Willmoore Kendall: Maverick of American Conservatives provides the first book-length study of a man long regarded as a founding father of American intellectual conservatism. This edited collection brings together a diverse range of perspectives on Kendall's life and work and places the post-World War II political theorist in the context of modern American conservatism. Far from providing a monolithic view of Kendall's thought, the contributions illuminate an unconventional, often contradictory, thinker. The book traces the development of Kendall's body of political thought from his early years in Oxford, through his work on John Locke, to the later speculation that produced The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition , and analyzes the influence of Leo Strauss on his later work. Including, for the first time in print, the complete correspondence between Kendall and Strauss that significantly shaped Kendall's later work, Willmoore Kendall is a vital contribution to American intellectual history.

The crisis of western civilization is a crisis of public philosophy. This is the charge of Public Philosophy and Political Science, a stunning new collection of essays edited by E. Robert Statham Jr. Vividly cataloging the decay of the moral and intellectual foundations of civic liberty, the book portrays a generation of Americans alienated from institutions built on public philosophy. The work exposes the failure of America's political scientists to acknowledge and understand this alarming crisis in the American body politic. The distinguished contributors examine the evolution of public philosophy; the inextricable relationship between politics and philosophy; and the interplay between public philosophy, the constitution, natural law, and government. They reveal the dire threat to deliberative democracy and the fundamental order of constitutional society posed by public philosophy's waning power to refine, cultivate, and civilize. The work is an indictment of a society which has discarded a way of life rooted in natural law, democracy and the traditions of civility; and is a denunciation of an educated elite that has divorced itself from the standards upon which public philosophy rests. It is essential reading for philosophers and political and social scientists seeking to resurrect the standards of American public life.

The crisis of western civilization is a crisis of public philosophy. This is the charge of Public Philosophy and Political Science, a stunning new collection of essays edited by E. Robert Statham Jr. Vividly cataloging the decay of the moral and intellectual foundations of civic liberty, the book portrays a generation of Americans alienated from institutions built on public philosophy. The work exposes the failure of America's political scientists to acknowledge and understand this alarming crisis in the American body politic. The distinguished contributors examine the evolution of public philosophy; the inextricable relationship between politics and philosophy; and the interplay between public philosophy, the constitution, natural law, and government. They reveal the dire threat to deliberative democracy and the fundamental order of constitutional society posed by public philosophy's waning power to refine, cultivate, and civilize. The work is an indictment of a society which has discarded a way of life rooted in natural law, democracy and the traditions of civility; and is a denunciation of an educated elite that has divorced itself from the standards upon which public philosophy rests. It is essential reading for philosophers and political and social scientists seeking to resurrect the standards of American public life.

Communitarianism is currently the subject of much interest and scrutiny by both liberals and conservatives. In Community and Tradition, eight distinguished scholars articulate the clearest statement to date of the conservative vision of community. In contrast to the progressive model of community, which emphasizes secular civil theologies, government, participatory democracy, and utilitarian moralities, the contributors to this volume identify and locate the roots of friendship and common purpose in tradition, intermediate associations, local autonomy, and religious belief. Not only do the contributors renew and refine the conservative understanding of community, but they also express their belief that the liberal version of community needs to be challenged. This volume is essential reading for all political theorists who study the balance between rights and responsibilities within the context of the community.

Over the years the Supreme Court of the United States, and other courts, have been subjects of controversy, disagreement, praise, and condemnation. Many of the expressed misgivings regarding the expansion of judicial power have been born out by the decisions reflected not only in the verdicts of the Supreme Court of the United States, but also in other judicial forums of American society. The effect of these decisions has resulted in an attack on the American civil society that compels the nation to follow courses of development that, were they to be legitimate, would have emanated from the political institutions of the country, not from the legal institutions. The Most Dangerous Branch is a collection of essays that provide support for these contentions and hope to prompt citizens to demand greater responsibility by the courts and their adherence to their proper role in a system under the rule of law.

Willmoore Kendall: Maverick of American Conservatives provides the first book-length study of a man long regarded as a founding father of American intellectual conservatism. This edited collection brings together a diverse range of perspectives on Kendall's life and work and places the post-World War II political theorist in the context of modern American conservatism. Far from providing a monolithic view of Kendall's thought, the contributions illuminate an unconventional, often contradictory, thinker. The book traces the development of Kendall's body of political thought from his early years in Oxford, through his work on John Locke, to the later speculation that produced The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition , and analyzes the influence of Leo Strauss on his later work. Including, for the first time in print, the complete correspondence between Kendall and Strauss that significantly shaped Kendall's later work, Willmoore Kendall is a vital contribution to American intellectual history.

When it was first published twenty-five years ago, this classic work of political theory gained notoriety because neither its approach nor its interpretations readily fit into any of the major schools of thought dealing with the American political tradition. More significantly, its arguments challenged core tenets of what had become received wisdom concerning the roots of our political beliefs and institutions. Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey argue that a new, largely contrived political tradition has gained currency in many legal, academic, and political circles. This new tradition, set forth by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address, holds that our fundamental political ideas are derived from the Bill of Rights and the "all men are created equal" clause of the Declaration of Independence. Proponents of this view not only champion individual rights but also believe that the achievement of a broadly defined equality represents a binding but as yet unfulfilled promise made by the American people in the Declaration. In the present work, Kendall and Carey instead maintain that one must look to the founding era and its key documents in order to understand our indigenous political tradition. In so doing, one sees that the right of the people to govern themselves, rather than the concept of individual rights, is at the heart of the American political tradition. Using the analytical approach developed by Eric Voegelin, the authors examine the documents that are vital to an understanding of our political origins: "the Mayflower Compact,"" the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut,"" the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, the Virginia Bill of Rights, the Constitution" itself, and "the FederalistPapers." At the same time, they consider questions highly relevant to the subsequent course of American political development. This thought-provoking book contributes important arguments to the fundamental debate over the place of equality in our political self-understanding. It will continue to be of immense interest to all serious students of American political thought.

Carey is considered one of the most influential contributors to American political thought in the last half-century. On the Georgetown campus in Washington, D.C., where he is Professor of Government, Carey shares his concerns about such subjects as the foundations of political order, the origins and intent of the American republic, and the ultimate crisis of 'derailment' befalling the republic. Interviewer Bruce Frohnen describes Carey as 'one of the preeminent interpreters of the nature and history of the American experiment in ordered liberty and self-government'. In this DVD, Carey engages viewers as he shares insights and opinions on modern American political thought. Approximate running time of this title is 76 minutes.

Americans are increasingly ruled by an unwritten constitution consisting of executive orders, signing statements, and other forms of quasi-law that lack the predictability and consistency essential for the legal system to function properly. As a result, the U.S. Constitution no longer means what it says to the people it is supposed to govern, and the government no longer acts according to the rule of law. These developments can be traced back to a change in "constitutional morality," Bruce Frohnen and George Carey argue in this challenging book. The principle of separation of powers among co-equal branches of government formed the cornerstone of America's original constitutional morality. But toward the end of the nineteenth century, Progressives began to attack this bedrock principle, believing that it impeded government from "doing the people's business." The regime of mixed powers, delegation, and expansive legal interpretation they instituted rejected the ideals of limited government that had given birth to the Constitution. Instead, Progressives promoted a governmental model rooted in French revolutionary claims. They replaced a Constitution designed to mediate among society's different geographic and socioeconomic groups with a body of quasi-laws commanding the democratic reformation of society. Pursuit of this Progressive vision has become ingrained in American legal and political culture-at the cost, according to Frohnen and Carey, of the constitutional safeguards that preserve the rule of law.