Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Imagine this. You are designing a new country and have a coin in your hand to flip. One side is anarchy and the other is tyranny. What do you do?  You flip the coin and try to get it to land on its side. This is what our Founders were aiming for when creating our country.  We are happy to have Professor Gordon Lloyd of Pepperdine University with our student panel as we discuss everything from the whigs and worries, bi-annual vs annual elections, how order falls into tyranny and liberty falls into anarchy, Socrates, the Athenian assembly, and virtue.  Join us as we unpack a lot...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Imagine this. You are designing a new country and have a coin in your hand to flip. One side is anarchy and the other is tyranny. What do you do?  You flip the coin and try to get it to land on its side. This is what our Founders were aiming for when creating our country.  We are happy to have Professor Gordon Lloyd of Pepperdine University with our student panel as we discuss everything from the whigs and worries, bi-annual vs annual elections, how order falls into tyranny and liberty falls into anarchy, Socrates, the Athenian assembly, and virtue.  Join us as we unpack a lot...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Have you ever thought about our Constitution as a practical exercise in governance rather than an academic exercise?  What that means is the Constitution addresses real problems accounting for human nature rather than viewing men through a utopian lens as virtuous “angels.”  In Federalist 51, Madison tells us “if men were angels, no government would be necessary.”  Join our panel and Professor Joerg Knipprath as we explore how the Founders were realists who dealt with real people and real problems. Thank you to this week's sponsor: Bob DeMartino of

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

The Roman Empire, at its peak, spread from the Persian Gulf to England and encompassed all of the land adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea.  How could an empire so large and powerful ultimately fall?  What lessons from the Empire’s fall did our Framers recognize to influence the structure of our own country?  According to our guest, Professor Joerg Knipprath of Southwestern Law School, one of the reasons for Rome’s fall was that it simply got too big to govern itself. For a deeper explanation, join Professor Knipprath and our panel as he dives into the governmental structures...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

How did two 17th century European philosophers shape the various systems of government we see worldwide? Thomas Hobbes believed stability relied on a “Leviathan” government, an all powerful state to maintain order.  John Locke wrote about unalienable rights and the role of government in protecting those rights.  Authoritative countries like Russia, China and North Korea follow the “Leviathan” model while democracies and republics follow Locke.  While the United States is not the world’s first republic, our Founders studied the Greeks, the Romans and Italian city-states...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

When you think of a monarch, what comes to mind? Castles, moats and leading an entire country? Perhaps pomp and circumstance and a fancy throne? Have you ever thought about monarchies as perhaps the original form of government? In this chat with Professor Joerg Knipprath, our panel discusses the pros and cons of monarchies, how they can devolve into tyranny and how our Framers studied past civilizations in creating our country to avoid the pitfalls of monarchies. 

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Did you know the ancient Athenian Democracy was a pure democracy in that citizens directly voted rather than through representatives?  However, only a few people, around 10,000, earned the title of “citizen.”  The Founders of our country studied this and recognized the perils of the Athenian Democracy and other past regimes and democracies.  By studying history, they navigated these pitfalls in establishing our country as a republic.  Join our student panel and special guest, Dr. Christoper Burkett with Ashland University as we explore the three major problems in the...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

We all know of famous treaties that ended wars such as the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution or the Treaty of Versailles which brought peace between Allied Powers and Germany at the end of World War I.  You’ve also heard of international agreements between sovereign countries like the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran Nuclear Deal.  Besides knowing that treaties and international agreements both exist between nations, what are the other commonalities and differences between the two?  One has senate approval and carries the full...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

War.  We’ve all seen footage from war zones on the nightly news and most recently the tragic images from Ukraine.  Did you know Congress has not actually declared war since World War II? How has the use of military force been authorized since then? What is the War Powers Act and how has it been applied?  What does the Constitution say about this?  What were the differing views from the Founders on war, specifically the differences between Hamilton on one side and Jefferson and Washington on the other?  And how is all of this highly relevant...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

War.  We’ve all seen footage from war zones on the nightly news and most recently the tragic images from Ukraine.  Did you know Congress has not actually declared war since World War II? How has the use of military force been authorized since then? What is the War Powers Act and how has it been applied?  What does the Constitution say about this?  What were the differing views from the Founders on war, specifically the differences between Hamilton on one side and Jefferson and Washington on the other?  And how is all of this highly relevant...