarkable American story unfolds under and because of these great principles.

00:08:46.660 Of course, neither America nor any other nation has perfectly lived up to the universal truths

00:08:53.160 of equality, liberty, justice, and government by consent.

00:08:57.920 No nation before America even dared state those truths as the formal basis for its politics.

00:09:04.400 No one has strived harder or done more to achieve them.

00:09:10.520 Lincoln aptly described the American government's fundamental principles

00:09:13.980 as a standard maxim for a free society,

00:09:17.500 which should be familiar to all and revered by all,

00:09:21.240 constantly looked to,

00:09:22.880 constantly labored for,

00:09:24.420 and even though never perfectly attained,

00:09:27.980 constantly approximated.

00:09:30.460 End quote.

00:09:32.080 The very attempt to attain them,

00:09:34.360 every attempt to attain them,

00:09:36.500 would,

00:09:37.420 Lincoln continued,

00:09:38.600 constantly spread and deepen the influence of these principles

00:09:42.520 and augment the happiness and value of life

00:09:46.820 to all people of all colors everywhere.

00:09:50.160 End quote.

00:09:50.740 The story of America is the story of this ennobling struggle.

00:09:58.380 The President's Advisory 1776 Commission presents this first report

00:10:03.720 with the intention of cultivating a better education among Americans

00:10:08.100 in the principles and history of our nation,

00:10:12.000 and in the hope that a rediscovery of those principles

00:10:15.160 and the forms of constitutional government

00:10:17.420 will lead to a more perfect union.

00:10:23.000 Part 2.

00:10:24.380 The Meaning of the Declaration

00:10:25.780 The United States of America is, in most respects,

00:10:30.940 a nation like any other.

00:10:32.620 It embraces a people who inhabit a territory

00:10:35.500 governed by laws administered by human beings.

00:10:39.200 Like other countries,

00:10:40.400 our country has borders, resources,

00:10:42.580 industries, cities, towns, farms, and factories,

00:10:45.260 homes, schools, and houses of worship.

00:10:48.760 And though, although a relatively young country,

00:10:51.620 its people have a shared history

00:10:53.720 of a common struggle and achievement,

00:10:56.880 from carving communities out of vast, untamed wilderness,

00:11:02.100 to winning independence and forming a new government

00:11:04.880 through wars, industrialization,

00:11:07.780 waves of immigration,

00:11:09.320 technological progress,

00:11:11.000 and political change.

00:11:12.560 However, in other respects,

00:11:15.640 the United States is wildly unusual.

00:11:19.420 It is a republic.

00:11:20.420 That is to say,

00:11:21.340 its government was designed to be directed

00:11:24.120 by the will of the people

00:11:25.640 rather than the wishes

00:11:27.480 of a single individual

00:11:29.260 or a narrow class of elites.

00:11:32.280 Republicanism is an ancient form of government,

00:11:36.100 but one uncommon throughout history,

00:11:38.840 in part because of its fragility.

00:11:40.880 It has tended to make republics short-lived.

00:11:46.220 Contemporary Americans tend to forget

00:11:48.380 how historically rare republicanism has been,

00:11:52.280 in part because of the success of our republic

00:11:55.460 in our time,

00:11:57.420 which is derived in no small part

00:12:00.020 from the very example and success of America.

00:12:04.520 In two decisive respects,

00:12:06.960 the United States of America is unique.

00:12:09.120 First, it has a definite birthday,

00:12:12.480 July 4th, 1776.

00:12:15.060 Second, it declares from the moment of its founding

00:12:18.520 not nearly the principles

00:12:19.800 on which a new government will be based,

00:12:22.540 but it asserts those principles

00:12:24.440 to be true and universal,

00:12:27.620 applicable to all men and all times,

00:12:31.460 as Lincoln said.

00:12:32.240 The other nations may have birthdays,

00:12:35.240 for instance,

00:12:36.440 that would eventually evolve

00:12:38.020 into the French Republic,

00:12:39.880 was born in 1789,

00:12:42.520 when Parisians stormed the hated prison

00:12:45.040 and launched the downfall

00:12:46.940 of the French monarchy

00:12:48.200 and its aristocratic regime.

00:12:50.400 The People's Republic of China

00:12:52.480 was born in 1949,

00:12:54.380 when Mao Zedong,

00:12:55.900 Chinese communists,

00:12:57.480 and their party

00:12:58.320 defeated the nationalists

00:13:00.240 in the Chinese Civil War.

00:13:02.440 But France and China,

00:13:03.960 as nations,

00:13:04.960 as people and culture

00:13:06.420 inhabiting specific territories,

00:13:09.060 stretch back centuries,

00:13:10.880 even a millennia,

00:13:12.300 over the course of many governments.

00:13:15.360 But there was no United States of America

00:13:17.720 before July 4th, 1776.

00:13:20.640 There was not yet formally speaking

00:13:23.380 an American people.

00:13:25.160 There were instead,

00:13:26.680 living in the 13 British colonies

00:13:28.740 in North America,

00:13:29.780 some 2.5 million subjects

00:13:31.560 of a distant king.

00:13:33.820 Those subjects became a people,

00:13:35.980 by declaring themselves such,

00:13:38.040 and then by winning independence

00:13:39.620 through a fight,

00:13:42.420 because they said

00:13:43.800 that it was their right to be free.

00:13:46.500 They made that assertion

00:13:48.060 on the basis of principle,

00:13:49.480 not blood,

00:13:50.580 not kinship,

00:13:51.560 or what we might call

00:13:52.560 ethnicity today.

00:13:54.660 Yet this fact

00:13:55.640 must be properly understood,

00:13:57.900 as John Jay explained

00:13:59.160 in Federalist No. 2.

00:14:01.480 Providence has been pleased

00:14:03.160 to give this one connected country

00:14:05.600 to one united people,

00:14:07.740 a people descended from

00:14:09.080 the same ancestors,

00:14:10.420 speaking the same language,

00:14:11.900 professing the same religion,

00:14:14.140 attached to the same principles

00:14:15.840 of government,

00:14:17.080 very similar in their manners

00:14:18.680 and customs,

00:14:19.880 and who,

00:14:20.460 by their joint councils,

00:14:21.840 arms and efforts,

00:14:23.240 fighting side by side

00:14:24.500 throughout a long and bloody war,

00:14:26.720 have nobly established

00:14:28.240 general liberty

00:14:29.340 and independence.

00:14:31.460 End quote.

00:14:33.240 Yet,

00:14:34.260 as Jay and all the founders

00:14:36.520 well knew,

00:14:37.620 the newly formed American people

00:14:39.760 were not quite as homogenous

00:14:42.340 in ancestry language or religion

00:14:44.640 as this statement

00:14:46.020 would seem to assert.

00:14:47.040 There were neither

00:14:49.180 holy English

00:14:50.680 nor holy Protestant

00:14:52.160 nor holy Christian.

00:14:54.020 Some other basis

00:14:55.180 would have to be found

00:14:56.100 and asserted

00:14:56.700 to bind the new people together

00:14:58.540 and to which they would

00:15:00.200 remain attached

00:15:01.280 if they were to remain

00:15:02.620 a people.

00:15:03.980 That basis was the assertion

00:15:05.960 of universal

00:15:06.900 and eternal principles

00:15:08.860 of justice

00:15:09.880 and political legitimacy.

00:15:11.760 But this too

00:15:13.660 has to be qualified.

00:15:15.600 Note that Jay

00:15:16.200 lists six factors

00:15:17.840 binding the American people together

00:15:19.720 of which the principle

00:15:20.820 is only one,

00:15:22.560 the most important

00:15:23.820 or decisive one,

00:15:25.420 but still only one,

00:15:27.100 and insufficient by itself.

00:15:29.860 The American founders

00:15:31.460 understood

00:15:32.440 that for Republicanism

00:15:34.580 to function

00:15:35.560 and endure,

00:15:36.340 a Republican people

00:15:38.440 must share

00:15:39.440 a large measure

00:15:40.700 of commonality

00:15:41.860 in manners

00:15:42.540 and customs

00:15:43.240 and language

00:15:44.020 and dedication

00:15:45.560 to the common good.

00:15:47.720 All states,

00:15:48.400 all governments

00:15:48.960 make some claim

00:15:50.180 to legitimacy,

00:15:51.420 that is,

00:15:51.920 an argument

00:15:52.660 for why their existence

00:15:54.480 and specific form

00:15:55.780 are justified.

00:15:57.020 Some dismiss

00:15:57.840 all such claims

00:15:59.160 to legitimacy

00:15:59.880 as false,

00:16:01.440 advance to

00:16:02.260 fool the ruled

00:16:03.560 into believing

00:16:04.260 that their rulers'

00:16:05.300 actions

00:16:05.660 are justified

00:16:06.380 when in fact

00:16:07.100 those actions

00:16:07.980 only serve

00:16:08.740 the private interests

00:16:09.800 of a very few.

00:16:11.460 But no actual government

00:16:13.140 understands itself

00:16:14.980 this way,

00:16:16.560 much less

00:16:17.340 any such

00:16:18.440 cynical claim

00:16:19.900 in public.

00:16:21.200 All actual governments

00:16:23.060 rather understand

00:16:24.380 themselves

00:16:25.000 as just

00:16:27.060 and assert

00:16:28.180 a public claim

00:16:29.540 as to why.

00:16:31.340 Well,

00:16:31.560 at the time

00:16:31.920 of the American founding,

00:16:32.800 the most widespread claim

00:16:34.400 was the form

00:16:35.500 of the divine right

00:16:36.920 of kings.

00:16:37.920 That is to say,

00:16:38.740 the assertion

00:16:39.460 that God appoints

00:16:40.560 some men

00:16:41.240 or some families

00:16:42.780 to rule

00:16:43.500 and consigns

00:16:44.820 the rest

00:16:46.880 to be ruled.

00:16:49.160 The American founders

00:16:50.460 rejected that claim.

00:16:51.500 as the 18 charges

00:16:53.880 level against King George

00:16:55.320 in the Declaration

00:16:56.000 of Independence

00:16:56.720 makes very clear

00:16:57.960 our founders

00:16:58.640 considered

00:16:59.280 the British government

00:17:00.620 of the time

00:17:01.360 to be oppressive

00:17:02.120 and unjust.

00:17:03.500 They had no wish

00:17:04.700 to replace

00:17:05.600 the arbitrary government

00:17:07.060 of one tyrant

00:17:07.900 with that of another,

00:17:09.060 however.

00:17:10.000 More fundamentally,

00:17:11.520 having cast off

00:17:12.540 their political connections

00:17:13.980 to England,

00:17:15.220 our founders

00:17:15.760 needed to state

00:17:16.960 a new principle

00:17:18.060 of political legitimacy

00:17:19.260 for their new government.

00:17:21.060 As the Declaration

00:17:22.140 of Independence puts it,

00:17:24.120 a decent respect

00:17:25.340 to the opinions

00:17:26.320 of mankind

00:17:27.200 required them

00:17:29.000 to explain themselves

00:17:30.260 and justify their actions.

00:17:32.120 But they didn't

00:17:33.320 merely wish

00:17:34.740 to assert

00:17:35.380 that they disliked

00:17:36.320 British rule

00:17:37.120 and so were replacing

00:17:38.700 it with something better

00:17:39.640 that they liked.

00:17:41.000 They wished to state

00:17:42.180 justification

00:17:42.740 for their actions

00:17:43.840 and for the government

00:17:45.820 to which it would

00:17:46.960 give birth.

00:17:48.880 And they wanted

00:17:49.860 something that was

00:17:50.440 both true and moral.

00:17:52.000 Moral because

00:17:53.080 it is faithful

00:17:54.600 to the truth

00:17:55.540 about things.

00:17:57.280 Such a justification

00:17:58.560 could only be found

00:17:59.800 in the precepts

00:18:00.960 of nature,

00:18:01.900 specifically

00:18:02.420 human nature,

00:18:04.320 accessible to

00:18:05.200 the human mind

00:18:06.420 but not subject

00:18:07.820 to the human will.

00:18:09.540 Those precepts,

00:18:10.800 whether understood

00:18:11.520 as created by God

00:18:13.340 or simply

00:18:14.120 as eternal

00:18:14.980 are a given

00:18:15.980 that man did not

00:18:17.460 bring into being

00:18:18.980 and cannot change.

00:18:21.780 Hence,

00:18:22.240 the Declaration

00:18:22.720 speaks of both

00:18:24.020 the laws of nature

00:18:25.420 and nature's God

00:18:27.220 and it appeals

00:18:28.580 to both reason

00:18:29.680 and revelation

00:18:30.880 as the foundation

00:18:32.500 of the underlying

00:18:34.080 truth

00:18:34.760 of the document's claims

00:18:36.100 and for the legitimacy

00:18:37.700 of this nation.

00:18:40.020 The core assertion

00:18:41.060 of the Declaration

00:18:41.920 and the basis

00:18:43.020 of the Founder's

00:18:43.840 political thought

00:18:44.620 is that

00:18:45.520 all men

00:18:46.580 are created equal.

00:18:48.980 From the principle

00:18:49.960 of equality,

00:18:51.600 the requirement

00:18:52.320 for consent

00:18:53.420 naturally follows.

00:18:55.360 If all men

00:18:56.020 are equal,

00:18:57.200 then none

00:18:58.160 might rule

00:18:59.000 over another

00:18:59.800 without his consent.

00:19:02.060 The assertion

00:19:03.240 that all men

00:19:03.940 are created equal

00:19:04.800 must also be

00:19:05.880 properly understood.

00:19:06.880 It doesn't mean

00:19:07.740 that all human beings

00:19:08.860 are equal in wisdom,

00:19:10.860 courage,

00:19:11.740 good looks,

00:19:12.480 or any of the other

00:19:13.320 virtues and talents

00:19:14.800 that God and nature

00:19:16.080 distribute unevenly

00:19:18.220 among the human race.

00:19:20.040 It means, rather,

00:19:21.400 that human beings

00:19:22.360 are equal

00:19:23.340 in the sense

00:19:24.040 that they are not

00:19:25.060 by nature

00:19:25.780 divided into castes

00:19:27.660 with natural rules

00:19:29.900 and those

00:19:30.940 who would be ruled.

00:19:32.000 Thomas Jefferson

00:19:33.640 liked to paraphrase

00:19:34.600 the Republican

00:19:35.480 political thinker

00:19:37.040 Algernon Sidney.

00:19:39.140 He said,

00:19:39.800 quote,

00:19:39.820 The mass of mankind

00:19:41.500 has not been born

00:19:42.920 with saddles

00:19:43.620 on their backs,

00:19:44.760 nor a favored few

00:19:46.480 booted and spurred

00:19:48.040 ready to ride them

00:19:49.260 legitimately

00:19:50.120 by the grace of God.

00:19:52.000 End quote.

00:19:53.680 Superiority of talent,

00:19:55.380 even a superior

00:19:56.260 ability to rule,

00:19:58.280 is not a divine

00:19:59.280 or natural title

00:20:00.660 or warrant to rule.

00:20:03.440 George Washington,

00:20:04.400 surely one of the most

00:20:05.140 able statesmen

00:20:06.060 who ever lived,

00:20:07.420 never made such

00:20:08.640 an outlandish claim

00:20:09.600 and indeed vehemently

00:20:11.120 rejected such

00:20:12.200 assertions made

00:20:13.540 by others

00:20:14.420 about him.

00:20:16.020 As Abraham Lincoln

00:20:17.040 would later explain,

00:20:18.240 there was no urgent need

00:20:19.540 for the founders

00:20:20.200 to insert into

00:20:21.560 a merely revolutionary

00:20:22.900 document

00:20:23.540 this abstract truth

00:20:25.820 applicable to

00:20:27.260 all men

00:20:28.080 and all times.

00:20:30.120 They could simply

00:20:31.140 have told the British king

00:20:32.060 that they were separating

00:20:33.040 and left it at that.

00:20:34.760 But they enlarged

00:20:35.660 the scope

00:20:36.360 of their declaration

00:20:37.640 so its principles

00:20:38.780 would serve

00:20:39.540 as a rebuke

00:20:40.720 and a stumbling block

00:20:42.300 to the very harbingers

00:20:43.900 of reappearing

00:20:45.220 tyranny

00:20:45.840 and oppression.

00:20:47.380 The finality

00:20:48.500 of that truth

00:20:49.480 that all men

00:20:50.300 are created equal

00:20:51.120 was intended

00:20:51.840 to make impossible

00:20:53.320 any return

00:20:54.340 to formal

00:20:55.160 or legal inequality.

00:20:56.920 whether to such

00:20:59.280 older forms

00:21:00.160 as absolute monarchy

00:21:01.600 and hereditary aristocracy

00:21:04.000 or to as of yet

00:21:07.480 unimagined forms

00:21:09.160 that we might be seeing

00:21:11.260 in these recent times.

00:21:13.980 Natural equality

00:21:15.160 requires not only

00:21:16.600 the consent of the governed

00:21:17.780 but also the recognition

00:21:19.280 of fundamental human rights

00:21:21.540 to include,

00:21:23.160 but not limited to,

00:21:24.160 life, liberty,

00:21:25.520 and the pursuit

00:21:26.620 of happiness

00:21:27.300 as well as

00:21:28.380 the fundamental duty

00:21:29.640 or obligation

00:21:30.500 of all

00:21:32.020 to respect the rights

00:21:33.600 of others.

00:21:35.220 These rights are found

00:21:36.120 in nature

00:21:36.860 not created by man

00:21:38.320 or the government.

00:21:39.500 Rather,

00:21:40.080 men create governments

00:21:41.300 to secure

00:21:42.340 these natural rights.

00:21:44.660 Indeed,

00:21:45.020 the very purpose

00:21:46.160 of our government

00:21:47.080 is to secure

00:21:48.160 these rights

00:21:48.920 which exist

00:21:50.340 independently

00:21:51.280 of government.

00:21:53.020 Whether the government

00:21:53.860 recognizes them

00:21:54.820 or not,

00:21:56.140 a bad government

00:21:57.300 may deny

00:21:58.200 or ignore

00:21:59.080 natural rights

00:22:00.240 and even prevent

00:22:01.100 their exercise

00:22:02.020 in the real world,

00:22:03.840 but it can never

00:22:05.120 negate

00:22:05.840 or eliminate them.

00:22:07.780 The principles

00:22:09.220 of the Declaration

00:22:10.220 are universal

00:22:11.300 and eternal,

00:22:12.480 yet they were asserted

00:22:14.100 by a specific people

00:22:15.540 for a specific purpose

00:22:16.980 in a specific circumstance.

00:22:19.860 The general principles

00:22:20.960 stated in the document

00:22:22.140 explain and justify

00:22:23.320 the founders'

00:22:24.020 particular actions

00:22:25.200 in breaking off

00:22:26.280 from Great Britain.

00:22:27.560 They also explain

00:22:28.640 the principles

00:22:29.260 upon which

00:22:30.020 they would build

00:22:30.840 their new government.

00:22:32.500 These principles

00:22:33.240 apply to all men,

00:22:35.140 but the founders

00:22:35.740 acted to secure

00:22:36.660 only American rights,

00:22:38.840 not those of all men.

00:22:41.200 The world is still

00:22:43.320 and always will be

00:22:44.340 divided into nations.

00:22:45.680 not all of which

00:22:47.300 will respect

00:22:47.940 the rights of their people,

00:22:49.960 though they should.

00:22:51.800 We confront,

00:22:53.080 finally,

00:22:53.600 the difficulty

00:22:54.760 that the eternal principles

00:22:56.220 elucidated

00:22:57.160 in the Declaration

00:22:58.320 were stated

00:22:59.880 and became the basis

00:23:01.200 for an actual government

00:23:02.760 only a relatively

00:23:03.860 short time ago.

00:23:06.080 Yet,

00:23:06.380 if these principles

00:23:07.120 are both eternal

00:23:08.340 and accessible

00:23:09.600 to the human mind,

00:23:11.260 why were they not

00:23:12.020 discovered

00:23:12.540 and acted upon

00:23:13.860 long before 1776?

00:23:15.680 In a sense,

00:23:19.860 the precepts

00:23:20.620 of the American founders

00:23:21.620 were known

00:23:22.480 to prior thinkers,

00:23:24.100 but those thinkers

00:23:25.060 stated them

00:23:25.780 in entirely different terms

00:23:27.260 to fit the different

00:23:28.320 political and intellectual

00:23:29.500 circumstances

00:23:30.380 of their times.

00:23:31.620 For instance,

00:23:32.660 ancient philosophers

00:23:33.520 appear to teach

00:23:34.660 that wisdom

00:23:35.320 is a genuine title

00:23:37.020 to rule,

00:23:38.440 that in a decisive respect,

00:23:41.680 all men

00:23:42.140 are not created equal.

00:23:44.060 yet they also teach

00:23:45.860 that it is

00:23:46.920 all but impossible

00:23:48.160 for any actual

00:23:49.780 living man

00:23:50.500 to obtain

00:23:51.300 genuine wisdom.

00:23:53.340 Even if wisdom

00:23:54.500 is a legitimate

00:23:55.700 title to rule,

00:23:56.940 if perfect wisdom

00:23:58.080 is unattainable

00:23:59.500 by any living man,

00:24:01.000 then no man

00:24:02.520 is by right

00:24:03.460 the ruler

00:24:04.000 of any other

00:24:05.040 except by their consent.

00:24:06.940 more fundamentally,

00:24:09.140 by the time

00:24:09.740 of the American founding,

00:24:11.080 political life

00:24:11.820 in the West

00:24:12.500 had undergone

00:24:13.220 some changes,

00:24:14.000 two momentous changes.

00:24:15.840 The first was

00:24:16.620 the sundering of

00:24:17.580 civil from religious law

00:24:19.780 with the advent

00:24:21.060 and widespread adoption

00:24:22.760 of Christianity.

00:24:23.660 The second momentous change

00:24:26.160 was the emergence

00:24:27.180 of multiple denominations

00:24:29.160 within Christianity

00:24:30.540 that undid Christian unity

00:24:33.580 and, in turn,

00:24:35.160 greatly undermined

00:24:36.180 political unity.

00:24:38.100 Religious differences

00:24:38.980 became sources

00:24:40.040 of a political conflict

00:24:41.520 and war.

00:24:42.840 As discussed further

00:24:44.060 in Appendix 2,

00:24:45.120 it was in response

00:24:46.480 to these fundamentally

00:24:47.920 new circumstances

00:24:49.300 that the American founders

00:24:50.980 developed the principle

00:24:52.380 of religious liberty.

00:24:54.240 While the founders'

00:24:55.420 principles are both

00:24:56.440 true and eternal,

00:24:57.720 they cannot be understood

00:24:59.540 without also understanding

00:25:01.560 that they were formulated

00:25:02.940 by practical men

00:25:04.920 to solve real-world problems.

00:25:08.120 For the founders'

00:25:09.020 solution to these problems,

00:25:11.420 we have to turn

00:25:12.220 to the Constitution.

00:25:15.620 Part 3

00:25:16.820 The Constitution of Principles

00:25:19.560 It's one thing

00:25:20.780 to discern and assert

00:25:22.460 true principles

00:25:23.940 of political legitimacy

00:25:26.100 and justice.

00:25:27.340 But it is quite another

00:25:28.620 to establish those principles

00:25:30.540 among an actual people

00:25:32.380 in an actual government

00:25:34.300 here on Earth.

00:25:35.140 As Winston Churchill put it,

00:25:37.020 in not a dissimilar context,

00:25:39.120 even the best of men

00:25:40.360 struggling in the most just of causes

00:25:42.720 cannot guarantee victory.

00:25:44.940 They can only deserve it.

00:25:46.400 The founders of the United States

00:25:49.060 perhaps miraculously

00:25:50.720 achieved what they set out

00:25:53.000 to achieve.

00:25:54.080 They defeated

00:25:54.780 the world's strongest military

00:25:56.760 and financial power

00:25:58.400 and won

00:25:59.280 their independence.

00:26:01.960 They then faced the task

00:26:03.380 of forming a country

00:26:04.460 that would honor

00:26:05.820 and implement

00:26:06.520 the principles

00:26:07.340 upon which they declared

00:26:09.180 their independence.

00:26:10.680 The bedrock

00:26:11.980 upon which

00:26:13.020 the American political system

00:26:15.260 is built

00:26:15.820 is the rule of law.

00:26:18.580 The vast difference

00:26:19.740 between tyranny

00:26:20.800 and the rule of law

00:26:22.200 is the central theme

00:26:23.820 of political thinkers

00:26:24.740 all the way back

00:26:25.360 to classical antiquity.

00:26:28.420 The idea

00:26:29.460 that the law

00:26:30.140 is superior

00:26:30.880 to rulers

00:26:31.920 is the cornerstone

00:26:33.340 of the English

00:26:34.560 constitutional thought

00:26:36.060 as it developed

00:26:37.380 over the centuries.

00:26:38.600 The concept

00:26:39.120 was transferred

00:26:40.220 to the American colonies

00:26:41.720 and can be seen

00:26:43.180 expressed throughout

00:26:44.160 colonial pamphlets

00:26:45.440 and the political writings

00:26:46.660 as Thomas Paine

00:26:48.680 reflected in Common Sense.

00:26:50.980 Quote,

00:26:51.220 For as in absolute governments

00:26:53.640 the king is law,

00:26:55.600 so in free countries

00:26:56.840 the law ought to be king

00:26:58.700 and there ought to be no other.

00:27:00.880 But lest any ill use

00:27:02.720 should afterwards arise,

00:27:04.960 let the crown

00:27:05.740 at the conclusion

00:27:06.800 of the ceremony

00:27:07.880 be demolished

00:27:09.000 and scattered

00:27:10.260 among the people

00:27:11.160 whose right

00:27:12.160 it is.

00:27:13.500 End quote.

00:27:14.400 To assure

00:27:15.120 such a government

00:27:16.160 Americans demanded

00:27:18.340 a written legal document

00:27:20.080 that would create

00:27:20.860 both a structure

00:27:21.800 and a process

00:27:23.120 for securing

00:27:24.080 their rights and liberties

00:27:25.320 and spell out

00:27:26.640 the divisions

00:27:27.300 and limits

00:27:28.180 of the powers

00:27:28.940 of the government.

00:27:29.840 That legal document

00:27:31.760 must be above

00:27:33.360 ordinary legislation

00:27:34.640 and day-to-day politics.

00:27:37.520 That is what our founders

00:27:38.820 meant by constitution

00:27:40.960 and it is why

00:27:42.220 our constitution

00:27:43.260 is the supreme law

00:27:45.640 of the land.

00:27:47.440 Well, their first attempt

00:27:48.760 at forming a government

00:27:49.740 the Articles of Confederation

00:27:51.360 and Perpetual Union

00:27:52.700 was adopted

00:27:53.920 in the midst

00:27:54.660 of the Revolutionary War

00:27:55.900 and not ratified

00:27:56.860 until 1781.

00:27:58.420 But during that time

00:27:59.580 American statesmen

00:28:00.620 and citizens alike

00:28:01.580 concluded that the Articles

00:28:02.760 were just too weak

00:28:03.720 to fulfill

00:28:04.320 a government's

00:28:05.620 core function.

00:28:07.180 This consensus

00:28:08.140 produced the

00:28:08.960 Constitutional Convention

00:28:10.280 of 1787

00:28:12.020 which met in Philadelphia

00:28:14.620 that summer

00:28:15.300 to write the document

00:28:16.740 which we have today.

00:28:18.940 It is a testament

00:28:20.000 to those framers' wisdom

00:28:21.780 and skill

00:28:22.640 that the constitution

00:28:23.940 they produced

00:28:24.740 remains the longest

00:28:26.020 continually operating

00:28:27.560 written constitution

00:28:28.880 in the history

00:28:31.020 all of the long

00:28:32.680 and storied history

00:28:33.760 of humans.

00:28:35.620 The meaning and purpose

00:28:37.060 of the Constitution

00:28:37.960 of 1787, however,

00:28:40.140 can't be understood

00:28:41.060 without recourse

00:28:42.760 to the principles

00:28:43.720 of the Declaration

00:28:44.520 of Independence.

00:28:45.620 Human equality,

00:28:46.880 the requirement

00:28:47.520 for government

00:28:49.040 by consent

00:28:50.400 and the securing

00:28:51.660 of natural rights

00:28:53.380 which the Constitution

00:28:54.900 is intended to embody,

00:28:56.820 protect,

00:28:57.640 and nurture.

00:28:58.940 Lincoln famously described

00:29:01.240 the principles

00:29:01.860 of the Declaration

00:29:02.820 borrowing from Proverbs 25.11

00:29:05.780 as an apple of gold

00:29:08.360 and the Constitution

00:29:09.880 as a frame of silver

00:29:11.820 meant to adorn

00:29:13.380 and preserve

00:29:14.380 the apple.

00:29:16.360 The latter was made

00:29:17.600 for the former,

00:29:18.780 not the reverse.

00:29:20.320 The form of the new government

00:29:22.460 that the Constitution

00:29:23.760 delineates

00:29:24.740 is informed in part

00:29:26.100 by the charges

00:29:27.320 the Declaration levels

00:29:28.760 at the British ground.

00:29:29.980 For instance,

00:29:30.600 the colonists charged

00:29:31.560 the British king

00:29:32.500 with failing to provide

00:29:34.740 or even interfering

00:29:36.180 with representative government.

00:29:38.260 Hence,

00:29:38.680 the Constitution

00:29:39.380 provides for

00:29:40.860 a representative legislature.

00:29:43.520 It also charges

00:29:44.460 the king

00:29:45.380 with concentrating

00:29:46.520 executive legislature

00:29:48.300 and judicial power

00:29:49.860 into the same hands,

00:29:51.820 which James Madison

00:29:53.260 pronounced

00:29:53.880 the very definition

00:29:55.380 of tyranny.

00:29:56.700 Instead,

00:29:57.160 the founders organized

00:29:58.060 their new government

00:29:58.960 into three

00:30:00.080 co-equal branches,

00:30:02.200 checking and balancing

00:30:03.340 the power

00:30:04.000 of each

00:30:04.880 against the others

00:30:06.100 to reduce

00:30:07.100 the risk

00:30:07.820 of abuse of power.

00:30:09.100 The intent of the framers

00:30:10.240 of the Constitution

00:30:11.340 was to construct

00:30:12.340 a government

00:30:12.820 that would

00:30:13.360 sufficiently be

00:30:14.460 strong enough

00:30:15.440 to perform

00:30:16.120 those essential tasks

00:30:18.420 that only a government

00:30:19.660 can perform,

00:30:20.500 such as establishing justice,

00:30:22.740 ensuring domestic tranquility,

00:30:25.120 providing for the common defense,

00:30:27.140 and promoting

00:30:27.620 the general welfare.

00:30:29.280 Those are the main tasks

00:30:30.860 named in the document's preamble.

00:30:32.680 but not so strong

00:30:35.080 as to jeopardize

00:30:36.860 the people's liberties.

00:30:38.720 In other words,

00:30:39.380 the new government

00:30:40.020 needed to be strong enough

00:30:41.240 to have the power

00:30:42.000 to secure rights

00:30:43.280 without having so much power

00:30:45.360 as to enable

00:30:46.060 or encourage it

00:30:46.920 to infringe

00:30:47.940 on those rights.

00:30:49.240 More specifically,

00:30:50.240 the framers intended

00:30:51.080 the new Constitution

00:30:52.200 to keep the 13 states

00:30:53.980 united

00:30:54.660 to prevent

00:30:55.340 the breakup

00:30:56.060 of the Union

00:30:56.860 into two

00:30:57.620 or more

00:30:58.500 smaller countries

00:30:59.520 while maintaining

00:31:01.000 sufficient latitude

00:31:02.260 and liberty

00:31:03.220 for the individual states.

00:31:06.000 The advantages

00:31:07.260 of the Union

00:31:08.040 are detailed

00:31:09.240 in the first 14 papers

00:31:11.000 of the Federalists,

00:31:12.060 a series of essays

00:31:13.080 written to urge

00:31:14.200 the Constitution's adoption

00:31:15.560 and boil down

00:31:16.840 to preventing

00:31:17.640 and deterring

00:31:18.660 foreign adventurism

00:31:21.020 in North America,

00:31:22.740 avoiding conflicts

00:31:23.840 between threats,

00:31:25.040 achieving economies

00:31:25.500 economies of scale

00:31:26.700 and best utilizing

00:31:28.320 the diverse resources

00:31:29.680 of the continent.

00:31:31.320 While the Constitution

00:31:32.260 is fundamentally

00:31:33.560 a compact

00:31:34.720 among the American people

00:31:36.420 its first seven words

00:31:37.940 are we the people

00:31:38.900 of the United States,

00:31:40.780 it was ratified

00:31:41.720 by special conventions

00:31:43.100 in those states.

00:31:44.880 The peoples of the states

00:31:46.520 admired and cherished

00:31:48.340 their state governments,

00:31:50.060 all of which

00:31:50.760 had adopted

00:31:51.480 Republican constitutions

00:31:53.040 before a federal constitution

00:31:54.900 was completed.

00:31:56.580 Hence, the framers

00:31:57.460 of the new national government

00:31:58.920 had to respect

00:31:59.880 the state's prior existence

00:32:01.840 and jealous guarding

00:32:03.620 of their own prerogatives.

00:32:06.100 They also believe

00:32:06.920 that the role

00:32:07.480 of the federal government

00:32:08.380 should be limited

00:32:09.560 to performing those tasks

00:32:11.460 that only a national government

00:32:13.080 can do,

00:32:13.700 such as providing

00:32:14.580 for the nation's security

00:32:15.820 or regulating commerce

00:32:17.380 between the states,

00:32:19.460 and that most tasks

00:32:20.960 were properly

00:32:21.960 the responsibility

00:32:22.800 of the individual states.

00:32:24.900 And they believe

00:32:26.100 that strong states

00:32:27.680 as competing power centers

00:32:29.600 would act as counterweights

00:32:31.740 against a potentially

00:32:32.960 overweening central government

00:32:35.260 in the same way

00:32:36.720 that the separation of powers

00:32:38.420 checks and balances

00:32:39.560 the branches

00:32:40.880 of the federal government.

00:32:42.680 For the founders,

00:32:44.360 the principle

00:32:45.180 that just government

00:32:46.700 requires the consent

00:32:48.040 of the governed

00:32:48.900 in turn requires Republicanism

00:32:51.480 because the chief way

00:32:53.420 that consent

00:32:54.220 is granted

00:32:55.000 to a government

00:32:55.760 is on an ongoing basis

00:32:57.600 through the people's participation

00:32:59.860 in the political process.

00:33:02.540 This is the reason

00:33:03.820 the Constitution

00:33:04.580 guarantees

00:33:05.620 to every state

00:33:07.660 in this union

00:33:08.540 a Republican form

00:33:10.380 of government.

00:33:11.580 End quote.

00:33:12.320 Under the United States

00:33:13.640 Constitution,

00:33:14.820 the people

00:33:15.700 are sovereign.

00:33:16.660 But the people

00:33:18.300 don't directly

00:33:19.080 exercise their sovereignty,

00:33:20.960 for instance,

00:33:21.720 by voting directly

00:33:22.900 in popular assemblies.

00:33:25.240 Rather,

00:33:25.760 they do so indirectly

00:33:27.160 through a representative institution.

00:33:30.860 This is,

00:33:32.020 on the most basic level,

00:33:34.460 a practical requirement

00:33:35.960 in a republic

00:33:37.400 with a large population

00:33:38.660 and extent of territory.

00:33:40.200 But it is also intended

00:33:42.060 to be a remedy

00:33:43.080 to the defects

00:33:44.300 that are common

00:33:45.220 to all republics

00:33:46.820 up to that time.

00:33:48.640 See,

00:33:48.980 the framers of the Constitution

00:33:50.380 faced a two-fold challenge.

00:33:52.760 They had to assure

00:33:53.580 those alarmed

00:33:55.340 by historic record

00:33:56.620 that the new government

00:33:57.640 was not too Republican

00:33:59.260 in simply copying

00:34:00.840 old failed forms,

00:34:02.720 while also reassuring

00:34:04.360 those concerned

00:34:05.180 about

00:34:05.740 overweening

00:34:07.700 the centralized power

00:34:09.220 that the government

00:34:10.720 of the new Constitution

00:34:12.000 was Republican enough

00:34:13.200 to secure

00:34:13.860 equal natural rights

00:34:15.740 and prevent

00:34:16.980 the reemergence

00:34:18.320 of tyranny.

00:34:20.220 Well,

00:34:20.700 the main cause

00:34:21.520 of prior Republican failure

00:34:23.440 were class conflict

00:34:25.260 and tyranny

00:34:26.420 of the majority.

00:34:28.160 In the simplest terms,

00:34:29.480 the largest single faction

00:34:31.120 in any republic

00:34:32.420 would tend

00:34:33.320 to band together

00:34:34.200 and unwisely

00:34:35.720 wield

00:34:36.340 their numerical strength

00:34:38.460 against unpopular minorities,

00:34:41.180 leading to conflict

00:34:42.480 and eventually collapse.

00:34:44.320 The Founders' primary remedy

00:34:45.940 was union itself.

00:34:49.580 Against the old idea

00:34:50.540 that republics

00:34:51.240 had to be small,

00:34:52.340 the Founders countered

00:34:53.960 that the very smallness

00:34:55.360 of prior republics

00:34:56.580 all but guaranteed

00:34:57.780 their failure.

00:34:59.540 In small republics,

00:35:01.040 the majority

00:35:01.520 can be more easily organized,

00:35:04.460 and they can organize themselves

00:35:05.920 into a dominant faction.

00:35:08.500 In large republics,

00:35:10.700 the interest

00:35:11.380 becomes too numerous

00:35:13.120 for any single faction

00:35:14.880 to dominate.

00:35:16.480 The inherent

00:35:17.520 or potential

00:35:18.900 partisan

00:35:19.800 unwisdom

00:35:20.900 of the dominant faction

00:35:22.800 also would be tempered

00:35:24.740 by a representative government.

00:35:27.320 Rather than the people

00:35:28.440 acting as a body,

00:35:29.840 the people instead

00:35:31.040 would select officeholders

00:35:32.340 that would represent them.

00:35:34.220 This would,

00:35:34.940 quote,

00:35:35.580 refine and enlarge

00:35:37.220 the public views

00:35:38.340 by passing them

00:35:39.400 through the medium

00:35:40.260 of a chosen body

00:35:41.620 of citizens

00:35:42.320 whose wisdom

00:35:43.660 may best discern

00:35:44.820 the true interest

00:35:46.180 of their country,

00:35:47.760 and whose patriotism

00:35:49.120 and love of justice

00:35:50.560 would be the least likely

00:35:52.820 to sacrifice

00:35:53.760 to temporary

00:35:55.160 or partial considerations,

00:35:58.420 end quote.

00:35:58.880 and in the separation

00:36:00.100 of powers,

00:36:01.500 it would work in concert

00:36:02.680 with the principle

00:36:03.680 of representation

00:36:05.080 by incentivizing

00:36:06.680 individual officeholders

00:36:08.060 to identify

00:36:09.360 their personal interests

00:36:10.800 with the powers

00:36:11.760 and prerogatives

00:36:12.580 of their office,

00:36:13.800 and thus keep them alert

00:36:15.180 to the danger

00:36:16.060 of encroachments

00:36:17.100 from other branches

00:36:18.760 and offices.

00:36:20.080 The founders asserted

00:36:21.480 that these innovations

00:36:22.660 and others

00:36:23.440 combined to create

00:36:24.800 a republicanism

00:36:25.940 that was at once old

00:36:28.480 and as well new,

00:36:30.820 true to the eternal principles

00:36:32.340 and timeless ends

00:36:33.860 of good government,

00:36:35.200 but awake to

00:36:36.140 and corrective

00:36:37.140 of the deficiencies

00:36:38.380 in prior examples

00:36:39.680 of popular rule.

00:36:41.540 One important feature

00:36:42.420 in our written Constitution

00:36:43.440 is the way,

00:36:45.600 very careful way,

00:36:47.720 it limits the powers

00:36:49.280 of each branch

00:36:50.220 of government.

00:36:50.980 That is,

00:36:51.780 it states

00:36:52.820 what those branches

00:36:54.660 can do,

00:36:55.920 and by implication,

00:36:57.060 what they may not do.

00:36:59.200 This is the real meaning

00:37:01.120 of limited government.

00:37:03.040 It's not about

00:37:03.500 the government's size

00:37:04.480 or funding levels.

00:37:06.080 They remain small.

00:37:07.700 It's really more

00:37:09.400 about the government's power

00:37:10.900 and the activities

00:37:12.580 the government does.

00:37:14.300 They must remain

00:37:15.560 limited

00:37:16.220 to a certain

00:37:17.360 carefully defined area

00:37:19.240 or two,

00:37:19.960 and responsibilities

00:37:21.680 as guarded

00:37:22.880 by the bicameralism,

00:37:24.960 federalism,

00:37:25.800 and the separation

00:37:27.120 of powers.

00:37:28.460 The Constitution

00:37:29.040 was intended

00:37:30.300 to endure,

00:37:32.060 but because the founders

00:37:33.480 knew well

00:37:34.920 that no document

00:37:36.260 written by human beings

00:37:37.300 would ever be perfect

00:37:38.400 or anticipate

00:37:39.080 every future contingency,

00:37:40.920 they provided

00:37:41.800 for a process

00:37:42.700 to amend

00:37:43.600 the document,

00:37:44.920 but only by

00:37:46.300 popular decision-making

00:37:47.820 and not by ordinary

00:37:49.800 legislation

00:37:50.740 or judicial decree.

00:37:52.540 The first

00:37:53.140 ten amendments

00:37:54.320 would become known

00:37:55.700 as the Bill of Rights,

00:37:57.140 and they were included

00:37:58.200 at the demand

00:37:59.600 of those especially

00:38:00.460 concerned about

00:38:01.400 vesting the federal

00:38:02.600 government

00:38:03.100 with too much power

00:38:04.100 and who wanted

00:38:05.500 an enumeration

00:38:06.580 of specific rights

00:38:08.220 that the new government

00:38:10.180 lawfully

00:38:11.200 could never

00:38:12.500 transgress.

00:38:14.000 But all agreed

00:38:15.060 that the substantive

00:38:16.120 rights are not granted

00:38:17.880 by the government.

00:38:19.640 Any just government

00:38:20.600 exists only

00:38:21.520 to secure

00:38:22.660 those rights.

00:38:24.640 And they specifically

00:38:25.760 noted in the

00:38:26.860 Ninth Amendment

00:38:27.600 that the Bill of Rights

00:38:29.140 was a selective

00:38:30.720 and not

00:38:31.580 an exclusive list.

00:38:33.720 That is,

00:38:34.760 the mere fact

00:38:35.720 that a right

00:38:36.380 is not mentioned

00:38:37.460 in the Bill of Rights

00:38:38.560 is not proof

00:38:40.100 nor evidence

00:38:40.980 that it doesn't exist.

00:38:43.200 It's important

00:38:43.840 to note

00:38:44.320 the founders'

00:38:44.800 understanding

00:38:45.460 of these rights

00:38:46.640 that are decisive

00:38:48.320 for Republican government

00:38:50.260 and the success

00:38:52.200 of the founders'

00:38:53.200 project.

00:38:54.280 Our first freedom,

00:38:55.900 religious liberty,

00:38:57.540 is foremost

00:38:58.140 a moral requirement

00:38:59.820 of the natural

00:39:01.020 freedom

00:39:01.500 of the human mind.

00:39:03.380 As discussed

00:39:04.020 in Appendix 2,

00:39:05.940 it is also

00:39:06.600 the indispensable

00:39:07.660 solution

00:39:08.520 to the political,

00:39:10.340 religious problem

00:39:11.320 that emerged

00:39:11.980 in the modern world.

00:39:13.080 faith is both

00:39:15.120 a matter of

00:39:15.720 private conscience

00:39:16.740 and public import,

00:39:18.780 which is why

00:39:19.460 the founders

00:39:19.960 encouraged

00:39:20.780 religious free exercise,

00:39:22.480 but barred the government

00:39:23.760 from establishing

00:39:25.020 one national religion.

00:39:27.240 The point

00:39:28.060 is not merely

00:39:29.700 to protect

00:39:30.360 the state

00:39:31.180 from religion,

00:39:32.140 but also

00:39:32.520 to protect religion

00:39:33.780 from the state,

00:39:35.520 so that religious

00:39:36.580 institutions

00:39:37.420 could flourish

00:39:38.340 and pursue

00:39:39.280 their divine mission

00:39:40.940 among men.

00:39:42.980 Like religious liberty,

00:39:44.800 freedom of speech

00:39:45.860 and freedom of the press

00:39:47.640 is required

00:39:48.920 by the freedom

00:39:50.400 of the human mind.

00:39:52.640 More plainly,

00:39:53.460 it is a requirement

00:39:54.320 for any government

00:39:55.540 in which the people

00:39:56.520 choose the direction

00:39:57.920 of the government policy

00:39:59.120 to choose requires

00:40:00.740 public deliberation

00:40:02.160 and debate.

00:40:03.620 A people that cannot

00:40:04.500 publicly express its opinions,

00:40:06.620 exchange ideas,

00:40:07.980 or openly argue

00:40:09.220 about the course

00:40:10.500 of its government

00:40:11.200 is not free.

00:40:14.060 Finally,

00:40:14.520 the right to keep

00:40:15.600 and bear arms

00:40:16.340 is required

00:40:17.100 by the fundamental,

00:40:18.900 natural right to life.

00:40:21.040 No man may justly

00:40:22.560 be denied

00:40:23.320 the means

00:40:24.120 of his own defense.

00:40:26.300 The political significance

00:40:27.800 of this right

00:40:28.680 is hardly less important.

00:40:31.720 An armed people

00:40:32.840 is a people

00:40:34.100 capable

00:40:34.880 of defending

00:40:35.800 their liberty

00:40:36.680 no less than

00:40:37.900 their lives

00:40:38.760 and is the last

00:40:40.560 desperate check

00:40:41.880 against the world's

00:40:43.780 worst tyranny.

00:40:47.080 Part 4

00:40:47.660 Challenges

00:40:48.940 to America's Principles

00:40:50.660 Challenges to

00:40:52.620 constitutional government

00:40:53.880 are frequent

00:40:54.600 and are to be expected

00:40:56.400 in a popular government

00:40:57.620 based on consent.

00:40:59.700 In his farewell address,

00:41:01.100 George Washington

00:41:01.960 advised his countrymen

00:41:03.760 that when it came

00:41:04.820 to the preservation

00:41:05.620 of the Constitution,

00:41:07.780 they should resist

00:41:08.860 with care

00:41:09.800 the spirit of innovation

00:41:11.660 upon its principles,

00:41:13.840 however specious

00:41:15.080 the pretext.

00:41:17.140 The Constitution

00:41:17.880 has proven sturdy

00:41:19.640 against narrow interest groups

00:41:21.260 that seek to change

00:41:22.480 elements of the Constitution

00:41:23.820 merely to get their way.

00:41:26.280 At the same time,

00:41:27.480 it is important to note

00:41:28.680 that by design,

00:41:30.160 there is room

00:41:31.520 in the Constitution

00:41:32.380 for significant change

00:41:34.280 and reform.

00:41:35.740 Indeed,

00:41:36.400 great reforms,

00:41:37.800 abolition,

00:41:38.740 women's suffrage,

00:41:40.080 anti-communism,

00:41:41.480 the civil rights movement,

00:41:43.100 the pro-life movement,

00:41:44.740 all have come forward

00:41:46.400 that improve

00:41:48.680 our dedication

00:41:50.020 to the principles

00:41:51.180 of our Declaration

00:41:52.440 of Independence

00:41:53.040 under the Constitution.

00:41:55.300 More problematic

00:41:56.840 have been movements

00:41:58.020 that reject

00:41:58.740 the fundamental truths

00:42:00.220 of the Declaration

00:42:01.480 of Independence

00:42:02.160 and seek to destroy

00:42:03.420 our Constitutional order.

00:42:05.740 The arguments,

00:42:06.820 the tactics,

00:42:07.700 and the names

00:42:08.740 of these movements

00:42:09.700 have changed,

00:42:10.840 and the magnitude

00:42:12.320 of the challenge

00:42:13.280 has varied.

00:42:14.340 Yet they are all united

00:42:16.140 by adherence

00:42:17.060 to the same falsehood,

00:42:18.600 that people do not

00:42:20.340 have equal worth

00:42:21.740 and equal rights.

00:42:23.040 At the infancy

00:42:25.180 of our republic,

00:42:26.640 the threat

00:42:27.220 was a despotic king

00:42:28.660 who violated

00:42:29.520 the people's rights

00:42:30.800 and overthrew

00:42:31.860 the colonists'

00:42:32.860 longstanding tradition

00:42:33.960 of self-government.

00:42:35.940 After decades

00:42:37.060 of struggle,

00:42:37.780 the colonists

00:42:38.440 succeeded

00:42:38.980 in establishing

00:42:39.860 a more perfect union

00:42:41.460 founded not upon

00:42:43.400 the capricious whims

00:42:44.660 of a tyrant,

00:42:46.040 but Republican laws

00:42:47.780 and institutions

00:42:48.860 founded upon

00:42:50.120 self-evident

00:42:51.080 and eternal truths.

00:42:52.800 It is the sacred duty

00:42:55.000 of every generation

00:42:56.560 of American patriots

00:42:58.200 to defend

00:42:59.120 this priceless inheritance.

00:43:02.540 Slavery.

00:43:04.620 The most common charge

00:43:06.760 leveled against the Founders,

00:43:08.540 and hence against

00:43:09.380 our country itself,

00:43:10.920 is that they were hypocrites

00:43:12.300 who didn't believe

00:43:13.420 in their own stated principles,

00:43:15.080 and therefore,

00:43:16.240 the country they built

00:43:17.180 rests on a lie.

00:43:20.600 This charge is untrue.

00:43:23.620 It's done enormous damage,

00:43:25.620 especially in recent years,

00:43:27.420 with the devastating effect

00:43:29.360 on our civic unity

00:43:30.500 in social fabric.

00:43:32.320 Many Americans labor

00:43:34.180 under the illusion

00:43:35.260 that slavery was somehow

00:43:37.080 a uniquely American evil.

00:43:39.840 It is essential to insist

00:43:41.560 at the outset

00:43:42.280 that the institution

00:43:44.000 is seen in a much broader

00:43:46.200 perspective.

00:43:47.780 It's hard for people

00:43:49.140 brought up

00:43:50.060 in the comforts

00:43:50.800 of modern America

00:43:51.680 in a time when

00:43:52.640 which the idea

00:43:53.900 that all human beings

00:43:54.940 have involvable rights,

00:43:57.520 inherent dignity,

00:43:58.520 it's almost taken for granted,

00:44:00.020 to imagine

00:44:00.680 the cruelties

00:44:02.160 and enormities

00:44:03.080 that were endemic

00:44:04.740 in earlier times.

00:44:06.020 It's hard.

00:44:06.520 But the unfortunate fact is

00:44:10.460 the institution of slavery

00:44:11.880 has been more

00:44:12.820 the rule

00:44:14.260 than exception

00:44:15.340 throughout human history.

00:44:16.920 It was the Western world's

00:44:19.120 repudiation of slavery,

00:44:21.240 not just beginning to build

00:44:23.500 at the time

00:44:24.520 of the American Revolution,

00:44:25.760 which marked

00:44:26.980 a dramatic sea change

00:44:29.420 in moral sensibilities.

00:44:31.340 The American founders

00:44:32.300 were living on the cusp

00:44:33.700 of this change

00:44:34.700 in a matter that

00:44:35.600 straddled two worlds.

00:44:38.280 George Washington

00:44:38.980 owned slaves,

00:44:40.420 but he came to detest

00:44:42.340 the practice

00:44:43.080 and wished for a plan

00:44:44.280 adopted

00:44:45.620 for the abolition of it.

00:44:48.200 By the end of his life,

00:44:49.680 he freed all the slaves

00:44:50.760 in his family estate.

00:44:52.700 Thomas Jefferson

00:44:53.380 also held slaves,

00:44:55.100 and yet included

00:44:55.940 in his original

00:44:57.320 handwritten draft

00:44:58.520 of the Declaration

00:44:59.420 a strong condemnation

00:45:01.340 of slavery,

00:45:02.260 which was removed

00:45:03.440 at the insistence

00:45:04.800 of certain

00:45:05.640 slaveholding delegates.

00:45:08.560 Inscribed in marble

00:45:09.600 in his memorial

00:45:10.420 in Washington, D.C.,

00:45:11.700 is Jefferson's

00:45:12.560 foreboding reference

00:45:13.500 to the injustice

00:45:14.380 of slavery.

00:45:15.880 I tremble for my country

00:45:17.800 when I reflect

00:45:18.900 that God is just

00:45:20.700 and that His justice

00:45:22.660 cannot sleep forever.

00:45:25.440 End quote.

00:45:27.420 James Madison

00:45:28.500 saw to it

00:45:29.200 at the Constitutional Convention

00:45:30.720 that even

00:45:31.520 when the Constitution

00:45:32.920 compromised with slavery,

00:45:35.240 it never used

00:45:36.360 the word slave

00:45:37.420 to do so.

00:45:39.360 No mere semantics.

00:45:40.980 He insisted

00:45:41.800 that it was wrong

00:45:42.860 to admit

00:45:43.780 in the Constitution

00:45:45.120 the idea

00:45:46.100 that there could be

00:45:47.400 property in men.

00:45:49.300 indeed,

00:45:50.720 the compromises

00:45:51.380 at the Constitutional Convention

00:45:52.860 were just that,

00:45:53.800 compromises.

00:45:54.640 The Three-Fifths Compromise

00:45:56.900 was proposed

00:45:57.660 by an anti-slavery delegate

00:45:59.940 to prevent the South

00:46:01.420 from counting their slaves

00:46:03.140 as whole persons

00:46:04.520 for the purpose

00:46:05.240 of increasing

00:46:06.140 their congressional representation.

00:46:08.360 The so-called

00:46:09.600 Fugitive Slave Clause,

00:46:11.720 perhaps the most hated

00:46:13.200 protection of all,

00:46:15.020 accommodated

00:46:15.660 pro-slavery delegates,

00:46:17.700 but it was written

00:46:18.900 so the Constitution

00:46:20.020 did not sanction slavery

00:46:22.000 in the states

00:46:23.000 where it existed.

00:46:24.520 There is also

00:46:25.360 a provision

00:46:25.800 in the Constitution

00:46:26.620 that forbade

00:46:27.320 any restriction

00:46:28.320 of the slave trade

00:46:29.800 for 20 years

00:46:30.880 after ratification,

00:46:32.500 at which time,

00:46:33.660 Congress immediately

00:46:34.960 outlawed

00:46:36.020 the slave trade.

00:46:36.820 The First Continental Congress

00:46:39.380 agreed to discontinue

00:46:40.660 the slave trade

00:46:41.340 and boycott other nations

00:46:42.700 that engaged in it.

00:46:44.240 In the Second

00:46:45.020 Constitutional Congress,

00:46:46.920 they reaffirmed

00:46:48.180 this policy.

00:46:49.560 The Northwest Ordinance,

00:46:51.980 a pre-constitutional law,

00:46:54.440 passed to govern

00:46:55.460 the Western territories

00:46:57.120 and passed again

00:46:58.760 by the First Congress

00:46:59.860 and signed into law

00:47:01.140 by President George Washington,

00:47:03.460 explicitly banned slavery

00:47:06.140 from those territories

00:47:07.700 and from any other states

00:47:09.980 that might be organized there.

00:47:12.560 Above all,

00:47:13.860 there is clear language

00:47:15.100 in the Declaration itself.

00:47:17.840 We hold these truths

00:47:19.000 to be self-evident

00:47:19.800 that all men

00:47:21.220 are created equal.

00:47:23.340 The Founders knew slavery

00:47:24.720 was incompatible

00:47:26.120 with that truth.

00:47:28.180 It's important

00:47:29.940 to remember

00:47:30.960 that as a question

00:47:32.580 of practical politics,

00:47:34.420 no durable union

00:47:35.820 could have been formed

00:47:37.700 without a compromise

00:47:38.860 among the states

00:47:40.000 on the issue of slavery.

00:47:41.900 Is it reasonable

00:47:43.220 to believe

00:47:43.980 that slavery

00:47:44.780 could have been abolished sooner

00:47:46.800 had the slave states

00:47:48.460 not been in the union

00:47:49.900 with the free?

00:47:52.560 Maybe.

00:47:53.200 But what is momentous

00:47:58.040 is that a people

00:47:59.440 that included slaveholders

00:48:01.520 founded their nation

00:48:03.060 on the proposition

00:48:03.820 that all men

00:48:05.140 are created equal.

00:48:07.940 So why did they say that

00:48:10.380 without immediately

00:48:11.300 abolishing slavery?

00:48:13.040 To establish the principle

00:48:14.920 of consent

00:48:16.240 as the grounds

00:48:17.660 of all political legitimacy

00:48:19.340 and to check against

00:48:20.940 any possible future drift

00:48:23.220 towards the return

00:48:24.880 of despotism for sure,

00:48:26.920 but also,

00:48:27.980 in Lincoln's words,

00:48:29.140 to declare the right

00:48:30.360 so that the enforcement

00:48:31.700 of it

00:48:32.500 might follow

00:48:33.620 as fast

00:48:34.480 as the circumstances

00:48:35.580 should permit.

00:48:36.920 End quote.

00:48:38.120 The foundation

00:48:39.120 of our republic

00:48:39.980 planted the seeds

00:48:40.980 of death

00:48:41.820 of slavery

00:48:42.800 in America.

00:48:44.580 The Declaration's

00:48:45.440 unqualified proclamation

00:48:47.020 of human equality

00:48:48.600 flatly

00:48:49.600 contradicted

00:48:50.620 the existence

00:48:51.380 of human bondage

00:48:53.140 along with

00:48:54.060 the Constitution's

00:48:55.020 compromise.

00:48:56.420 It understood

00:48:57.820 in light

00:48:58.820 of that proposition,

00:49:00.340 it set the stage

00:49:01.900 for abolition.

00:49:03.820 The movement

00:49:04.740 to abolish slavery

00:49:06.080 that first began

00:49:06.980 in the United States

00:49:07.860 led the way

00:49:09.000 in bringing about

00:49:10.040 an end

00:49:10.740 to all legal slavery.

00:49:13.340 Benjamin Franklin

00:49:14.500 was president

00:49:15.180 of the Pennsylvania

00:49:16.260 Society

00:49:16.980 for the promoting

00:49:18.000 of the abolition

00:49:19.320 of slavery.

00:49:21.240 John Jay,

00:49:21.760 the first Chief Justice

00:49:22.980 of the Supreme Court,

00:49:24.640 was the president

00:49:25.500 of a similar society

00:49:27.220 in New York.

00:49:28.780 John Adams

00:49:29.340 opposed slavery

00:49:30.360 his entire life

00:49:31.720 as a foul contagion

00:49:33.460 in the human character

00:49:35.020 and an evil

00:49:36.300 of colossal magnitude.

00:49:38.360 End quote.

00:49:40.040 Frederick Douglass,

00:49:41.240 he was born a slave,

00:49:43.080 but he escaped

00:49:43.900 and eventually became

00:49:45.280 a prominent spokesperson

00:49:46.540 for the abolitionist movement.

00:49:49.360 He initially condemned

00:49:50.900 the Constitution,

00:49:52.440 but after studying

00:49:53.440 its history,

00:49:54.660 came to insist

00:49:55.600 that it was,

00:49:56.640 quote,

00:49:57.000 a glorious liberty document

00:49:59.260 and that the Declaration

00:50:00.660 of Independence

00:50:01.440 was, quote,

00:50:02.540 the ring bolt

00:50:04.140 to the chain

00:50:05.140 of your nation's destiny.

00:50:07.420 End quote.

00:50:07.920 And yet,

00:50:09.980 over the first half

00:50:11.700 of the 19th century,

00:50:12.740 a growing number

00:50:13.880 of Americans

00:50:14.500 increasingly denied

00:50:15.700 the truth

00:50:16.280 at the heart

00:50:16.860 of the founding.

00:50:18.300 Senator John C. Calhoun

00:50:19.740 of South Carolina

00:50:20.600 famously rejected

00:50:22.040 the Declaration's

00:50:23.020 principles of equality

00:50:25.040 as the most dangerous

00:50:26.760 of all political error

00:50:28.760 and a self-evident lie.

00:50:32.780 He never doubted

00:50:34.160 that the founders

00:50:34.920 meant what they said.

00:50:36.640 To this rejection,

00:50:38.820 Calhoun added

00:50:39.600 a new theory

00:50:40.480 in which writes

00:50:41.780 in here,

00:50:42.240 not in every individual

00:50:43.500 by the laws of nature

00:50:44.660 and nature's God,

00:50:45.820 but in groups

00:50:47.260 or races

00:50:48.040 according to

00:50:48.940 historical evolution.

00:50:50.800 This new theory

00:50:52.280 was developed

00:50:52.980 to protect slavery.

00:50:55.560 Calhoun claimed

00:50:56.340 it was a positive good

00:50:57.920 and specifically

00:50:59.240 to prevent

00:51:00.400 lawful majorities

00:51:01.760 from stopping

00:51:02.820 the spread of slavery

00:51:04.140 into federal territories

00:51:06.100 where it did not yet exist.

00:51:08.940 In the way

00:51:09.720 our fathers

00:51:10.460 originally left

00:51:11.440 the slavery question,

00:51:12.840 the institution

00:51:13.540 was in the course

00:51:14.580 of ultimate extinction

00:51:15.920 and the public mind

00:51:17.980 rested in the belief

00:51:19.120 that it was in the course

00:51:20.660 of ultimate extinction.

00:51:23.320 Abraham Lincoln

00:51:24.140 observed in 1858,

00:51:26.500 quote,

00:51:26.700 all I have asked

00:51:28.060 or desired anywhere

00:51:29.160 is that it should be placed

00:51:31.160 back upon again,

00:51:33.760 the basis of what the founders

00:51:35.280 of our government

00:51:36.120 originally placed it upon.

00:51:38.660 This conflict was resolved,

00:51:40.660 but at a cost

00:51:41.300 of more than 600,000 lives.

00:51:44.840 Constitutional amendments

00:51:45.940 were passed

00:51:46.900 to abolish slavery,

00:51:48.280 grant equal protection

00:51:49.400 under the law,

00:51:50.240 guarantee the right to vote

00:51:51.740 regardless of race.

00:51:52.760 Yet the damage

00:51:55.220 done by the denial

00:51:56.780 of core American principles

00:51:58.200 and by the attempted

00:51:59.600 substitution

00:52:00.920 of a theory

00:52:02.100 of group rights

00:52:03.520 in their place

00:52:04.400 proved widespread

00:52:06.120 and long-lasting.

00:52:09.300 These indeed

00:52:10.400 are the direct ancestors

00:52:12.560 of some of the

00:52:13.460 destructive theories

00:52:14.580 that today

00:52:15.220 divide our people

00:52:16.640 and tear the fabric

00:52:18.440 of the country apart.

00:52:20.200 Progressivism.

00:52:20.840 In the decades

00:52:23.280 that followed the Civil War,

00:52:24.580 in response

00:52:25.300 to the Industrial Revolution

00:52:26.680 and the expansion

00:52:27.780 of urban society,

00:52:29.780 many American elites

00:52:31.500 adopted a series of ideas

00:52:33.140 to address these changes

00:52:34.520 called progressivism.

00:52:37.020 Although not all

00:52:38.640 of one piece

00:52:39.640 and not without

00:52:41.300 its practical merits,

00:52:43.000 the political thought

00:52:44.060 of progressivism held

00:52:45.480 that the times

00:52:47.080 had moved far beyond

00:52:48.640 the founding era

00:52:49.760 and that contemporary society

00:52:51.760 was way too complex

00:52:53.140 to any longer

00:52:53.960 being governed

00:52:54.780 by principles

00:52:55.680 formulated in the 18th century.

00:52:58.440 To use a contemporary analogy,

00:53:00.800 progressives believed

00:53:02.040 that America's

00:53:02.920 original software,

00:53:04.780 the founding documents,

00:53:06.320 were no longer

00:53:07.600 compatible

00:53:08.540 or capable

00:53:09.920 of operating

00:53:10.900 America's vast,

00:53:12.380 more complex hardware.

00:53:13.820 the advanced industrial society

00:53:17.060 that had emerged

00:53:18.520 since the founding

00:53:19.620 was changing everything.

00:53:21.780 More significantly,

00:53:23.240 the progressives held

00:53:24.140 that the truths

00:53:25.540 were not permanent

00:53:26.660 but only relative

00:53:28.040 to their time.

00:53:29.640 They rejected

00:53:30.200 the self-evident truth

00:53:31.480 that the Declaration

00:53:32.320 of Independence,

00:53:33.240 all men are created equal

00:53:34.540 and endowed equally,

00:53:36.340 either by nature

00:53:37.140 or by God,

00:53:38.560 as unchanging rights.

00:53:40.280 As one prominent

00:53:42.480 progressive historian

00:53:43.360 wrote in 1922,

00:53:45.180 to ask whether

00:53:45.920 the natural rights

00:53:47.120 philosophy

00:53:48.240 of the Declaration

00:53:49.200 of Independence

00:53:49.820 is true or false

00:53:51.200 is essentially

00:53:52.640 a meaningless question.

00:53:55.060 End quote.

00:53:55.860 Instead,

00:53:56.900 progressives believe

00:53:57.900 there were

00:53:59.040 only group rights

00:54:00.580 that are constantly

00:54:01.900 redefined

00:54:02.760 and changed

00:54:03.700 with the times.

00:54:04.560 Indeed,

00:54:05.460 society has the power

00:54:06.600 and the obligation

00:54:07.600 not only to define

00:54:09.000 and grant new rights

00:54:10.640 but also to take away

00:54:12.180 old rights

00:54:13.180 as the country develops.

00:54:15.640 Based on this

00:54:16.940 false understanding

00:54:17.960 of rights,

00:54:18.620 the progressives designed

00:54:19.740 a new system

00:54:20.760 of government.

00:54:21.740 Instead of securing

00:54:22.900 fundamental rights

00:54:23.960 grounded in nature,

00:54:25.780 government,

00:54:26.680 operating under

00:54:27.780 a new theory

00:54:28.700 of the living constitution,

00:54:31.160 should constantly evolve

00:54:32.560 to secure

00:54:33.520 evolving rights.

00:54:35.640 In order to keep up

00:54:37.400 with these changes,

00:54:38.140 government would be run

00:54:39.620 more and more

00:54:40.400 by credentialed managers

00:54:42.080 who would then direct

00:54:43.580 society through rules

00:54:45.120 and regulations

00:54:45.880 that would mold

00:54:47.360 to the currents

00:54:48.180 of the time.

00:54:49.480 Before he became

00:54:50.360 President of the United States,

00:54:51.600 Woodrow Wilson

00:54:52.420 laid out this new system

00:54:54.420 whereby the functions

00:54:55.740 of government

00:54:56.600 are in a very real sense

00:54:58.860 independent of legislation

00:55:00.880 and even constitutions.

00:55:03.860 End quote.

00:55:04.300 That meant that this

00:55:06.860 new view of government

00:55:08.500 would operate

00:55:09.360 independent of the people.

00:55:12.120 Far from creating

00:55:13.200 an omniscient body

00:55:14.740 of civil servants

00:55:15.760 led only by pragmatism

00:55:17.620 or science, though,

00:55:19.520 progressives instead

00:55:20.920 created what amounts

00:55:22.280 to a fourth branch

00:55:23.600 of government

00:55:24.200 called, at times,

00:55:26.420 the bureaucracy

00:55:27.300 or the administrative state.

00:55:30.100 This shadow government

00:55:31.260 never faces elections

00:55:32.840 and today operates

00:55:34.160 largely without checks

00:55:35.820 and balances.

00:55:37.100 The founders always

00:55:38.360 opposed government

00:55:39.800 unaccountable to the people

00:55:41.320 and without

00:55:42.100 constitutional restraint,

00:55:44.140 and yet it continues

00:55:45.580 to grow all around us.

00:55:48.040 Fascism.

00:55:49.380 The principles of the declaration

00:55:50.940 have been threatened

00:55:52.920 not only at home,

00:55:54.120 but in the 20th century,

00:55:55.200 two global movements

00:55:56.840 threatened to destroy freedom

00:55:58.460 and subject mankind

00:55:59.980 to a new kind of slavery.

00:56:02.660 Though ideological cousins,

00:56:05.060 the forces of fascism

00:56:06.500 and communism

00:56:07.500 were bitter enemies

00:56:09.000 in their wars

00:56:09.940 to achieve world domination.

00:56:13.340 What united both

00:56:14.640 totalitarian movements

00:56:15.980 was their utter disdain

00:56:17.580 for natural rights

00:56:18.860 and free peoples.

00:56:20.620 Fascism first arose

00:56:22.220 in Italy

00:56:23.000 under the dictatorship

00:56:24.140 of Benito Mussolini,

00:56:26.360 largely in response

00:56:27.660 to the rise of Bolshevism

00:56:29.420 in Russia.

00:56:31.140 Like the progressives,

00:56:32.600 Mussolini sought

00:56:33.400 to centralize power

00:56:34.880 under the management

00:56:36.560 of so-called experts.

00:56:38.920 All power,

00:56:39.860 corporate and political,

00:56:41.440 would be exercised

00:56:42.660 by the state

00:56:43.660 and directed

00:56:44.360 toward the same goal.

00:56:46.560 Individual rights

00:56:47.480 and freedoms

00:56:48.180 hold no purchase

00:56:49.520 under fascism.

00:56:50.580 Its principle is instead,

00:56:53.640 in Mussolini's words,

00:56:55.300 everything in the state,

00:56:57.540 nothing outside the state,

00:57:00.060 nothing against the state.

00:57:03.240 Eventually,

00:57:04.000 Adolf Hitler in Germany

00:57:05.080 wed this militant

00:57:06.380 and dehumanizing

00:57:07.480 political movement

00:57:08.440 into his pseudo-scientific theory

00:57:11.620 of Aryan racial superiority

00:57:14.240 and Nazism was born.

00:57:17.340 The Nazi juggernaut

00:57:18.540 quickly conquered

00:57:19.580 much of Europe.

00:57:20.960 The rule of the Axis powers

00:57:22.840 is not a government

00:57:24.900 based on the consent

00:57:26.280 of the governed,

00:57:27.780 end quote,

00:57:28.320 said President Franklin

00:57:29.500 Delano Roosevelt.

00:57:30.840 It is not a union

00:57:32.980 of ordinary,

00:57:34.480 self-respecting men

00:57:35.660 and women

00:57:36.160 to protect themselves

00:57:37.440 and their freedom

00:57:38.200 and their dignity

00:57:39.200 from oppression.

00:57:40.700 It is an unholy alliance

00:57:42.840 of power

00:57:43.580 and pelf

00:57:45.020 to dominate

00:57:45.860 and enslave

00:57:47.040 the human race,

00:57:48.460 end quote.

00:57:50.020 Before the Nazis

00:57:50.960 could threaten America

00:57:52.100 in our own hemisphere,

00:57:54.000 the United States

00:57:54.780 had built an arsenal

00:57:55.980 of democracy,

00:57:57.140 creating more ships,

00:57:58.600 planes, tanks,

00:57:59.600 and munitions.

00:58:00.620 Eventually,

00:58:01.560 America rose up

00:58:02.780 and sending troops

00:58:04.580 by the millions

00:58:05.680 across the oceans

00:58:07.000 to preserve freedom.

00:58:08.580 everywhere American troops

00:58:10.480 went.

00:58:11.740 They embodied

00:58:12.540 in their own ranks

00:58:13.760 and brought with them

00:58:15.020 the principles

00:58:15.800 of the Declaration,

00:58:17.820 liberating peoples

00:58:18.800 and restoring freedom.

00:58:20.040 Yet,

00:58:20.840 while fascism died

00:58:22.180 in 1945

00:58:23.060 with the collapse

00:58:24.020 of the Axis power,

00:58:25.840 it was quickly replaced

00:58:27.260 by a new threat.

00:58:28.780 The rest of the 20th century

00:58:30.220 was defined

00:58:31.100 by the United States'

00:58:32.500 mortal

00:58:32.880 and moral battle

00:58:34.920 against the forces

00:58:36.520 of communism.

00:58:39.100 Communism.

00:58:41.040 Communism seems to preach

00:58:42.900 a radical or extreme form

00:58:44.780 of human equality,

00:58:46.400 but at its core,

00:58:47.700 wrote Karl Marx,

00:58:49.080 is the idea

00:58:50.020 of the class struggle

00:58:51.420 as the immediate

00:58:52.360 driving force of history,

00:58:54.100 and more specifically,

00:58:55.360 the struggle between

00:58:56.300 the bourgeois

00:58:56.960 and the proletariat.

00:58:59.320 In the communist mind,

00:59:00.780 people are not born

00:59:02.520 free and equal.

00:59:04.540 They are defined

00:59:05.240 entirely

00:59:06.040 by their class.

00:59:08.120 Under communism,

00:59:08.940 the purpose of government

00:59:09.940 is not to secure rights

00:59:11.440 at all.

00:59:11.760 Instead,

00:59:12.300 the goal

00:59:12.740 is for a class struggle

00:59:14.320 that necessarily leads

00:59:15.940 to the dictatorship

00:59:16.880 of the proletariat.

00:59:18.820 End quote.

00:59:19.780 So by its very nature,

00:59:21.600 this class struggle

00:59:22.920 would be violent.

00:59:24.520 Quote,

00:59:24.780 The communists disdain

00:59:26.840 to conceal

00:59:27.960 their views and aims,

00:59:29.500 Marx wrote.

00:59:30.420 They openly declare

00:59:31.760 that their ends

00:59:33.000 can be obtained

00:59:33.760 only by the forcible

00:59:35.340 overthrow

00:59:36.020 of all existing

00:59:37.640 social conditions.

00:59:39.660 Let the ruling class

00:59:41.220 tremble

00:59:42.020 at a communist revolution.

00:59:44.500 End quote.

00:59:45.840 This radical rejection

00:59:47.740 of human dignity

00:59:49.160 spread throughout

00:59:50.500 much of the world.

00:59:52.240 In Russia,

00:59:52.860 the bloody Bolshevik revolution

00:59:54.580 during World War I

00:59:55.940 established

00:59:56.760 the Communist Soviet Union.

00:59:59.160 Communism understands itself

01:00:00.640 as a universalist movement

01:00:02.540 of global conquest,

01:00:04.900 and communist dictatorships

01:00:06.400 eventually seized power

01:00:07.780 through much of Europe,

01:00:09.320 Asia,

01:00:10.180 and significant parts

01:00:11.560 of Africa

01:00:12.260 and South America.

01:00:14.340 Led by the Soviet Union,

01:00:16.760 communism even threatened

01:00:18.160 or aspired to threaten

01:00:19.820 our liberties here at home.

01:00:22.580 What it could not achieve

01:00:23.860 through force of arms,

01:00:25.460 it attempted

01:00:26.040 through subversion.

01:00:28.300 Communism did not succeed

01:00:29.820 in fomenting revolution

01:00:31.440 in America,

01:00:32.800 but communism's relentless

01:00:34.560 anti-American,

01:00:35.980 anti-Western,

01:00:37.300 and atheistic propaganda

01:00:39.000 did inspire thousands,

01:00:41.040 perhaps millions,

01:00:42.340 to reject and despise

01:00:45.020 the principles

01:00:45.740 of our founding

01:00:46.920 and our government.

01:00:48.440 While America and its allies

01:00:50.060 eventually won the Cold War,

01:00:51.420 this legacy of anti-Americanism

01:00:53.780 is by no means

01:00:55.140 entirely a memory,

01:00:57.620 but still pervades

01:00:58.580 much of academia

01:00:59.680 and the intellectual

01:01:01.340 and cultural spheres.

01:01:03.340 The increasingly accepted

01:01:04.940 economic theory

01:01:06.180 of socialism,

01:01:07.280 while less violent

01:01:08.180 than communism,

01:01:09.300 is inspired

01:01:10.140 by the same

01:01:10.780 flawed philosophy

01:01:12.080 and leads down

01:01:12.940 the same dangerous path

01:01:14.600 of allowing the state

01:01:15.720 to seize private property,

01:01:18.280 to redistribute wealth

01:01:19.900 as the governing elite

01:01:22.140 see fit.

01:01:23.440 For generations,

01:01:25.220 Americans stood

01:01:25.980 as the bulwark

01:01:26.840 against global communism.

01:01:29.260 Our Cold War victory

01:01:30.620 was owing not only

01:01:33.500 to our superior technology,

01:01:35.420 economy,

01:01:35.980 and military.

01:01:37.340 In the end,

01:01:38.180 America won

01:01:38.960 because the Soviet Union

01:01:40.560 was built upon a lie.

01:01:42.160 As President Ronald Reagan said,

01:01:45.420 I have seen the rise

01:01:46.740 of fascism

01:01:47.740 and communism.

01:01:49.680 Both theories fail.

01:01:52.260 Both deny

01:01:53.120 those God-given liberties

01:01:54.920 that are inalienable,

01:01:57.000 the right of each person

01:01:58.520 on this planet.

01:02:00.360 Indeed,

01:02:01.160 they deny

01:02:01.900 the existence

01:02:02.700 of God.

01:02:04.280 End quote.

01:02:06.080 Racism

01:02:06.880 and Identity Politics

01:02:08.660 The 13th Amendment

01:02:11.940 to the Constitution

01:02:12.920 passed after the Civil War

01:02:14.480 brought an end

01:02:15.780 to legal slavery.

01:02:17.960 Blacks enjoyed

01:02:18.680 a new equality

01:02:20.140 and freedom,

01:02:21.040 voting for

01:02:21.640 and holding elective office

01:02:22.900 in states

01:02:23.500 all across the Union.

01:02:25.240 But it did not

01:02:26.880 bring an end

01:02:27.860 to racism

01:02:28.840 or the unequal treatment

01:02:30.880 of Blacks everywhere.

01:02:32.840 Despite the determined efforts

01:02:34.580 of the post-war

01:02:35.660 Reconstruction Congress

01:02:36.980 to establish civil equality

01:02:38.920 for freed slaves,

01:02:40.520 the postbellum South

01:02:42.220 ended up devolving

01:02:43.320 into a system

01:02:44.060 that was hardly

01:02:44.740 any better than slavery.

01:02:46.980 The system

01:02:47.540 enmeshed freed men

01:02:49.900 in relationships

01:02:51.040 of extreme dependency

01:02:52.420 and used poll taxes,

01:02:54.620 literacy tests,

01:02:55.720 and the violence

01:02:56.920 of the vigilante groups

01:02:58.460 like the Ku Klux Klan

01:03:00.240 to prevent them

01:03:01.780 for exercising

01:03:02.940 their civil rights,

01:03:04.580 particularly

01:03:05.260 the right to vote.

01:03:06.840 Jim Crow laws

01:03:08.320 enforced the strict

01:03:09.620 segregation of the races

01:03:11.180 and gave legal standing

01:03:12.860 to some states

01:03:14.140 to a pervasive

01:03:15.560 subordination

01:03:17.020 of Blacks.

01:03:18.300 It would take

01:03:19.420 a national movement

01:03:20.680 composed of people

01:03:21.960 from different races,

01:03:23.500 ethnicities,

01:03:24.540 nationalities,

01:03:25.520 and religions

01:03:26.180 to bring about

01:03:27.660 an America

01:03:28.280 fully committed

01:03:29.280 to ending

01:03:30.020 legal discrimination.

01:03:31.360 The civil rights movement

01:03:33.440 culminated in the 1960s

01:03:35.540 with the passage

01:03:36.140 of three major

01:03:37.320 legislative reforms

01:03:38.780 affecting segregation,

01:03:41.000 voting,

01:03:41.820 and housing rights.

01:03:43.360 It presented itself

01:03:45.100 and was understood

01:03:45.840 by the American people

01:03:47.400 as consistent

01:03:48.380 with the principles

01:03:49.500 of the founding.

01:03:51.240 When the architects

01:03:52.160 of our republic

01:03:53.040 wrote those magnificent

01:03:54.180 words of the Constitution

01:03:55.520 in the Declaration

01:03:56.460 of Independence,

01:03:57.760 they were signing

01:03:59.580 a promissory note

01:04:00.860 to which every American

01:04:02.860 was to fall heir.

01:04:05.360 Martin Luther King Jr.

01:04:07.700 That's what he said

01:04:08.360 in his I Have a Dream speech.

01:04:10.660 Quote,

01:04:11.260 This note

01:04:12.260 was a promise

01:04:13.360 that all men,

01:04:14.240 yes, Black men,

01:04:15.360 as well as white men,

01:04:16.960 would be guaranteed

01:04:17.960 the inalienable rights

01:04:19.800 of life, liberty,

01:04:21.280 and the pursuit

01:04:22.000 of happiness.

01:04:22.920 End quote.

01:04:24.120 It seemed,

01:04:25.800 finally,

01:04:26.580 that America's

01:04:27.360 nearly two-century

01:04:28.800 effort

01:04:29.440 to realize

01:04:30.780 fully

01:04:31.360 the principles

01:04:32.200 the Declaration

01:04:33.060 had reached culmination.

01:04:34.940 But the heady spirit

01:04:36.220 of the original

01:04:37.120 Civil Rights Movement,

01:04:38.740 whose leaders

01:04:39.260 forcefully quoted

01:04:40.600 the Declaration

01:04:41.460 of Independence,

01:04:42.680 the Constitution,

01:04:43.920 the rhetoric

01:04:44.440 of the founders

01:04:45.220 and of Lincoln,

01:04:46.440 proved to be short-lived.

01:04:49.440 The Civil Rights Movement

01:04:50.980 was almost immediately

01:04:52.300 turned to programs

01:04:54.100 that ran counter

01:04:55.020 to the lofty ideals

01:04:56.280 of the founders.

01:04:57.140 The ideas that drove

01:04:58.820 this change

01:04:59.660 had been growing

01:05:00.360 in America for decades,

01:05:01.820 and they distorted

01:05:03.040 many areas of policy

01:05:04.940 in the half-century

01:05:06.080 that followed.

01:05:07.560 Among the distortions

01:05:08.780 was the abandonment

01:05:09.980 of non-discrimination

01:05:11.440 and equal opportunity

01:05:13.420 in favor of group rights.

01:05:16.720 Not unlike those

01:05:18.020 advanced by Calhoun

01:05:19.280 and his followers earlier,

01:05:20.860 the justification

01:05:21.880 for reversing

01:05:23.560 the promise

01:05:24.120 of colorblind

01:05:25.340 civil rights

01:05:26.380 was that

01:05:27.540 past discrimination

01:05:28.340 requires present effort

01:05:30.100 or affirmative action

01:05:31.720 in the form

01:05:32.400 of preferential treatment

01:05:33.640 to overcome

01:05:34.680 those long-accrued

01:05:36.080 inequalities.

01:05:38.000 Those forms

01:05:39.200 of preferential treatment

01:05:40.760 build up

01:05:41.320 in our system

01:05:41.820 over time.

01:05:42.840 First,

01:05:43.680 in administrative rulings,

01:05:45.260 then executive orders,

01:05:47.220 later in

01:05:47.820 congressionally-passed laws,

01:05:49.920 and finally,

01:05:51.180 sanctified

01:05:51.800 by the Supreme Court itself.

01:05:54.660 Today,

01:05:56.140 far from a regime

01:05:57.460 of equal,

01:05:58.980 natural rights

01:05:59.740 for equal citizens,

01:06:01.660 enforced equally

01:06:03.000 through the application

01:06:05.100 of law,

01:06:06.360 we have moved

01:06:07.300 towards a system

01:06:08.220 of explicit group privilege

01:06:10.800 that in the name

01:06:12.000 of social justice

01:06:13.040 demands equal results

01:06:14.920 and explicitly

01:06:16.300 sorts citizens

01:06:17.580 into protected classes

01:06:19.360 based on race

01:06:20.960 and other demographic

01:06:21.980 categories.

01:06:23.440 Eventually,

01:06:23.960 this regime

01:06:24.520 of formal inequality

01:06:26.380 would become known

01:06:27.980 as identity politics,

01:06:30.600 the stepchild

01:06:31.440 of earlier rejections

01:06:33.320 of the founding,

01:06:34.680 identity politics,

01:06:36.240 discussed in Appendix 3.

01:06:38.080 It values people

01:06:39.240 by characteristics

01:06:40.340 like race,

01:06:41.400 sex,

01:06:41.820 and sexual orientation,

01:06:43.280 and holds that

01:06:44.380 new times demand

01:06:45.900 new rights

01:06:46.900 to replace the old.

01:06:48.820 This is the opposite

01:06:50.400 of King's hope

01:06:52.120 that his children

01:06:53.240 would, quote,

01:06:54.120 live in a nation

01:06:54.900 where they were not judged

01:06:56.200 by the color of their skin

01:06:57.700 but by the content

01:06:59.140 of their character,

01:07:00.360 end quote.

01:07:01.560 It also denies

01:07:02.560 that all are endowed

01:07:04.380 with inalienable rights,

01:07:05.900 life, liberty,

01:07:06.500 and the pursuit of happiness.

01:07:08.560 Identity politics

01:07:09.580 makes it less likely

01:07:11.340 that racial reconstruction

01:07:13.100 and healing

01:07:13.860 can be obtained

01:07:15.420 by pursuing

01:07:16.560 Martin Luther King's

01:07:17.520 dream for America

01:07:18.660 and upholding

01:07:19.900 the highest ideals

01:07:21.060 of our Constitution

01:07:22.120 and Declaration

01:07:23.660 of Independence.

01:07:26.180 Part 5.

01:07:27.840 The Task

01:07:28.440 of National Renewal

01:07:30.260 All the good things

01:07:31.660 we see around us,

01:07:32.860 from the physical infrastructure

01:07:34.240 to our high standards

01:07:35.580 of living

01:07:36.080 to our exceptional freedoms,

01:07:37.800 are direct results

01:07:39.700 of America's unity,

01:07:41.640 stability,

01:07:42.560 and justice,

01:07:43.640 all of which,

01:07:45.320 in turn,

01:07:45.960 rest on the bedrock

01:07:47.460 of our founding principles.

01:07:49.900 Yet today,

01:07:50.380 our country is in danger

01:07:51.400 of throwing this

01:07:52.560 inheritance away.

01:07:54.160 The choice before us

01:07:55.480 now is clear.

01:07:58.020 Will we choose

01:07:58.740 the truths

01:07:59.620 of the Declaration?

01:08:01.280 Or will we fall

01:08:02.780 prey

01:08:03.360 to the false theories

01:08:04.960 that have led

01:08:05.580 too many nations

01:08:06.740 to tyranny?

01:08:07.800 It's our mission,

01:08:09.720 all of us,

01:08:10.760 to restore

01:08:11.700 our national unity

01:08:13.140 by rekindling

01:08:14.740 a brave

01:08:15.580 and honest love

01:08:16.880 for our country

01:08:17.680 and by raising

01:08:19.080 new generations

01:08:20.020 of citizens

01:08:20.740 who not only

01:08:22.060 know the self-evident

01:08:23.400 truths of our founding,

01:08:25.380 but then act

01:08:26.780 worthy of them.

01:08:28.380 This great project

01:08:29.920 of national renewal

01:08:31.240 depends

01:08:32.160 on true education,

01:08:34.060 not merely training

01:08:34.980 and particular skills,

01:08:36.180 but the formation

01:08:37.640 of citizens.

01:08:39.700 To remain

01:08:40.340 a free people,

01:08:41.400 we must have

01:08:42.420 the knowledge,

01:08:43.620 strength,

01:08:44.380 and virtue

01:08:45.080 of a free people.

01:08:47.440 From families

01:08:48.480 and schools

01:08:49.360 to popular culture

01:08:50.540 and public policy,

01:08:51.640 we must begin

01:08:52.520 teaching our founding principles

01:08:54.220 and the character

01:08:55.560 necessary

01:08:56.380 to live out

01:08:57.460 these principles.

01:08:58.920 This includes

01:08:59.820 restoring patriotic education

01:09:01.380 that teaches

01:09:02.700 the truth

01:09:03.300 about America.

01:09:04.800 Now,

01:09:05.040 that doesn't mean

01:09:05.800 ignoring the faults

01:09:06.900 in our past,

01:09:07.940 but rather viewing

01:09:09.820 our history

01:09:10.620 clearly

01:09:11.320 and wholly

01:09:12.720 with reverence

01:09:14.360 and love.

01:09:15.900 We must also

01:09:17.060 prioritize

01:09:17.660 personal responsibility

01:09:19.340 in the fulfilling

01:09:20.180 of duties

01:09:20.860 we have toward

01:09:21.840 one another

01:09:22.620 as citizens.

01:09:24.160 But above all,

01:09:26.000 we must stand up

01:09:27.820 to the petty tyrants

01:09:29.180 in every sphere

01:09:30.420 who demand

01:09:31.340 that we speak

01:09:32.760 only of America's sins

01:09:34.480 while denying

01:09:35.900 her greatness.

01:09:37.540 At home,

01:09:38.920 at school,

01:09:40.280 at the workplace,

01:09:41.420 in the world,

01:09:42.580 it is the people

01:09:44.480 and only the people

01:09:46.560 who have the power

01:09:48.040 to stand up

01:09:48.920 for America

01:09:50.680 and defend

01:09:52.720 our way of life.

01:09:54.840 The role of the family.

01:09:56.240 By their very nature,

01:09:58.500 families are

01:09:59.220 the first educators

01:10:00.520 teaching children

01:10:01.520 how to treat others

01:10:02.800 with respect,

01:10:03.640 make wise decisions,

01:10:05.020 exercise patience,

01:10:06.540 think for themselves,

01:10:08.280 and steadfastly

01:10:09.660 guard

01:10:10.120 their God-given liberties.

01:10:12.280 It's good mothers

01:10:13.200 and good fathers,

01:10:14.880 above all others,

01:10:16.280 who form good people

01:10:17.920 and good citizens.

01:10:19.880 This is why

01:10:20.860 America's founding fathers

01:10:22.080 often echoed

01:10:22.820 the great Roman

01:10:23.620 statesman Cicero

01:10:24.860 in referring to the family

01:10:27.140 as the seminary

01:10:28.860 of the republic.

01:10:30.340 They understood

01:10:30.920 that the habits

01:10:31.680 and morals

01:10:32.300 shaped in the home

01:10:33.500 determine the character

01:10:34.820 of our communities

01:10:35.880 and ultimate fate

01:10:37.680 of our constitution

01:10:38.840 and our country.

01:10:40.420 When our children

01:10:41.460 see their mother

01:10:42.120 and father hard at work,

01:10:44.280 they learn the dignity

01:10:45.480 of labor

01:10:46.160 and the reward

01:10:48.340 of self-discipline.

01:10:49.460 When adults speak out

01:10:51.620 against dangerous doctrines

01:10:53.280 that threaten

01:10:54.040 our freedoms and values,

01:10:56.260 children learn

01:10:56.980 the time-tested concept

01:10:58.240 of free expression

01:10:59.400 and the courageous spirit

01:11:01.400 of American independence.

01:11:03.880 When parents serve

01:11:05.620 a neighbor in need,

01:11:07.140 they model charity,

01:11:08.700 they prove that

01:11:09.320 every human being

01:11:10.380 has inherent worth,

01:11:12.200 and when families

01:11:13.360 pray together,

01:11:14.300 they acknowledge together

01:11:15.620 the providence

01:11:16.900 of the almighty God

01:11:18.400 who gave all of us

01:11:21.120 our sacred liberty.

01:11:23.320 For the American republic

01:11:24.460 to endure,

01:11:25.340 families must remain strong

01:11:27.140 and reclaim their duty

01:11:29.160 to raise up moral,

01:11:31.260 responsible citizens

01:11:32.700 who love America,

01:11:34.400 who embrace the gifts

01:11:36.060 and responsibilities

01:11:37.280 of freedom

01:11:38.440 and self-government.

01:11:40.620 Teaching America

01:11:41.820 The primary duty

01:11:43.760 of schools

01:11:44.260 is to teach students

01:11:45.540 the basic skills

01:11:46.900 needed to function

01:11:48.360 in society,

01:11:49.340 such as reading,

01:11:50.640 writing,

01:11:51.280 and mathematics.

01:11:52.920 As discussed

01:11:53.680 in Appendix 4,

01:11:55.300 our founders

01:11:55.840 also recognized

01:11:57.060 a second

01:11:58.100 and essential task.

01:12:00.440 Educators must convey

01:12:02.000 a sense of

01:12:02.840 enlightened patriotism

01:12:04.500 that equips

01:12:05.100 each generation

01:12:06.120 with the knowledge

01:12:07.280 of America's

01:12:08.120 founding principles,

01:12:09.540 a deep reverence

01:12:10.600 for their liberties,

01:12:11.320 and a profound love

01:12:13.420 of their country.

01:12:15.140 Make no mistake,

01:12:17.080 the love we're talking about

01:12:18.280 is something different

01:12:19.280 than romantic

01:12:20.380 or familial love,

01:12:22.340 something that cannot

01:12:23.180 be imposed

01:12:24.060 by teachers

01:12:24.800 or schools

01:12:25.480 or government edicts,

01:12:27.120 least of all

01:12:28.160 in a free country.

01:12:29.860 Like any love

01:12:31.060 worthy of the name,

01:12:32.960 it must be embraced

01:12:34.000 freely

01:12:34.620 and be strong

01:12:36.260 and unsentimental,

01:12:37.980 enough

01:12:38.380 to coexist

01:12:39.760 with elements

01:12:40.640 of disappointment,

01:12:41.680 criticism,

01:12:42.320 dissent,

01:12:43.000 opposition,

01:12:44.260 and even shame

01:12:45.200 that come with

01:12:46.180 a moral maturity

01:12:47.640 and open eyes.

01:12:49.120 But it is love

01:12:50.360 all the same,

01:12:51.480 and without the deep

01:12:53.120 foundation it supplies,

01:12:55.780 our republic

01:12:56.780 will perish.

01:12:57.880 state and local governments,

01:13:00.300 not the federal government,

01:13:02.040 are responsible for

01:13:03.260 adopting curricula

01:13:04.460 that teach children

01:13:05.920 the principles

01:13:06.800 that unite,

01:13:08.080 inspire,

01:13:09.200 and ennoble

01:13:10.060 all Americans.

01:13:11.480 This includes

01:13:12.360 the lessons

01:13:12.980 on the Revolutionary War,

01:13:14.260 the Declaration of Independence,

01:13:15.780 the Constitutional Convention.

01:13:18.020 Educators should teach

01:13:19.480 an accurate history

01:13:20.840 of how

01:13:21.340 the permanent principles

01:13:22.800 of America's founding

01:13:23.960 have been challenged

01:13:24.940 and preserved

01:13:26.240 since 1776.

01:13:28.880 By studying

01:13:29.380 America's

01:13:29.980 true heritage,

01:13:31.780 students learn

01:13:32.560 to embrace

01:13:33.400 and preserve

01:13:34.740 the triumphs

01:13:35.900 of their forefathers

01:13:36.880 while identifying

01:13:38.080 and avoiding

01:13:39.120 their mistakes.

01:13:41.580 States

01:13:42.140 and school districts

01:13:43.180 should reject

01:13:43.980 any curriculum

01:13:44.860 that promotes

01:13:45.480 one-sided

01:13:46.440 partisan opinions,

01:13:48.200 activist propaganda,

01:13:49.760 or factional ideologies

01:13:51.700 that demean

01:13:52.540 America's heritage,

01:13:53.800 dishonor our heroes,

01:13:55.380 or deny our principles.

01:13:57.800 Any time teachers

01:13:58.920 or administrators

01:13:59.800 promote political agendas

01:14:01.540 in the classroom,

01:14:02.720 they abuse their platform

01:14:04.720 and dishonor

01:14:05.480 every family

01:14:06.480 who trusts them

01:14:07.500 with their children's

01:14:08.760 education

01:14:09.340 and moral development.

01:14:11.240 Quote,

01:14:11.760 law and liberty

01:14:12.660 cannot rationally

01:14:14.600 become the object

01:14:16.060 of our love,

01:14:17.700 wrote founding

01:14:18.420 Father James Wilson,

01:14:20.160 unless

01:14:20.760 they first become

01:14:22.600 the object

01:14:23.280 of our knowledge.

01:14:25.180 End quote.

01:14:26.580 Students who are taught

01:14:27.640 to understand

01:14:28.400 America's exceptional principles

01:14:30.320 and America's

01:14:31.160 powerful history

01:14:32.120 grow into strong citizens

01:14:34.040 who respect

01:14:34.820 the rule of law

01:14:35.760 and protect the country

01:14:36.860 they know and love.

01:14:38.600 A scholarship of freedom.

01:14:40.780 Universities in the United States

01:14:42.280 are often today

01:14:43.060 hotbeds of anti-Americanism,

01:14:45.260 libel,

01:14:45.760 and censorship

01:14:46.400 that combine

01:14:48.180 to generate

01:14:49.240 in students

01:14:50.140 and in the broader culture

01:14:51.860 at the very least

01:14:54.040 a disdain

01:14:55.080 and worse,

01:14:56.540 outright hatred

01:14:57.480 of our country.

01:14:59.520 The founders

01:15:00.100 insisted that universities

01:15:01.380 should be at the core

01:15:02.660 of preserving

01:15:03.560 American republicanism

01:15:04.920 by instructing students

01:15:07.100 and future leaders

01:15:08.040 of its true basis

01:15:09.220 and instilling in them

01:15:10.720 not just an understanding

01:15:12.240 but a reverence

01:15:13.240 for its principles

01:15:14.640 and core documents.

01:15:16.700 Today,

01:15:17.100 our higher education system

01:15:18.340 does almost exactly

01:15:20.100 the opposite.

01:15:22.040 Colleges peddle

01:15:23.000 resentment

01:15:23.720 and contempt

01:15:24.640 for American principles

01:15:25.760 and history alike

01:15:27.180 in the process

01:15:28.600 weakening attachment

01:15:30.040 to our shared heritage.

01:15:32.940 In order to build up

01:15:34.000 a healthy,

01:15:34.920 united citizenry,

01:15:36.380 scholars,

01:15:36.980 students,

01:15:37.660 and all Americans

01:15:39.020 must reject

01:15:40.260 the false

01:15:40.820 and fashionable ideologies

01:15:42.600 that obscure facts,

01:15:44.600 ignore historical context,

01:15:46.560 and tell America's story

01:15:48.260 solely as one of oppression

01:15:50.400 and victimhood

01:15:51.300 rather than one

01:15:52.700 of imperfection

01:15:53.800 but also unprecedented

01:15:55.560 achievement

01:15:56.440 towards freedom

01:15:57.300 and happiness

01:15:57.960 and fairness

01:15:58.980 for all.

01:16:01.440 Historic revisionism

01:16:03.780 that tramples

01:16:06.000 honest scholarship

01:16:07.140 and historic truth

01:16:08.740 shames Americans

01:16:10.360 by highlighting

01:16:11.480 only the sins

01:16:12.880 of their ancestors

01:16:13.840 and teaches claims

01:16:15.020 of systemic racism

01:16:16.960 that can only be eliminated

01:16:18.780 by more discrimination

01:16:20.160 is an ideology

01:16:21.660 intended to manipulate

01:16:23.200 opinions

01:16:24.000 much more than educate minds.

01:16:27.760 Deliberately destructive scholarship

01:16:30.180 shatters the civic bonds

01:16:32.380 that unite all of us.

01:16:34.860 It silences the discourse

01:16:36.920 essential to a free society

01:16:38.980 by breeding division,

01:16:40.760 distrust,

01:16:41.780 and hatred

01:16:42.560 among its citizens.

01:16:44.380 And it is the intellectual force

01:16:46.260 behind so much

01:16:47.700 of the violence

01:16:48.320 in our cities.

01:16:49.600 Suppression of free speech

01:16:51.160 on our universities

01:16:51.980 and defamation

01:16:53.400 of our treasured

01:16:54.860 national statues

01:16:55.820 and symbols.

01:16:58.580 To restore our society,

01:17:01.660 academics

01:17:02.180 must return

01:17:03.680 to their vocation

01:17:05.280 of relentlessly

01:17:06.420 pursuing the truth

01:17:07.820 and engaging

01:17:09.120 in honest scholarship

01:17:11.180 that seeks

01:17:12.420 to understand

01:17:13.480 the world

01:17:14.120 and America's place

01:17:15.560 in it.

01:17:17.520 The American mind.

01:17:19.740 Americans yearn

01:17:20.640 for timeless stories

01:17:21.900 and noble heroes

01:17:23.100 that inspire them

01:17:24.340 to be good,

01:17:25.060 brave,

01:17:25.760 diligent,

01:17:26.640 daring,

01:17:27.280 generous,

01:17:28.260 honest,

01:17:29.060 kind,

01:17:29.600 and compassion.

01:17:31.660 Millions of Americans

01:17:32.740 devour histories

01:17:33.860 of the American Revolution

01:17:35.200 and Civil War

01:17:36.040 and they thrill

01:17:37.040 to the tales

01:17:37.760 of Washington

01:17:38.460 and Jefferson,

01:17:39.600 Hamilton and Franklin,

01:17:41.020 Lincoln and Grant,

01:17:42.560 Sojourner Truth

01:17:43.440 and Frederick Douglass.

01:17:45.080 We still read

01:17:46.280 the tales

01:17:46.800 of Hawthorne

01:17:47.620 and Melville

01:17:48.220 and Twain

01:17:48.960 and Poe,

01:17:50.540 the poems

01:17:51.040 of Whitman

01:17:51.760 and Dickinson.

01:17:54.280 On Independence Day,

01:17:56.660 we still hum

01:17:57.660 John Philip Sousa's

01:17:58.760 Stars and Stripes Forever.

01:18:00.820 We even sing along

01:18:02.660 to Woody Guthrie's

01:18:03.640 This Land Is Your Land.

01:18:06.340 Americans applaud

01:18:07.620 the loyalty,

01:18:09.020 the love,

01:18:10.440 the kindness

01:18:11.200 shared

01:18:11.880 by the

01:18:13.820 March sisters

01:18:15.620 and little women.

01:18:18.160 Revere the rugged liberty

01:18:19.600 of the cowboys

01:18:20.660 and old westerns.

01:18:22.520 Cheer the adventurous spirit

01:18:24.120 of the young Tom Sawyer.

01:18:26.620 These great works

01:18:27.680 have withstood

01:18:28.340 the test of time

01:18:29.240 because they speak

01:18:30.140 to eternal truths

01:18:31.600 and embody

01:18:32.560 the American spirit.

01:18:34.840 It's up to America's

01:18:35.740 artists and authors

01:18:36.580 and filmmakers,

01:18:37.580 musicians,

01:18:38.240 social media,

01:18:39.100 influencers,

01:18:40.020 and other cultural leaders

01:18:41.840 to carry on

01:18:42.860 this tradition

01:18:43.480 by once again

01:18:44.420 giving shape

01:18:45.200 and voice

01:18:45.820 to America's

01:18:47.120 self-understanding

01:18:48.100 to be what Jefferson

01:18:49.380 called

01:18:49.860 an expression

01:18:50.860 of the American mind.

01:18:52.760 To them

01:18:54.140 falls the creative task

01:18:56.380 of writing stories

01:18:57.580 and songs

01:18:58.380 and scripts

01:18:59.260 to help restore

01:19:00.800 every American's conviction

01:19:02.660 to embrace the good,

01:19:04.660 to leave a virtuous life,

01:19:06.880 and to act

01:19:07.660 with an attitude

01:19:08.340 of hope

01:19:09.060 toward a better

01:19:09.820 and bolder future

01:19:10.900 for themselves,

01:19:12.480 for their families,

01:19:13.800 and for the entire

01:19:15.140 nation and world.

01:19:16.540 Reverence for the Laws.

01:19:18.020 The principles

01:19:20.440 of equality

01:19:21.200 and consent

01:19:22.140 mean

01:19:23.140 that all

01:19:24.280 are equal

01:19:25.320 before the law.

01:19:27.280 No one

01:19:27.720 is above the law,

01:19:29.300 and no one

01:19:29.800 is privileged

01:19:30.620 to just ignore

01:19:31.760 the law,

01:19:32.960 just as no one

01:19:34.380 is outside of the law

01:19:35.760 in terms of protection.

01:19:38.400 In his Lyceum address,

01:19:40.380 a young Abraham Lincoln

01:19:41.860 warned of two results

01:19:43.320 of growing disregard

01:19:44.720 for the rule of law.

01:19:46.600 The first

01:19:47.200 is mob rule.

01:19:48.880 Whenever the vicious

01:19:49.700 portion of our population

01:19:51.560 shall be permitted

01:19:52.480 to gather in bands

01:19:53.820 of hundreds and thousands

01:19:55.160 and burn churches,

01:19:56.880 ravage and rob

01:19:57.960 provision stores,

01:19:59.280 throw printing presses

01:20:00.920 into rivers,

01:20:02.200 shoot editors,

01:20:03.400 and hang and burn

01:20:04.940 obnoxious persons

01:20:06.140 at pleasure

01:20:06.960 and without impunity,

01:20:09.540 depend on it.

01:20:11.060 This government

01:20:12.020 cannot last.

01:20:13.780 But Lincoln also warned

01:20:15.500 of the great ambition

01:20:16.600 of those who thirst

01:20:18.000 for distinction,

01:20:19.660 and although,

01:20:20.560 quote,

01:20:21.160 he would,

01:20:21.940 as willingly,

01:20:23.160 perhaps even more so,

01:20:25.020 acquire it

01:20:25.840 by doing good

01:20:27.280 as harm.

01:20:29.120 Yet that opportunity

01:20:30.200 being passed

01:20:31.200 has nothing left

01:20:32.180 to be done

01:20:32.840 in the way

01:20:34.080 of building up,

01:20:35.240 so he will set boldly

01:20:37.440 to the task

01:20:38.480 of pulling down.

01:20:39.720 whether the left

01:20:42.420 or right,

01:20:43.560 both mob rule

01:20:45.100 and tyrannical rule,

01:20:46.460 violate the rule

01:20:47.700 of law

01:20:48.300 because both are

01:20:50.060 ruled by the base

01:20:51.080 of passions

01:20:51.800 rather than the

01:20:52.840 better angels

01:20:54.120 of our nature.

01:20:55.400 Both equally threaten

01:20:57.400 our constitutional order.

01:20:59.280 When crimes go unpunished

01:21:01.100 or when good men

01:21:02.520 do nothing,

01:21:03.800 the lawless in spirit

01:21:05.240 will become lawless

01:21:06.500 in practice

01:21:07.160 leading to violence

01:21:08.960 and demagoguery.

01:21:10.920 Patriotic education

01:21:12.020 must have

01:21:12.940 at its center

01:21:13.980 a respect

01:21:15.200 for the rule of law,

01:21:16.640 including the declaration

01:21:17.920 and constitution,

01:21:19.100 so that we may have

01:21:20.680 what John Adams called,

01:21:22.240 quote,

01:21:22.540 a government of laws

01:21:24.060 and not of men,

01:21:25.320 end quote.

01:21:26.660 In the end,

01:21:28.260 Lincoln's solution

01:21:29.100 must be ours.

01:21:30.560 Let every American,

01:21:32.400 every lover of liberty,

01:21:33.900 every well-wisher

01:21:34.920 to his posterity,

01:21:36.480 swear by the blood

01:21:37.820 of the revolution

01:21:38.700 never to violate

01:21:40.140 in the least particular

01:21:42.040 the laws of the country

01:21:43.580 and to never tolerate

01:21:45.580 their violation by others.

01:21:47.900 As the patriots of 76

01:21:49.200 did to the support

01:21:50.120 of the Declaration of Independence,

01:21:51.500 so, too,

01:21:53.060 the support of the Constitution

01:21:55.000 and laws,

01:21:55.860 let every American

01:21:57.120 pledge his life,

01:21:58.700 his property,

01:21:59.720 and his sacred honor.

01:22:01.260 Let every man remember

01:22:02.780 that to violate the law

01:22:04.640 is to trample

01:22:05.680 on the blood of his father,

01:22:07.660 to tear the character

01:22:09.040 of his own

01:22:09.960 and his children's liberty.

01:22:13.380 Let reverence for the laws

01:22:15.020 be breathed

01:22:16.160 by every American mother

01:22:17.840 to the lisping babe

01:22:20.020 that prattles on her lap.

01:22:22.560 Let it be taught in schools

01:22:23.960 and seminaries

01:22:24.860 and in colleges.

01:22:26.180 Let it be written

01:22:26.820 in primers

01:22:27.460 and spelling books

01:22:28.540 and in almanacs.

01:22:30.060 Let it be preached

01:22:30.780 from the pulpit

01:22:31.560 proclaimed in the legislative halls

01:22:33.700 and enforced

01:22:34.980 in the courts of justice.

01:22:37.700 End quote.

01:22:39.620 Conclusion

01:22:40.260 On the 150th anniversary

01:22:43.060 of the signing

01:22:43.620 of the Declaration of Independence,

01:22:45.920 President Calvin Coolidge

01:22:47.260 raised an immortal banner

01:22:48.880 in his time.

01:22:50.500 It is often asserted,

01:22:52.180 he said,

01:22:53.260 that the world

01:22:54.260 has made a great deal

01:22:55.240 of progress since 1776

01:22:57.060 and therefore

01:22:58.000 we may very well

01:22:59.400 discard their conclusions

01:23:00.940 for something more modern.

01:23:03.420 But that reasoning

01:23:04.960 cannot be applied

01:23:05.980 to this great charter.

01:23:08.120 If all men

01:23:08.960 are created equal,

01:23:10.680 that's final.

01:23:12.440 If they're endowed

01:23:13.760 with inalienable rights,

01:23:15.980 that is final.

01:23:17.440 If governments

01:23:18.480 derive their just powers

01:23:20.060 from the consent

01:23:21.100 of the governed,

01:23:21.980 that is final.

01:23:22.720 No advance,

01:23:24.080 no progress

01:23:24.680 can be made

01:23:25.540 beyond these propositions.

01:23:27.840 End quote.

01:23:29.980 America's founding principles

01:23:31.240 are true

01:23:31.760 not because any generation,

01:23:33.460 including our own,

01:23:34.320 has lived up to them perfectly,

01:23:36.500 but because they are based

01:23:38.060 upon the eternal truths

01:23:39.580 of the human condition.

01:23:41.220 They are rooted

01:23:42.020 in our capacity

01:23:43.320 for evil and power,

01:23:45.520 for good,

01:23:47.000 our longing for truth,

01:23:48.500 and striving for justice,

01:23:49.940 our need for order,

01:23:52.540 and our love of freedom.

01:23:55.520 Above all else,

01:23:56.680 these principles

01:23:57.240 recognize the worth,

01:23:59.080 equality,

01:23:59.720 potential,

01:24:00.320 dignity,

01:24:00.660 and glory

01:24:01.480 of each and every

01:24:03.420 man, woman,

01:24:04.200 and child

01:24:04.660 created in the image of God.

01:24:07.860 Throughout our history,

01:24:09.900 our heroes,

01:24:10.720 men and women,

01:24:11.460 young and old,

01:24:12.080 black and white,

01:24:12.920 of many faiths,

01:24:14.380 and from all parts

01:24:15.740 of the world,

01:24:16.920 have changed America

01:24:18.300 for the better,

01:24:19.400 not by abandoning

01:24:20.740 these truths,

01:24:21.840 but by appealing to them.

01:24:24.840 Upon these universal ideas,

01:24:26.800 they built a great nation,

01:24:28.420 unified a strong people,

01:24:30.120 and formed a beautiful way

01:24:32.260 of life

01:24:34.100 that's worth defending.

01:24:36.820 To be an American

01:24:38.020 means something noble and good.

01:24:41.120 It means treasuring freedom

01:24:42.760 and embracing

01:24:43.440 the vitality of self-government.

01:24:45.840 We are shaped

01:24:47.640 by the beauty,

01:24:48.560 bounty,

01:24:49.020 and wilderness

01:24:49.620 of our continent.

01:24:51.800 We are united

01:24:52.660 by the glory

01:24:53.620 of our history.

01:24:55.340 We are distinguished

01:24:56.220 by the American virtues

01:24:58.060 of openness,

01:24:59.060 honesty,

01:24:59.680 optimism,

01:25:00.360 determination,

01:25:01.220 generosity,

01:25:02.020 confidence,

01:25:02.620 kindness,

01:25:03.160 hard work,

01:25:03.740 courage,

01:25:04.520 hope.

01:25:05.540 That's who we are.

01:25:07.780 Our principles

01:25:08.340 did not create

01:25:09.440 these virtues,

01:25:10.780 but they laid

01:25:11.640 the groundwork

01:25:12.440 for them to grow

01:25:13.400 and spread

01:25:14.140 and forge America

01:25:16.240 into the most just

01:25:18.060 and glorious country

01:25:19.100 in all of human history.

01:25:20.900 Now,

01:25:21.240 as we approach

01:25:21.800 the 250th anniversary

01:25:24.000 of our independence,

01:25:26.000 we must resolve

01:25:27.600 to teach future generations

01:25:29.100 of Americans

01:25:29.960 an accurate history

01:25:31.400 of our country

01:25:32.560 so that we all learn

01:25:35.340 and cherish

01:25:36.400 our founding principles.

01:25:38.340 Once again,

01:25:39.700 we must renew

01:25:40.400 the pride and gratitude

01:25:41.340 we have for this

01:25:42.260 incredible nation

01:25:43.160 that we're all blessed

01:25:45.000 to call home.

01:25:46.820 When we appreciate America

01:25:47.940 for what she truly is,

01:25:50.400 we know that our

01:25:51.540 declaration is worth

01:25:52.900 preserving,

01:25:53.660 our constitution

01:25:54.500 worth defending,

01:25:55.980 our fellow citizens

01:25:57.240 worth loving,

01:25:58.820 and our country

01:25:59.700 worth fighting for.

01:26:01.400 It is our task now

01:26:03.240 to renew this commitment.

01:26:05.460 So we proclaim

01:26:06.840 the words of our forefathers

01:26:08.500 used two and a half

01:26:09.620 centuries ago

01:26:10.440 for the support

01:26:11.460 of this declaration.

01:26:13.140 With a firm reliance

01:26:14.580 on the protection

01:26:15.420 of divine providence,

01:26:17.020 we mutually pledge

01:26:18.380 to each other

01:26:19.160 our lives,

01:26:20.800 our fortunes,

01:26:22.200 and our sacred honor.

The Glenn Beck Program - July 04, 2021

Glenn Beck Presents： The 1776 Report the Left Didn't Want You to See

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