Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Thomas Jefferson cemented his legacy as an incredible orator and writer when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, almost 250 years ago. His soaring rhetoric drew inspiration from multiple government and historic traditions: from John Locke to the Magna Carta to the Enlightenment.  He used phrases and words that deserve special attention.  What did Jefferson mean when he talked about unalienable rights, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, self-evident truths, and the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God?  To shed important insight into this...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Did you know the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in our Constitution?  The phrase was used by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.  The First Amendment does guarantee “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  What was the intent of the founders in codifying this in the Constitution?  Did they intend to keep religion out of government or rather government out of religion?  To help us answer these questions and so many...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Did you know the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in our Constitution?  The phrase was used by Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.  The First Amendment does guarantee “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  What was the intent of the founders in codifying this in the Constitution?  Did they intend to keep religion out of government or rather government out of religion?  To help us answer these questions and so many...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Our Constitution does not spend a lot of time detailing foreign policy powers.  We know the president can appoint ambassadors, negotiate treaties and use executive agreements in our relations with other governments.  But beyond that, what is the role of the presidency?  What are the checks and balances with the other branches?  What do we mean when we say foreign policy is an “inherent” power?  To walk us through this complex power, we are pleased to have Dr. James S. Robbins as our guest this week.  Dr. Robbins is Dean of Academics, Institute of World...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

We have laws in our country passed by Congress.  Then we have regulations that come out of the bureaucracy.  Our guest today argues that when government grows, individual liberty shrinks.  Our guest, Andrew Langer, is the president of the Institute for Liberty.  He is going to discuss the benefits and costs (upwards of $4 trillion annually) of regulations, the process to challenge them and the impact of the Administrative Procedures Act (enacted in 1946) and the role of the public in the regulations process.

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

There’s been a lot of discussions in the current administration to streamline government.  Part of that includes shuttering departments, including the Department of Education.  Did you know for the vast majority of American history, the Department of Education didn’t exist and was created in 1979?  To walk us through the process of shutting down a department and the reasons for it, we are happy to welcome Neal McCluskey, director of Cato's Center for Educational Freedom.  Neal has worked on education reform for over two decades and will share his...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

We have a very exciting guest on our show this week.  He identifies 4 great changes in American history brought upon by the President in office at the time: Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR.  If President Trump is able to fulfill his campaign promises, our guest believes we could be experiencing the 5th period of great change.  One of the targeted areas  of change the current administration is focusing are our trade agreements globally and tariffs.  Joining our all-star student panel to discuss tariffs and other constitutional issues in the news is historian and...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

A mission statement for an organization is a list of aspirational goals.  It brings purpose and summarizes values.  Through that lens, perhaps we should look at our Declaration of Independence and Constitution as the mission statement for our country.  Both documents lay out our country’s values and goals in becoming a “more perfect union.” Our guest today, our board member Jay McConville, wrote an essay for one of our recent online studies in which he contrasts our country’s mission statement with that of communism via The Communist Manifesto.  Jay is a military...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

Through the separation of powers, the Founders fully intended for each branch of government to be combative with the others.  This fighting amongst the branches, they hoped, would protect our liberties and inhibit abuse of power.  Each presidential administration must deal with the judicial branch in implementing their agenda, when cases involving their agenda are brought to court. This is what we are discussing today.  To help us understand the intricacies of the current judiciary and executive relationship, we are pleased to have as our guest a veteran of all three...

Constitutional Chats Presented By Constituting America

It’s been called “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.”  One-third of its members are elected every two years, and serve six year terms.  Presided over by the Vice President of the United States.  We are of course talking about the United State Senate.  The Founders created the Senate with a purpose, to be a place when debate happens as a “House of Reason.”  To walk us through the Senate and what separates it from the way the House of Representatives does business, we are thrilled to have two guests on our show this week.  Josh Holmes, host of the...