In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jerod Diamond makes an interesting observation about peninsulas: the landform, much like an island, isolates a people. Peninsulas act as a force multiplier, granting a space easier defense, so that a polity might survive invasion by a much more powerful culture. (Think: Hot Gates and Isthmus of Corinth.) Conversely, a spit can bring the closed-culture [...]
Posts from ‘August, 2008’
What Is Patriotism?
A few years back, I purchased a packet of posters which proclaim democratic ideals. One reads: PATRIOTISM: People show loyalty to the values of the country. That got me pondering whether this notion is essentially federalist or anti-federalist, and I realized that it could be either depending upon which values one decides to choose. I [...]
A Paradigm: Six Words for the National Academy
You might remember a New York Times contest to craft a six word motto for the United States. We turned the powerhouse of Academy thinking at the question. Laura suggested a phrase you might recognize… “MUTUAL GUARDIANS OF OUR MUTUAL HAPPINESS” I think that phrase resonated as a result of her work at Monpelier’s NEH [...]
National Academy 2008: Is it Over?
The Rangeview building is nearly quiet this afternoon. It isn’t that the exchange students all went to the beach today but that this year’s National Academy has run out of time. The machines still hum but the electricity of rigorous academic work is missing. From a discussion of constitutional citizenship befitting an intelligent people to [...]
Constitutional Thinking Requires Constitutional Teaching
At the National Academy today, Kevin Fox presented his thoughts on his own constitutional thinking and teaching. In the Academy tradition, his inquiry started with, “What is it?”. His answers included… Reasoned Reflective Creative constructive imaginative Present on-going Whole ordered (not orderly) Scientific systematic experimental Balanced (between extremes) Inclusive (of the parts and the whole) [...]
