Books
Review of Rationalism in Politics, by Michael Oakeshott
– American Political Science Review 57:3 (September 1963): 670–71.Religion and the Founding Principle
– The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, Robert H. Horwitz, ed. (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1977, 1986).The Corporation’s Song
– American Spectator 13:9 (September 1980).“The Corporation’s Song” Walter Berns and lyrics by Hobbes, Locke, and Madison. Music by Mobil Oil?
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
In Times of Crisis, How Much Power Does the President Have?
– Washington Times, June 3, 1987; reprinted in The World and I (August 1987).Excerpt: Lt. Col. Oliver North may or may not have broken the law, but that he was a hero Patrick J. Buchanan had no doubt. Unlike the other members of the Reagan White House – he was… More
The New Pursuit of Happiness
– Public Interest 86 (Winter 1987), 65–76.Excerpt: Landing in New York in May 1831, Gustave de Beaumont was struck by the “busyness” of the place. “It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” he wrote his father, “a great people… More
Taking the Framers Seriously
– William Michael Treanor, The University of Chicago Law Review 55:3 (Summer, 1988), pp. 1016–40.Abstract: This review focuses on three of the key historical points that Walter Berns makes: his arguments that the Declaration of Independence is a Lockean document; that the Constitution… More
What Does the Constitution Expect of Jews?
– The Judeo-Christian Tradition and the U.S. Constitution: Proceedings of a Conference at the Annenberg Research Institute, November 16–17, 1987, David M. Goldenberg, ed. (Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1989), 21–27; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: The short answer to this question is that the Constitution expects of Jews what it expects of everybody. George Washington expressed this perfectly in his famous (and very… More
Review Essay: Locke and the Legislative Principle
– Public Interest 100 (Summer 1990), 147–56.Excerpt: What is the role of Congress in our system of constitutional government and how well does it perform that role? To begin with, Congress is not Parliament, which means that ours is… More
On Hamilton and Popular Government
– Public Interest 109 (Fall 1992), 109–13.Excerpt: Alexander Hamilton has never been a popular hero among his fellow citizens. When visiting the capital city, they mount the tour buses that take them to the Capitol, the White… More
Liberal Democracy and Justice in the Constitution of Walter Berns
– Richard G. Stevens, The Political Science Reviewer 22 (1993).Excerpt: Walter Berns admits in the preface to his book by that very title that he had all along been writing in defense of liberal democracy. This is not simply a post litem motam… More
Solving the Problem of Democracy
– South Africa's Crisis of Constitutional Democracy: Can the U.S. Constitution Help?, Robert A. Licht and Bertus de Villiers, eds. (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1994), 180–200; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Some years ago, before an audience of federal judges and law professors, I said that there probably was not a law school in the United States that did not offer a course in… More
Taking Virtue Seriously
– Public Interest 128 (Summer 1997), 122–26.Excerpt: In 1790-91, Supreme Court Justice James Wilson delivered a series of lectures on the law at what was to become the University of Pennsylvania and before an audience that included… More
Constitutionalism: Old and New
– The Liberal Tradition in Focus: Problems and New Perspectives, João Carlos Espada, Marc F. Plattner, and Adam Wolfson, eds. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000), 17–26.The Liberal Tradition in Focus is a collection of essays by prominent scholars in their fields on the nature of liberalism at the close of the twentieth century. Using a variety of… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
The Perennial Trashing of Bourgeois Democracy
– Academic Questions 15:4 (September 1, 2002), 23–26; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: What began in nineteenth-century Britain as a serious critique of the new liberal democracy became, in twentieth-century America, a contemptuous “bourgeois bashing,”… More
The Libertarian Dodge
– Claremont Review of Books, September 2003; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: There is a question as to why the Beacon Press would choose to publish this collection of Wendy Kaminer’s essays. It is not enough to say, as she does in a prefatory note,… More
Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought
– AEI Press, 2006.Excerpt: One of the distinctive things about America is that its Founders were political theorists as well as practitioners. Consider, as the most telling example, the Declaration of… More
On George Kateb’s Patriotism
– Cato Unbound, March 12, 2008.Excerpt: Professor Kateb begins by defining patriotism as love of country; fair enough. He then distinguishes this love from that of a child’s for his parents, pointing out that,… More
Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative
– Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2009.Excerpt: Recently, an Episcopal church in Bethesda, Md., displayed a banner with the following words: “God bless everyone (no exceptions).” I confessed to the rector of my own… More
The Jaffa-Berns Feud Revisited
– Steven F. Hayward, Powerline, September 11, 2015. Remarks from Claremont Institute APSA panel, September 2015.Excerpt: Berns inclined toward a Hobbesian reading of Locke while Jaffa worked out an Aristotelian reading of Locke. Jaffa thought America the best regime, in the classical sense. Though he… More
Essays
Review of Rationalism in Politics, by Michael Oakeshott
– American Political Science Review 57:3 (September 1963): 670–71.Religion and the Founding Principle
– The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, Robert H. Horwitz, ed. (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1977, 1986).The Corporation’s Song
– American Spectator 13:9 (September 1980).“The Corporation’s Song” Walter Berns and lyrics by Hobbes, Locke, and Madison. Music by Mobil Oil?
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
In Times of Crisis, How Much Power Does the President Have?
– Washington Times, June 3, 1987; reprinted in The World and I (August 1987).Excerpt: Lt. Col. Oliver North may or may not have broken the law, but that he was a hero Patrick J. Buchanan had no doubt. Unlike the other members of the Reagan White House – he was… More
The New Pursuit of Happiness
– Public Interest 86 (Winter 1987), 65–76.Excerpt: Landing in New York in May 1831, Gustave de Beaumont was struck by the “busyness” of the place. “It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” he wrote his father, “a great people… More
Taking the Framers Seriously
– William Michael Treanor, The University of Chicago Law Review 55:3 (Summer, 1988), pp. 1016–40.Abstract: This review focuses on three of the key historical points that Walter Berns makes: his arguments that the Declaration of Independence is a Lockean document; that the Constitution… More
What Does the Constitution Expect of Jews?
– The Judeo-Christian Tradition and the U.S. Constitution: Proceedings of a Conference at the Annenberg Research Institute, November 16–17, 1987, David M. Goldenberg, ed. (Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1989), 21–27; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: The short answer to this question is that the Constitution expects of Jews what it expects of everybody. George Washington expressed this perfectly in his famous (and very… More
Review Essay: Locke and the Legislative Principle
– Public Interest 100 (Summer 1990), 147–56.Excerpt: What is the role of Congress in our system of constitutional government and how well does it perform that role? To begin with, Congress is not Parliament, which means that ours is… More
On Hamilton and Popular Government
– Public Interest 109 (Fall 1992), 109–13.Excerpt: Alexander Hamilton has never been a popular hero among his fellow citizens. When visiting the capital city, they mount the tour buses that take them to the Capitol, the White… More
Liberal Democracy and Justice in the Constitution of Walter Berns
– Richard G. Stevens, The Political Science Reviewer 22 (1993).Excerpt: Walter Berns admits in the preface to his book by that very title that he had all along been writing in defense of liberal democracy. This is not simply a post litem motam… More
Solving the Problem of Democracy
– South Africa's Crisis of Constitutional Democracy: Can the U.S. Constitution Help?, Robert A. Licht and Bertus de Villiers, eds. (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1994), 180–200; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Some years ago, before an audience of federal judges and law professors, I said that there probably was not a law school in the United States that did not offer a course in… More
Taking Virtue Seriously
– Public Interest 128 (Summer 1997), 122–26.Excerpt: In 1790-91, Supreme Court Justice James Wilson delivered a series of lectures on the law at what was to become the University of Pennsylvania and before an audience that included… More
Constitutionalism: Old and New
– The Liberal Tradition in Focus: Problems and New Perspectives, João Carlos Espada, Marc F. Plattner, and Adam Wolfson, eds. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000), 17–26.The Liberal Tradition in Focus is a collection of essays by prominent scholars in their fields on the nature of liberalism at the close of the twentieth century. Using a variety of… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
The Perennial Trashing of Bourgeois Democracy
– Academic Questions 15:4 (September 1, 2002), 23–26; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: What began in nineteenth-century Britain as a serious critique of the new liberal democracy became, in twentieth-century America, a contemptuous “bourgeois bashing,”… More
The Libertarian Dodge
– Claremont Review of Books, September 2003; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: There is a question as to why the Beacon Press would choose to publish this collection of Wendy Kaminer’s essays. It is not enough to say, as she does in a prefatory note,… More
Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought
– AEI Press, 2006.Excerpt: One of the distinctive things about America is that its Founders were political theorists as well as practitioners. Consider, as the most telling example, the Declaration of… More
On George Kateb’s Patriotism
– Cato Unbound, March 12, 2008.Excerpt: Professor Kateb begins by defining patriotism as love of country; fair enough. He then distinguishes this love from that of a child’s for his parents, pointing out that,… More
Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative
– Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2009.Excerpt: Recently, an Episcopal church in Bethesda, Md., displayed a banner with the following words: “God bless everyone (no exceptions).” I confessed to the rector of my own… More
The Jaffa-Berns Feud Revisited
– Steven F. Hayward, Powerline, September 11, 2015. Remarks from Claremont Institute APSA panel, September 2015.Excerpt: Berns inclined toward a Hobbesian reading of Locke while Jaffa worked out an Aristotelian reading of Locke. Jaffa thought America the best regime, in the classical sense. Though he… More
Commentary
Review of Rationalism in Politics, by Michael Oakeshott
– American Political Science Review 57:3 (September 1963): 670–71.Religion and the Founding Principle
– The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, Robert H. Horwitz, ed. (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1977, 1986).The Corporation’s Song
– American Spectator 13:9 (September 1980).“The Corporation’s Song” Walter Berns and lyrics by Hobbes, Locke, and Madison. Music by Mobil Oil?
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
In Times of Crisis, How Much Power Does the President Have?
– Washington Times, June 3, 1987; reprinted in The World and I (August 1987).Excerpt: Lt. Col. Oliver North may or may not have broken the law, but that he was a hero Patrick J. Buchanan had no doubt. Unlike the other members of the Reagan White House – he was… More
The New Pursuit of Happiness
– Public Interest 86 (Winter 1987), 65–76.Excerpt: Landing in New York in May 1831, Gustave de Beaumont was struck by the “busyness” of the place. “It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” he wrote his father, “a great people… More
Taking the Framers Seriously
– William Michael Treanor, The University of Chicago Law Review 55:3 (Summer, 1988), pp. 1016–40.Abstract: This review focuses on three of the key historical points that Walter Berns makes: his arguments that the Declaration of Independence is a Lockean document; that the Constitution… More
What Does the Constitution Expect of Jews?
– The Judeo-Christian Tradition and the U.S. Constitution: Proceedings of a Conference at the Annenberg Research Institute, November 16–17, 1987, David M. Goldenberg, ed. (Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1989), 21–27; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: The short answer to this question is that the Constitution expects of Jews what it expects of everybody. George Washington expressed this perfectly in his famous (and very… More
Review Essay: Locke and the Legislative Principle
– Public Interest 100 (Summer 1990), 147–56.Excerpt: What is the role of Congress in our system of constitutional government and how well does it perform that role? To begin with, Congress is not Parliament, which means that ours is… More
On Hamilton and Popular Government
– Public Interest 109 (Fall 1992), 109–13.Excerpt: Alexander Hamilton has never been a popular hero among his fellow citizens. When visiting the capital city, they mount the tour buses that take them to the Capitol, the White… More
Liberal Democracy and Justice in the Constitution of Walter Berns
– Richard G. Stevens, The Political Science Reviewer 22 (1993).Excerpt: Walter Berns admits in the preface to his book by that very title that he had all along been writing in defense of liberal democracy. This is not simply a post litem motam… More
Solving the Problem of Democracy
– South Africa's Crisis of Constitutional Democracy: Can the U.S. Constitution Help?, Robert A. Licht and Bertus de Villiers, eds. (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1994), 180–200; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Some years ago, before an audience of federal judges and law professors, I said that there probably was not a law school in the United States that did not offer a course in… More
Taking Virtue Seriously
– Public Interest 128 (Summer 1997), 122–26.Excerpt: In 1790-91, Supreme Court Justice James Wilson delivered a series of lectures on the law at what was to become the University of Pennsylvania and before an audience that included… More
Constitutionalism: Old and New
– The Liberal Tradition in Focus: Problems and New Perspectives, João Carlos Espada, Marc F. Plattner, and Adam Wolfson, eds. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000), 17–26.The Liberal Tradition in Focus is a collection of essays by prominent scholars in their fields on the nature of liberalism at the close of the twentieth century. Using a variety of… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
The Perennial Trashing of Bourgeois Democracy
– Academic Questions 15:4 (September 1, 2002), 23–26; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: What began in nineteenth-century Britain as a serious critique of the new liberal democracy became, in twentieth-century America, a contemptuous “bourgeois bashing,”… More
The Libertarian Dodge
– Claremont Review of Books, September 2003; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: There is a question as to why the Beacon Press would choose to publish this collection of Wendy Kaminer’s essays. It is not enough to say, as she does in a prefatory note,… More
Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought
– AEI Press, 2006.Excerpt: One of the distinctive things about America is that its Founders were political theorists as well as practitioners. Consider, as the most telling example, the Declaration of… More
On George Kateb’s Patriotism
– Cato Unbound, March 12, 2008.Excerpt: Professor Kateb begins by defining patriotism as love of country; fair enough. He then distinguishes this love from that of a child’s for his parents, pointing out that,… More
Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative
– Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2009.Excerpt: Recently, an Episcopal church in Bethesda, Md., displayed a banner with the following words: “God bless everyone (no exceptions).” I confessed to the rector of my own… More
The Jaffa-Berns Feud Revisited
– Steven F. Hayward, Powerline, September 11, 2015. Remarks from Claremont Institute APSA panel, September 2015.Excerpt: Berns inclined toward a Hobbesian reading of Locke while Jaffa worked out an Aristotelian reading of Locke. Jaffa thought America the best regime, in the classical sense. Though he… More
Multimedia
Review of Rationalism in Politics, by Michael Oakeshott
– American Political Science Review 57:3 (September 1963): 670–71.Religion and the Founding Principle
– The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, Robert H. Horwitz, ed. (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1977, 1986).The Corporation’s Song
– American Spectator 13:9 (September 1980).“The Corporation’s Song” Walter Berns and lyrics by Hobbes, Locke, and Madison. Music by Mobil Oil?
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
In Times of Crisis, How Much Power Does the President Have?
– Washington Times, June 3, 1987; reprinted in The World and I (August 1987).Excerpt: Lt. Col. Oliver North may or may not have broken the law, but that he was a hero Patrick J. Buchanan had no doubt. Unlike the other members of the Reagan White House – he was… More
The New Pursuit of Happiness
– Public Interest 86 (Winter 1987), 65–76.Excerpt: Landing in New York in May 1831, Gustave de Beaumont was struck by the “busyness” of the place. “It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” he wrote his father, “a great people… More
Taking the Framers Seriously
– William Michael Treanor, The University of Chicago Law Review 55:3 (Summer, 1988), pp. 1016–40.Abstract: This review focuses on three of the key historical points that Walter Berns makes: his arguments that the Declaration of Independence is a Lockean document; that the Constitution… More
What Does the Constitution Expect of Jews?
– The Judeo-Christian Tradition and the U.S. Constitution: Proceedings of a Conference at the Annenberg Research Institute, November 16–17, 1987, David M. Goldenberg, ed. (Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1989), 21–27; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: The short answer to this question is that the Constitution expects of Jews what it expects of everybody. George Washington expressed this perfectly in his famous (and very… More
Review Essay: Locke and the Legislative Principle
– Public Interest 100 (Summer 1990), 147–56.Excerpt: What is the role of Congress in our system of constitutional government and how well does it perform that role? To begin with, Congress is not Parliament, which means that ours is… More
On Hamilton and Popular Government
– Public Interest 109 (Fall 1992), 109–13.Excerpt: Alexander Hamilton has never been a popular hero among his fellow citizens. When visiting the capital city, they mount the tour buses that take them to the Capitol, the White… More
Liberal Democracy and Justice in the Constitution of Walter Berns
– Richard G. Stevens, The Political Science Reviewer 22 (1993).Excerpt: Walter Berns admits in the preface to his book by that very title that he had all along been writing in defense of liberal democracy. This is not simply a post litem motam… More
Solving the Problem of Democracy
– South Africa's Crisis of Constitutional Democracy: Can the U.S. Constitution Help?, Robert A. Licht and Bertus de Villiers, eds. (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1994), 180–200; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Some years ago, before an audience of federal judges and law professors, I said that there probably was not a law school in the United States that did not offer a course in… More
Taking Virtue Seriously
– Public Interest 128 (Summer 1997), 122–26.Excerpt: In 1790-91, Supreme Court Justice James Wilson delivered a series of lectures on the law at what was to become the University of Pennsylvania and before an audience that included… More
Constitutionalism: Old and New
– The Liberal Tradition in Focus: Problems and New Perspectives, João Carlos Espada, Marc F. Plattner, and Adam Wolfson, eds. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000), 17–26.The Liberal Tradition in Focus is a collection of essays by prominent scholars in their fields on the nature of liberalism at the close of the twentieth century. Using a variety of… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
The Perennial Trashing of Bourgeois Democracy
– Academic Questions 15:4 (September 1, 2002), 23–26; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: What began in nineteenth-century Britain as a serious critique of the new liberal democracy became, in twentieth-century America, a contemptuous “bourgeois bashing,”… More
The Libertarian Dodge
– Claremont Review of Books, September 2003; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: There is a question as to why the Beacon Press would choose to publish this collection of Wendy Kaminer’s essays. It is not enough to say, as she does in a prefatory note,… More
Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought
– AEI Press, 2006.Excerpt: One of the distinctive things about America is that its Founders were political theorists as well as practitioners. Consider, as the most telling example, the Declaration of… More
On George Kateb’s Patriotism
– Cato Unbound, March 12, 2008.Excerpt: Professor Kateb begins by defining patriotism as love of country; fair enough. He then distinguishes this love from that of a child’s for his parents, pointing out that,… More
Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative
– Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2009.Excerpt: Recently, an Episcopal church in Bethesda, Md., displayed a banner with the following words: “God bless everyone (no exceptions).” I confessed to the rector of my own… More
The Jaffa-Berns Feud Revisited
– Steven F. Hayward, Powerline, September 11, 2015. Remarks from Claremont Institute APSA panel, September 2015.Excerpt: Berns inclined toward a Hobbesian reading of Locke while Jaffa worked out an Aristotelian reading of Locke. Jaffa thought America the best regime, in the classical sense. Though he… More
Teaching
Review of Rationalism in Politics, by Michael Oakeshott
– American Political Science Review 57:3 (September 1963): 670–71.Religion and the Founding Principle
– The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, Robert H. Horwitz, ed. (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1977, 1986).The Corporation’s Song
– American Spectator 13:9 (September 1980).“The Corporation’s Song” Walter Berns and lyrics by Hobbes, Locke, and Madison. Music by Mobil Oil?
The American Presidency: Statesmanship and Constitutionalism in Balance
– Imprimis, Hillsdale College, January 1983. Reprinted in Educating for Liberty: The Best of Imprimis, 1972–2002, Douglas A. Jeffrey, ed. (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 2002).Excerpt: America today is in need of leadership of the sort provided in the past by our greatest presidents, presidents whom we mean to honor and praise when we denominate them… More
In Times of Crisis, How Much Power Does the President Have?
– Washington Times, June 3, 1987; reprinted in The World and I (August 1987).Excerpt: Lt. Col. Oliver North may or may not have broken the law, but that he was a hero Patrick J. Buchanan had no doubt. Unlike the other members of the Reagan White House – he was… More
The New Pursuit of Happiness
– Public Interest 86 (Winter 1987), 65–76.Excerpt: Landing in New York in May 1831, Gustave de Beaumont was struck by the “busyness” of the place. “It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” he wrote his father, “a great people… More
Taking the Framers Seriously
– William Michael Treanor, The University of Chicago Law Review 55:3 (Summer, 1988), pp. 1016–40.Abstract: This review focuses on three of the key historical points that Walter Berns makes: his arguments that the Declaration of Independence is a Lockean document; that the Constitution… More
What Does the Constitution Expect of Jews?
– The Judeo-Christian Tradition and the U.S. Constitution: Proceedings of a Conference at the Annenberg Research Institute, November 16–17, 1987, David M. Goldenberg, ed. (Philadelphia: Annenberg Research Institute, 1989), 21–27; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: The short answer to this question is that the Constitution expects of Jews what it expects of everybody. George Washington expressed this perfectly in his famous (and very… More
Review Essay: Locke and the Legislative Principle
– Public Interest 100 (Summer 1990), 147–56.Excerpt: What is the role of Congress in our system of constitutional government and how well does it perform that role? To begin with, Congress is not Parliament, which means that ours is… More
On Hamilton and Popular Government
– Public Interest 109 (Fall 1992), 109–13.Excerpt: Alexander Hamilton has never been a popular hero among his fellow citizens. When visiting the capital city, they mount the tour buses that take them to the Capitol, the White… More
Liberal Democracy and Justice in the Constitution of Walter Berns
– Richard G. Stevens, The Political Science Reviewer 22 (1993).Excerpt: Walter Berns admits in the preface to his book by that very title that he had all along been writing in defense of liberal democracy. This is not simply a post litem motam… More
Solving the Problem of Democracy
– South Africa's Crisis of Constitutional Democracy: Can the U.S. Constitution Help?, Robert A. Licht and Bertus de Villiers, eds. (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1994), 180–200; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: Some years ago, before an audience of federal judges and law professors, I said that there probably was not a law school in the United States that did not offer a course in… More
Taking Virtue Seriously
– Public Interest 128 (Summer 1997), 122–26.Excerpt: In 1790-91, Supreme Court Justice James Wilson delivered a series of lectures on the law at what was to become the University of Pennsylvania and before an audience that included… More
Constitutionalism: Old and New
– The Liberal Tradition in Focus: Problems and New Perspectives, João Carlos Espada, Marc F. Plattner, and Adam Wolfson, eds. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000), 17–26.The Liberal Tradition in Focus is a collection of essays by prominent scholars in their fields on the nature of liberalism at the close of the twentieth century. Using a variety of… More
Making Patriots
– University of Chicago Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2002.Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels,” over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes:… More
The Perennial Trashing of Bourgeois Democracy
– Academic Questions 15:4 (September 1, 2002), 23–26; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: What began in nineteenth-century Britain as a serious critique of the new liberal democracy became, in twentieth-century America, a contemptuous “bourgeois bashing,”… More
The Libertarian Dodge
– Claremont Review of Books, September 2003; reprinted in Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought (AEI Press, 2006).Excerpt: There is a question as to why the Beacon Press would choose to publish this collection of Wendy Kaminer’s essays. It is not enough to say, as she does in a prefatory note,… More
Democracy and the Constitution: Landmarks of Contemporary Political Thought
– AEI Press, 2006.Excerpt: One of the distinctive things about America is that its Founders were political theorists as well as practitioners. Consider, as the most telling example, the Declaration of… More
On George Kateb’s Patriotism
– Cato Unbound, March 12, 2008.Excerpt: Professor Kateb begins by defining patriotism as love of country; fair enough. He then distinguishes this love from that of a child’s for his parents, pointing out that,… More
Interrogations and Presidential Prerogative
– Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2009.Excerpt: Recently, an Episcopal church in Bethesda, Md., displayed a banner with the following words: “God bless everyone (no exceptions).” I confessed to the rector of my own… More
The Jaffa-Berns Feud Revisited
– Steven F. Hayward, Powerline, September 11, 2015. Remarks from Claremont Institute APSA panel, September 2015.Excerpt: Berns inclined toward a Hobbesian reading of Locke while Jaffa worked out an Aristotelian reading of Locke. Jaffa thought America the best regime, in the classical sense. Though he… More