Podcasts about rights institute

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 world-changing document, we are pleased to welcome back a fan-favorite guest, Tony Williams.  Tony is a senior fellow at the Bill of Rights Institute and prolific author of such books as “Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America.”

What if the real division in America isn't between Republicans and Democrats, Red States vs Blue States, or liberals and conservatives but between the American people and a small group of the political elite whose function is to divide the rest of us?  Tony Woodlief joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to discuss how we may not be as divided as we think and how federalism holds the solution to many of the policy battles of the moment.   About Tony Woodlief Excerpts from Tony's bio in the State Policy Network and on his author page:   Tony Woodlief is State Policy Network's Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow for SPN's Center for Practical Federalism. He helps oversee SPN operations, supports SPN's president in her guidance of the leadership team, and helps ensure the organization's projects and programs measure success, evolve as SPN grows, and maintain alignment with our vision and mission.   Tony previously served as president of the Bill of Rights Institute, and before that the Market-Based Management Institute. He has also served as president of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. An alumnus of the University of North Carolina, he has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan, and an MFA from Wichita State University. Tony has appeared in media outlets including Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, National Review, and C-SPAN's Washington Journal.   Tony Woodlief is also an author. His short fiction has appeared in Image, Reckon Review, Ruminate, Dappled Things, and elsewhere. His story “Name” received a Pushcart Honorable Mention in 2010, and was included in Image Journal's 25th anniversary anthology. Tony's spiritual memoir, Somewhere More Holy, was listed among Image's top ten works of 2010. His most recent book is the novel We Shall Not All Sleep.   Tony is also the author of I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance. In writing I, Citizen, Tony conducted extensive research on American public opinion to find out what Americans believe and uncover the source of their political animosities. Through his research, Tony discovered that America is more united than divided, despite what the pundits tell us, and traced the source of our perceived animosity to a small minority of dedicated partisans within the political establishment of Washington, DC. I, Citizen tells the story of how these partisans have created the myth of a divided America and how they've concentrated power in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and partisan elites, and offers practical solutions for how we can reclaim our right to self-governance by focusing on solutions and commonalities closer to home.  

Robert Morris is one of the lesser-mentioned founding fathers of the U.S. When he is mentioned, he is called the financier of the Revolutionary War. But his story is more complicated than that. Research: “18th Century Currency.” Valley Forge National Historical Park. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=42877E64-155D-451F-67DACC05A2515349 Bill of Rights Institute. “Stamp Act Resistance.” https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/stamp-act-resistance Currot, Nicholas A, and Tyler A. Watts. “WHAT CAUSED THE RECESSION OF 1797?” Studies in Applied Economics, No.48. February 2016. Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and Study of Business Enterprise. https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/files/2017/04/Curott_Watts_Recession_of_1797.pdf Dencklau, Jason. “Robert Morris.” George Washington’s Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/robert-morris The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Robert Morris". Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Jan. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Morris-American-statesman The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Stamp Act". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Dec. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Stamp-Act-Great-Britain-1765 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Constitutional Convention". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Jan. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Constitutional-Convention Ferguson, E. James. “Business, Government, and Congressional Investigation in the Revolution.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 3, 1959, pp. 294–318. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1916947 “Money in Colonial Times.” Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. https://www.philadelphiafed.org/education/money-in-colonial-times Rappleye, Charles. “Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution.” New York. Simon & Schuster. 2010. “Robert Morris.” American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/robert-morris Rosenwald, Michael. “‘Grand inquisitors of the realm’: How Congress got its power to investigate and subpoena.” Washington Post. March 11, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/11/grand-inquisitors-realm-how-congress-got-its-power-investigate-subpoena/ “The Stamp Act and the American colonies 1763-67.” UK parliament. https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/parliament-and-the-american-colonies-before-1765/the-stamp-act-and-the-american-colonies-1763-67/#:~:text=The%20British%20needed%20to%20station,publications%20circulating%20in%20the%20colonies. “To George Washington from Robert Morris, 2 July 1781.” National Archives. Founders Online. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-06271 “To George Washington from Robert Morris, 8 February 1790.” National Archives. Founders Online. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-05-02-0062 “Stamp Act of 1765.” American Battlefield Trust. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/stamp-act-1765?ms=nav&ms=qr See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recording on Bill of Rights Day, this conversation with David Bobb from the Bill of Rights Institute covers the importance - both historical and ongoing - of the first ten amendments to the US Constitution.

Why does Constituting America do the work we do in educating young people about the U.S. Constitution and our country's founding principles?  Think about this.  According to our guest, in a spectral analysis of the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson's original draft, he wrote “our fellow subjects.”  In the draft we all know, he used “our fellow citizens.”  The difference in that word is remarkable.  It shows the change in thinking that we were once subjects to a government but now we are citizens who can dictate our government so that it works for us.  Constituting America exists to educate our next generation so they can understand the importance in that shift in mindset.  Our guest argues that a solid civic education is needed to maintain that free society of citizens, not subjects.  Join our all-star student panel and this week's; guest, Kirk Higgins, Vice President of Content at the Bill of Rights Institute, for this discussion on educating our next generation.

Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan (D-Ohio District 14) says being a voice for Ohio's educators in the statehouse has been one of the greatest honors of his life. The OEA-Retired member taught in Parma City Schools right up until went to the Ohio House after winning election in 2022. Now, as the OEA member-recommended candidate seeks another term in the General Assembly, Rep. Brennan is reminding educators across Ohio that their voices are crucial in this election. He joins us for this episode to share his thoughts about what he has achieved in office so far, and what he still is working to do, including securing financial support for student teachers, among other aims.  LEARN MORE ABOUT WHERE REP. BRENNAN STANDS | Visit brennanforohio.com to learn more about Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan's campaign for re-election and where he stands on the issues. Click here to read why Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer have endorsed Rep. Brennan for re-election. It reads, in part: "The residents of the Ohio House District 14, which comprises Parma, Parma Heights and parts of Old Brooklyn and Brooklyn Centre in Cleveland, have a treasure in Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan. If they are wise, they will send him back to Columbus for a second term."MAKE A PLAN TO VOTE | Election Day is November 5, 2024. Now is the time to make your plan to vote, whether early in-person at your county board of elections location beginning October 7th, absentee by mail, or in-person on Election Day at your local polling location. Early in-person voting ends November 3. Mailed absentee ballots must be postmarked by November 4. Check your voter registration and find your local polling place at VoteOhio.govSUBSCRIBE | Click here to subscribe to Public Education Matters on Apple Podcasts or click here to listen on Spotify so you don't miss a thing. You can also find Public Education Matters on many other platforms, including YouTube. Click here for links for other platforms so you can listen anywhere. And don't forget you can listen to all of the previous episodes anytime on your favorite podcast platform, or by clicking here.SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK | OEA members have been weighing in on the Public Education Matters podcast and on podcasts in general to help shape the future of OEA's podcast. More feedback is always welcome! Please email educationmatters@ohea.org or complete the podcast survey here.Featured Public Education Matters guest: Ohio Rep. Sean Patrick Brennan, D-District 14State Representative Sean Patrick Brennan has dedicated his life to public service. He firmly believes that his story informs his calling to public service and proves that the American Dream survives. After his father abandoned his family, his strong mother modeled the importance of family and the satisfaction of a hard day's work, making their trailer a home and utilizing public assistance only as needed. Sadly, his mother later suffered through an abusive relationship. As a result, Rep. Brennan was blessed when his loving grandmother took him in to help tend the family farm and focus on his studies.Brennan went on to attend the University of Dayton where he graduated summa cum laude earning a Bachelor's Degree in International Studies concentrating in Russian and Soviet Studies. While there, he fell in love with Deena Denk from Parma, where they currently reside and raised their two beautiful children. He has also completed graduate-level coursework in history, political science, economics, and pedagogy at several colleges and universities and has a Master's Degree in Secondary School Administration from Cleveland State University. Brennan's scholarly activities involve projects on the subjects of the U.S. Constitution, religious freedom in America, and various other American political and historical topics at George Washington's Mount Vernon, James Madison's Montpelier, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, the University of Oxford in England, George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the Bill of Rights Institute in Arlington, Virginia, and the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University.Brennan served as an award-winning public school teacher for three decades, as well as a Parma councilman for nearly two decades, including over a decade as the at-large elected President of Council and the Public Housing Board of Ohio's 7th largest city. He is active in civic, professional, and charitable organizations, which include founder and board member of the Andrew Boyko Scholarship Foundation, St. Charles Borromeo Parish lector and adult server, Friends of Parma Libraries life member, founder of the Parma Peanut Butter Drive benefitting All Faiths Pantry, founder and past adviser of the Parma Youth Commission, advisory board member of Big Creek Connects, member of West Creek Conservancy, Parma Historical Society, the City Club of Cleveland, German Central Foundation, National Education Association, Ohio Education Association and Northeast Ohio Education Association.An avid runner and advocate of healthy living, Brennan has completed more than 110 marathons, as well as countless other smaller running events. His love of running led to his creation of the annual Parma Run-Walk for Pierogies, which has raised thousands of dollars for local charities. Among other projects, his charitable work led to the creation of the script Parma sign which was subsequently donated to the City of Parma and adorns Anthony Zielinski Park and raising thousands of dollars to assist residents whose incomes were negatively impacted by the pandemic.Connect with OEA:Email educationmatters@ohea.org with your feedback or ideas for future Public Education Matters topicsLike OEA on FacebookFollow OEA on TwitterFollow OEA on InstagramGet the latest news and statements from OEA hereLearn more about where OEA stands on the issues Keep up to date on the legislation affecting Ohio public schools and educators with OEA's Legislative WatchAbout us:The Ohio Education Association represents nearly 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio's schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio's children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every posi...

Justin Goldstein, Director of Corporate Relations at the Bill of Rights Institute, joins Deborah Corn to discuss the Institute's mission, why civics education is essential to democracy, and how you can support the Power of the Printed Word initiative. Mentioned in This Episode: Justin Goldstein, CAE: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingoldstein/ Bill of Rights Institute: https://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/ Power of the Printed Word: https://billofrightsinstitute.org/power-of-the-printed-word Donate Pocket Constitutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuiATQimXRU&t=2s Incubate Debate: https://incubatedebate.org/ Deborah Corn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahcorn/ Print Media Centr: https://printmediacentr.com Partner with Print Media Centr: https://printmediacentr.com/partnerships/ Subscribe to News From The Printerverse: https://printmediacentr.com/subscribe-2 Project Peacock: https://ProjectPeacock.TV Girls Who Print: https://girlswhoprint.net

MyImpact Challenge is a civic engagement contest hosted by the Bill of Rights Institute. Eligibility: Submission is open to US citizens and US-based young people who are between the ages of 13 and 19 and enrolled in middle or high school on January 1, 2025. Submission is open to students in all U.S. states, territories, and Armed Forces Schools Abroad. Application Requirements: My Conversation with Rachel Davison Humphries, Senior Director of Civic Learning Initiatives at the Bill of Rights Institute Listen to my exclusive interview with Rachel to learn all about the MyImpact Challenge here: 1× 0:00       -17:31   Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Scholarship GPS is a Proud Sponsor of the MyImpact Challenge! Introducing Scholarship GPS, an innovative online course that provides you with the knowledge and skills needed to secure valuable scholarships. The course features concise video lessons designed to seamlessly fit into your busy schedule, allowing you to learn at your own pace. Throughout the course, you'll acquire essential scholarship skills, including: - How to identify the best scholarships based on your student's profile - Tips and best practices for scholarship applications, essays, and projects - The importance of crafting your student's Personal Narrative, a key element in winning scholarships Additionally, you will have access to helpful tools such as: - A scholarship tracking tool preloaded with quick and easy no-essay scholarships for immediate application - A scholarship checklist template to ensure completion of applications - An activity log to track your student's volunteer experiences In addition to the valuable scholarship information, what sets Scholarship GPS apart is the inclusion of bonus lessons from trusted professionals, offering expert insights into college admissions, test preparation, and other crucial aspects of college readiness. By enrolling in this program, you will gain valuable information about scholarships and a comprehensive overview of college preparation. Plus, the Scholarship GPS Program has been updated with a lesson on how to leverage your work for MyImpact Challenge for many other scholarships, college applications, and more! To celebrate the launch of MyImpactChallenge, use discount code MYIMPACT to take 50% off the regular price of the Scholarship GPS Course. Don't delay — the discount code MYIMPACT expires on September 30, 2024. So, go to www.scholarshipgps.com/scholarship-gps to start your scholarship journey today!

In this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast, Tom Vander Ark is joined by Rachel Davison Humphries, Senior Director of Civic Learning Initiative at the Bill of Rights Institute. They explore the urgent need for robust civics education amidst a rapidly evolving socio-political landscape. Rachel emphasizes the role of civics in strengthening community ties and fostering democratic dispositions in students. The conversation also explores innovative ways to integrate civics across curricula, the state of civics education, and the invaluable resources provided by the Bill of Rights Institute to support teachers. This episode is a must-listen for educators, administrators, and anyone passionate about preparing students for active and informed citizenship! Outline Introduction to civics education The State of Civics Education Integrating Civics Across the Curriculum The Role of the Bill of Rights Institute Advice for Civics Teachers Links: Watch the full episode here View the full blog here Bill of Rights Institute Rachel Davison Humphries My Impact Challenge Stories from Winners of the My Impact Challenge Subscribe to our newsletter  

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute - SERI - says only 35 families of the 37 mineworkers who were killed in Marikana in August 2012 have been compensated for their financial loss by the state. it has been 12 years to the day.... since the murders of 34 mineworkers at the infamous Koppie . At least 10 people including mineworkers, police officers and security guards were killed in the days preceding the massacre. According to SERI, there have been no prosecutions for the murders that happened on that fateful day....the 16th of August 2012..SABC reporter,Thabiso Moss compiled the following report...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Kirk Higgins, the Senior Director of Content at the Bill of Rights Institute, tells the story of one of the most harrowing bus journeys of all time, the couragous men and women who went on it, and the mob that attacked them for wanting to ride as equals to each other. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lindsay and Emily from Pineapple Pizza Podcast discuss The Colfax Massacre, as well as why the Reconstruction Era , that there's a big difference between a “riot” and a “massacre,” and how to not to whitewash history. Information pulled from the following sources: 2024 Free Speech Center article by John R. Vile 2023 NBC News article by Claretta Bellamy 2023 Smithsonian Magazine article by Danny Lewis 2020 Daily Kos article by Denise Oliver Velez Bill of Rights Institute article by Julie Silverbrook Britannica Colfax Memorial History Channel United States Senate article Wikipedia Go check out our friends Alecia and Sierra over at Twisted and Uncorked podcast. Send us your listener questions to bit.ly/AskYOC. Become a member on Buy Me A Coffee for as little as $1/month to support the show.  Get your groceries and essentials delivered in as fast as 1 hour via Instacart. Free delivery on your first 3 orders. Min $10 per order. Terms apply. You can write to us at: Ye Olde Crime Podcast, PO Box 341, Wyoming, MN 55092. Join the conversation over at the Cultiv8 Discord and join the Olde Crimers Cubby to chat with us and other listeners of the show. Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Audible, or Goodpods! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Winning a war was just the beginning for George Washington's service to our new country.  After retiring to Mount Vernon post-war, Washington saw a weakness in our country under the Articles of Confederation.  He felt the future of republican democratic self-government globally was dependent on the American experiment.  If it were to fail in that perfect post-war moment, man was probably not destined to govern himself. Washington's views on what the government should look like can seem to be contradictory in that he wanted a strong central government, as opposed to what the country had under the Articles of Confederation, but he also wanted the National government to be limited.  Rather than contradictory, this reveals a principled man.  To discuss Washington's vision for the country with our student panel, we are delighted to welcome back Tony Williams, Senior Teaching Fellow with the Bill of Rights Institute for this historical conversation.

The architect of the March on Washington and co-author of Dr. King's memoir was a mentor to the great civil rights martyr. But he was nearly hidden from history—largely by choice.Starring: J. Holtham as Bayard Rustin and Anthony Obi as Martin Luther King, Jr. Also featuring: Miles Grose, Matt Gourley, and Jesse Thorn. Source List:The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Bayard Rustin, To Bayard Rustin, Glenn E. Smiley, From Bayard Rustin, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Address at NAACP Mass Rally for Civil RightsFacing History & Ourselves, Brother Outsider: Remembering Gay Civil Rights Leader Bayard RustinLambda Legal, 67 Years Later, Bayard Rustin's California Arrest and Jail Time Have Been PardonedJewish News Syndicate, Bayard Rustin (1912-1987)Bill of Rights Institute, Bayard Rustin, Nonviolence vs. Jim Crow, 1942PBS.org., Who Designed the March on Washington?The Weekly Challenger, The FBI Plot to Bring Down the Gay Man Behind the March on WashingtonMaking Gay History, Bayard RustinWashington Blade, Looking Back: 50 Years of the BladeThe Washington Post, Bayard Rustin, Organizer of the March on Washington, Was Crucial to the Movement, In ‘I Must Resist,' Bayard Rustin Lived a Life with No Apologies Montgomery Advertiser, 21, 22, 23, & 24 February 1956Cross Country Solidarity, The Montgomery Bus Boycott: The Full StoryLA Times, Glenn Smiley; Advised King on NonviolenceThe Guardian, When Martin Luther King Gave Up His GunsWhy a Gay, Black Civil Rights Hero Opposed Affirmative ActionMalcolm X and Bayard Rustin Debate on WBAICivilRights.org, Bayard Rustin and the Presidential Medal of Freedom: A Perfect FitYale Law School, Bayard Rustin CentennialResearchgate.net, Arrest Record for Bayard RustinAdam Clayton Powell Jr.Beacon Broadside, Roy Wilkins's Reluctant Tribute to W.E.B. Du BoisLegal Defense Fund, Brown v. Board of EducationGreensboro.com, Thurmond, FBI Had Close Ties, Records ShowThe New York Times, Negro Rally Aide Rebuts SenatorI Must Resist, Bayard Rustin's Life In Letters, Ed. Michael Long, City Lights Books, ©2012Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio, Free Press/Simon & Schuster, ©2003ALABAMA V. KING, By Dan Abrams and Fred Grey with David Fisher, Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd., ©2022 Martin Luther King, Jr., Homosexuality, and the Early Gay Rights Movement By Michael Long, First published by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, a division of St. Martin's Press, ©2012Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David J Garrow, ©1986, Edition published 2015 by Open Road Media 

In the year 2026, America will celebrate its 250th anniversary as a country. It has been nearly 250 years since our founders declared their independence from Great Britain, and fought a war to secure our independence. What preparations are underway to celebrate this anniversary? And what is worth celebrating in America's past, present, and future? President and CEO of the Bill of Rights Institute, David Bobb joins the show to give us the rundown.

Today marks 232 years since the Bill of Rights was ratified. Those first 10 rights have protected Americans from government overreach for hundreds of years. But today... polls show that young people are more and more willing to give them up. David Bobb from the Bill of Rights Institute joins to discuss how supporting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is the responsibility of all Americans.

Samuel Underhill is a genz activator. He is the executive director of ActivateGenZ, which is a student-led organization connecting young Americans to civic opportunities ranging from internships to volunteering to scholarships and paid opportunities. Samuel was a student fellow with the Bill of Rights Institute and is currently a student at the University of Alabama.  https://activategenz.org/ ... https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14341321/ ...  https://www.linkedin.com/in/indyrishisingh/  

Listen to this segment of The Annie Frey Show where Annie is joined by Brooke Goldstein, Executive Director of The The Lawfare Project, Founder and Director of the Children's Rights Institute, and author of End Jew Hatred: A Manual for Mobilization. She discusses the open border issues, group-think in universities, and the rise of Antisemitism is the U.S.

In hour 3 of The Annie Frey Show, Annie and the crew go live to the Speaker of the House election. Later, Annie is joined by Brooke Goldstein, Executive Director of The The Lawfare Project, Founder and Director of the Children's Rights Institute, and author of End Jew Hatred: A Manual for Mobilization. She discusses the open border issues, group-think in universities, and the rise of Antisemitism is the U.S. They wrap up the hour continuing the Speaker of the House talk.

In this episode, we celebrate our National birthday of 247 years!  Happy Independence Day America 2023

In drafting the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson put a specific emphasis on natural law and weaved that theme throughout the entire document.  While the Declaration of Independence did not create the new United States government. it severed ties with our previous government so a new one could be formed, and set out important principles upon which our new government would be based. What exactly is natural law, of which Jefferson so eloquently wrote?  How do we “know” these “self-evident” truths?  From what further historical inspiration did Jefferson derive the Declaration Independence?  To help us unravel the philosophical foundation of this groundbreaking document, we are pleased to have Tony Williams, author and Senior Teaching Fellow at the Bill of Rights Institute, returning to join our student panel as we begin a new series on the timeless principles of the American founding.

Some of the most talented civics students in Utah have been working on projects to apply their civics knowledge and benefit their communities. They're showcasing their work at Utah Valley University tomorrow in conjunction with the Bill of Rights Institute. Stan Swim from the Bill of Rights Institute joins to discuss the impact civics students can have in their communities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next episode available from Monday, June 12th with guest Dr. Sarah Zenaida Gould How do Museums Advance History and Social Change?

IntroductionIf you ask the average American on the street what religious freedom is, you will get all sorts of different ideas. Some places, you will hear: “keep your religion to yourself. Haven't you heard of the separation of Church and State?” Others might answer: “People are free to believe whatever they want. Who am I to judge if they're right or not?” Still others might claim that religious freedom means the ability to pray privately however you want.None of these are what religious freedom actually is specifically. But it should also be noted that the American constitutional notion of religious freedom is not precisely what the Catholic Church holds religious freedom to be. And, so, the object of today's exploration is to look at what religious freedom is in the United States of America. Then, more importantly, to view what religious freedom is, in principle, as defined by the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council. Separation of Church and StateThe First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, the first of the ten amendments which comprise the Bill of Rights, adopted on December 15, 1791, reads thusly:“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”For our purposes we will focus on the first phrase: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” This is known as the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.I do not have the time or space here to provide an exhaustive account of American jurisprudence on the matter of religious liberty. But, I do want to draw out a few key moments in American History where this question came up and which will give us a clearer view of what religious freedom is.Thomas Jefferson's Danbury LetterIn a letter to the Danbury Baptists, Thomas Jefferson wrote:“GentlemenThe affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem (Danbury Letter).”He wrote this letter in response to a letter from the Danbury Baptists in order to explain his views on federalism and the meaning of the Establishment Clause. The main meaning of his “wall of separation between Church & State” is an assurance that the government would not interfere with the church of the Danbury Baptists or give special treatment to any particular religion or sect. Justice Hugo Black, an appointee of Franklin Roosevelt to the Supreme Court, would even refer later to the Danbury explanation as an “almost authoritative declaration” of the Founders' intent for the Establishment Clause (cf. Bill of Rights Institute).Two days after sending this letter, though, Jefferson attended a religious service in the House of Representatives location in the Capitol. As Daniel Roeber notes: “Jefferson and others recognized the benefits of developing a national identity that transcended interdenominational division (Roeber).” Yet, since 1795, public worship was administered at the partially completed Capitol Building each Sunday at noon (cf. ibid).Religious liberty was the motivation of the Plymouth Pilgrims and many Catholics who settled in Maryland. However, the colonial period was far from united on religious matters. Protestant sects disagreed amongst themselves. Catholics were seen as untrustworthy papists of low social stature. Jewish people were tolerated, at best. The nascent country needed an identity which transcended these divisions. The importance of developing a national identity was something that would take over a hundred years more as most identified most readily with their own state. Lemon V. Kurtzman and the Three Pronged Test (1971)Let us now skip forward quite a bit to 1971. In that year, a case was brought to the Supreme Court in which the Court considered whether a law in Pennsylvania violated the Establishment Clause. The law reimbursed religious schools with state funds for textbooks and salaries for teachers for non-public, non-secular schools. The Court responded 8-0 with a three-pronged test for determining whether a given statute is constitutional. The government may assist religion only if:* The primary purpose of the assistance is secular* The assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion, and * There is no excessive entanglement between church and stateIn this specific case, the Pennsylvania law was struck down because of excessive entanglement between church and state. It is worth noticing here what is implicit: there is nothing wrong, in the American understanding, with some implicit entanglement between Church and State. The issue, ultimately, is when the line is crossed towards “excessive.”Marsh v. Chambers (1983)The Nebraska legislature opened each of its sessions with a publicly funded chaplain offering a prayer. The Supreme Court, in Marsh v. Chambers (1983) determined that this was NOT a violation of the Establishment Clause. Though this instance does not pass the “Lemon” three-pronged test, the Justices argued that there is a long historical custom going back to the Continental Congress and the very Congress that resulted in the Bill of Rights. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote: “In light of the unambiguous and unbroken history of more than 200 years, there can be no doubt that the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer has become part of the fabric of our society. To invoke Divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making the laws is not, in these circumstances, an ‘establishment' of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country (Citation: 463 US 783).”As we saw with the Capitol Building services, there is not a strict and non-transversable wall of separation of Church and State. Other Supreme Court CasesI now want to walk through several other Supreme Court cases that touched on religious liberty. Again, this list is not exhaustive, but it can help us round out our picture.Reynolds v. United States (1879)In 1879, in Reynolds v. United States, the Court upheld a federal law banning polygamy. They claimed that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment forbids government from regulating belief but that government can nonetheless punish acts which it judges to be criminal, regardless of religious belief.Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)As of 1961, the State of Maryland had a requirement that a candidate for public office needed to declare that they believed in God in order to be eligible for the position. Unanimously, in Torcaso v. Watkins, the Court agreed that this gives preference to believers who were willing to publicly profess; therefore, Maryland was aiding theistic religions and beliefs overr atheistic ones.Engel v. Vitale (1962)In the 1962 case Engel v. Vitale, the Court ruled 6-1 that a New York prayer to begin the school day was unconstitutional and in violation of the Establishment Clause despite being a nondenominational prayer. Abington v. Schempp & Murray v. Curlett (1963)The following year in 1963, the Court heard the case of Abington v. Schempp and the related case of Murray v. Curlett. In both cases, public schools were involving students in daily Bible readings and in the latter case of the daily recitation of the Lord's Prayer. Both of these cases were seen as violating both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)In 1972, Amish parents sued the State of Wisconsin for requiring that their children attend school until the age of 16. The unanimous decision held that the Amish teens were exempt from the state law of requiring 14 to 16 year olds to attend school because the Amish religion required a living apart from worldly influences. In other words, though it was in the state's interest that the children receive two years more schooling, this did not outweigh the free exercise of the religion of the Amish.McDaniel v. Paty (1978)A Tennessee law barring clergymen from serving in public office was challenged in 1978 in McDaniel v. Paty. The Court unanimously ruled that this law was a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment (as well as the Fourteenth Amendment) because it made holding public office contingent on surrendering religious beliefs. Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993)In 1993, the Court heard Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. There were ordinances passed by the city of Hialeah, Florida that banned animal sacrifice. These laws were not written in a neutral and generally applicable way. They specifically targeted Santeria, a Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba and some Catholic elements. Because animal sacrifice is an important part of Santeria, the Court ruled that the ordinances were designed as a form of religious persecution in violation of the Free Exercise Clause.  Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000)The Sante Fe Independent School District of Texas in 2000 had a policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games. In a 6-3 decision, the Court upheld an appellate court's ruling that this was a violation of the Establishment Clause. The school district tried to argue that because it was student led and initiated, it was private speech, and, thus, protected under the First Amendment. However, Justice John Paul Stevens argued that it was not private speech because it was done over the P.A. system, by a student body representative, under school faculty supervision, and under school policy. Also, it did not pass the “Lemon” test because it did not have a secular purpose and was implemented with the purpose of endorsing school prayer.Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2004)California's Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow in 2004 investigated the policy requiring each elementary school class to say the Pledge of Allegiance daily. Michael Newdow, a father of one of the students, challenged this because of the words therein contained of “under God.” Because Newdow did not have custody of the child, he did not have standing to bring the case to court. However, in concurring opinions, Justices William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Clarence Thomas, said that the words “under God” do NOT violate the Establishment Clause.As the Bill of Rights Institute reports:“Further, they noted, ‘the phrase ‘under God' in the Pledge seems, as a historical matter, to sum up the attitude of the Nation's leaders, and to manifest itself in many of our public observances. Examples of patriotic invocations of God and official acknowledgments of religion's role in our Nation's history abound.' They concluded that ‘the recital, in a patriotic ceremony pledging allegiance to the flag and to the Nation, of the descriptive phrase ‘under God' cannot possibly lead to the establishment of a religion, or anything like it' (Bill of Rights Institute).”Van Orden v. Perry (2005)In a similar case in Van Orden V. Perry in 2005, in a 5-4 decision, the Court determined that a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments on Texas State Capitol grounds did not violate the Establishment Clause. There were 38 other monuments on the grounds and highlighted different parts of Texan history. Justice William Rehnquist argued that the monument had a religious message, however, it was presented in a context showing that:“[a] secular moral message about proper standards of social conduct and a message about the historic relation between those standards and the law.” Therefore, the religious message is part of a broader context of cultural heritage and patrimony of the people of Texas. Teaching Evolution in SchoolsThere are two Supreme Court cases worth looking at briefly which discuss the teaching of evolution in schools. Generally, there is a perceived discrepancy of considerable magnitude between the theory of evolution and the evidence for creation from the Book of Genesis. I am not getting into that minefield right now, but these cases show how religious liberty and the government of the United States interact.Epperson v. Arkansas (1968)In Epperson v. Arkansas in 1968, Arkansas passed a law saying that public school teachers were banned from teaching evolution because it was in contradiction with the Bible account of creation.Justice Abe Fortas wrote in the majority opinion:“In the present case, there can be no doubt that Arkansas has sought to prevent its teachers from discussing the theory of evolution because it is contrary to the belief of some that the Book of Genesis must be the exclusive source of doctrine as to the origin of man. No suggestion has been made that Arkansas' law may be justified by considerations of state policy other than the religious views of some of its citizens (Epperson v. Arkansas).”He continued to argue that the law of Arkansas is clearly not a religiously neutral act. Instead it was the targeting of a particular theory on Biblical grounds, literally read. Therefore, it is a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)Nineteen years later in Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987, the Court examined a Louisiana law forbidding the teaching of the theory of evolution in public schools unless it was accompanied by an equal treatment of creationism. In a 7-2 decision, the Court declared that this law violated the Establishment Clause because it failed all three parts of the “Lemon” test. It lacked secular purpose, endorsed the view that a supernatural being created mankind, and it entangled the interests of Church and State by seeking “to employ the symbolic and financial support of government to achieve a religious purpose (Citation: 482 US 578).”The American View of Religious LibertyIn sum, the evolution of religious liberty in the United States has its basis on the cultural milieu of the time. In the colonial period and in the early days of the country, there were few true atheists. Deism was exceptionally popular, but even Deists acknowledge a belief in the Creator. So, a nondenominational prayer to the Creator at the state of a session of Congress was a forgone conclusion. Since that time, the United States of America has become far more cultural, religiously, and politically diverse. As a result of this undeniable diversity, it cannot be said that the United States is currently a Judeo-Christian nation, even if the case can strongly be made that it began that way. Private speech and religious practice is unambiguously protected. However, as we have seen, the nature of the public exercise of religion is questioned when public funds are in the mix. Each of the examples mentioned above, and where problems usually arise, is in publicly-funded schools, government property or buildings, and in relation to public office. However, the Supreme Court has upheld that religious beliefs which are not criminal are protected in the public sphere. A religious person need not check their religion at the door when engaging in public matters (and how could they, really). The First Amendment of the Constitution protects all Americans against the establishment of any one religion to the competition or detriment of any others. Any law which would exclude a person from public life on the basis of religion is unconstitutional. And the free exercise of religion is safeguarded and held in a careful balance with the interests of all other religions, beliefs, and ideas. This reality is a blessing and a curse for Catholics. On the one hand, we have freedom to boldly speak the truth without fear of legal reprisal, within due limits. Yet, on the other hand, there is a bland tolerance of false religions and ideas antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church.The Church's View of Religious FreedomAll of that being said, what is the Catholic view of religious freedom? Is it precisely the American view or are there significant differences? When I speak to American Catholics about this question, there is no real sense of a firm understanding of the Church on the matter. And, frankly, when people read the official Church teaching, they do not understand the nuances offered there. I am going to do my best to help shed some light on the subject! Dignitatis HumanaeOn December 7, 1965, Pope St. Paul VI promulgated a Declaration on Religious Freedom which is one of the sixteen documents of the Second Vatican Council. Dignitatis Humanae (DH) is only fifteen paragraph sections long and is highly worth reading in its entirety. What I will offer here is a brief summary and the main conclusions. In the interest of keeping this to the point, I am going to be looking at three questions:* What is religious freedom in the eyes of the Catholic Church?* Why is religious freedom based on human dignity?* How has God revealed religious liberty?What is religious freedom in the eyes of the Catholic Church?God has made Himself known to man, shown us how we are to serve Him, and how we are saved in Christ and come to eternal blessedness. The Church unequivocally affirms in Dignitatis Humanae that:“We believe that this one true religion subsists in the Catholic and Apostolic Church, to which the Lord Jesus committed the duty of spreading it abroad among all men. Thus He spoke to the Apostles: ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have enjoined upon you' (Matt. 28: 19-20) (DH, 1).”Many of those who are suspicious of the Second Vatican Council read this not as the full throated profession of Christ and His Church that it is. Instead, they read the word “subsist” in an uncharitable and ignorant way. We could say that the one true religion IS the Catholic and Apostolic Church, but subsists is actually a richer word. Subsists means to begin in a certain way and remain in that way. In other words, there is no true religion apart from the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, as our Lord began it and has constantly sustained it to this day. The Church which, of course, is His own Mystical Body.The Council Fathers continue:“On their part, all men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and His Church, and to embrace the truth they come to know, and to hold fast to it (DH, 1).”Elsewhere in Vatican II in the documents Lumen Gentium and Ad Gentes we hear: “Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved… The bonds which bind men to the Church in a visible way are profession of faith, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical government and communion. He is not saved, however, who, though part of the body of the Church, does not persevere in charity. He remains indeed in the bosom of the Church, but, as it were, only in a ‘bodily' manner and not ‘in his heart' (LG, 14).”For those who claim that Vatican II is weak on doctrine and the truth and is overly ambiguous or some other such nonsense, it is abundantly clear that they never read the documents or they have read them in an uncharitable and ignorant way.At any rate, all of this being said, what is religious freedom? The Council Fathers write:“Religious freedom, in turn, which men demand as necessary to fulfill their duty to worship God, has to do with immunity from coercion in civil society. Therefore it leaves untouched traditional Catholic doctrine on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ (DH, 1).”So, the moral duty of man towards the Catholic Church remains untouched by religious freedom. What is vital to understand the Church's view is that phrase: “immunity from coercion in civil society.” That is the key. A more substantial definition is then given, with very official verbiage:“This Vatican Council declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits (DH, 2).”The Church has always held to this doctrine. We know, for example, that the Church has always condemned forced conversions as illegitimate and compelled baptisms as invalid. As St. John Paul II often said: the Faith is always proposed, not imposed.'Why is religious freedom based on human dignity?This right to religious freedom is rooted in human dignity. The Church even calls for this right to be enshrined in constitutional law throughout the world. Our human dignity points to the fact that God endowed man with reason and free will and therefore personal responsibility. We are impelled by human nature and bound by moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. Once we know the truth, we are bound to adhere to it and order our lives towards it. The Church declares that religious freedom is thus necessary because:“... men cannot discharge these obligations in a manner in keeping with their own nature unless they enjoy immunity from external coercion as well as psychological freedom (DH, 2).”There is no love without freedom, there is no seeking of the truth without freedom. So, religious freedom does not belong to feelings and subjective disposition. No. It belongs to the very nature of the human person. Faith comes from what is heard. And as truth is discovered, “it is by a personal assent that men are to adhere to it,” to use another phrase from Dignitatis Humanae (DH, 2). Personal though this assent is, religious freedom also extends to religious communities. They should not be hindered:“either by legal measures or by administrative action on the part of government, in the selection, training, appointment, and transferral of their own ministers, in communicating with religious authorities and communities abroad, in erecting buildings for religious purposes, and in the acquisition and use of suitable funds or properties (DH, 4).”Nor should they be hindered from public teaching and witness of faith, whether spoken or written. As the preeminent religious community, all of these freedoms belong to the family as well.How has God revealed religious liberty?In Divine Revelation, the doctrine of religious freedom finds its roots. The Council Fathers write:“Revelation does not indeed affirm in so many words the right of man to immunity from external coercion in matters religious. It does, however, disclose the dignity of the human person in its full dimensions (DH, 9).”First and foremost, man's response to God in faith must be free for it to be legitimate. No one can be forced to become Catholic. The act of faith is a free act. Forcing someone to love is not love at all. As Dignitatis Humanae states:“It is therefore completely in accord with the nature of faith that in matters religious every manner of coercion on the part of men should be excluded. In consequence, the principle of religious freedom makes no small contribution to the creation of an environment in which men can without hindrance be invited to the Christian faith, embrace it of their own free will, and profess it effectively in their whole manner of life (DH, 10).”God is very clear, however, in what He has revealed that we are to boldly proclaim the truth. Therefore, are we to be “tolerant” and “accepting” of other religions and simply have a bland indifference? Absolutely not! The Council Fathers write:“The disciple is bound by a grave obligation toward Christ, his Master, ever more fully to understand the truth received from Him, faithfully to proclaim it, and vigorously to defend it, never-be it understood-having recourse to means that are incompatible with the spirit of the Gospel. At the same time, the charity of Christ urges him to love and have prudence and patience in his dealings with those who are in error or in ignorance with regard to the faith (DH, 14).”Freedom from CoercionFreedom from coercion in religious matters is the crux of the Church's view of religious liberty. Really, it pertains directly to the establishing of an environment in which a person may freely seek and adhere to the one, true religion. Though there are elements of truth outside the Catholic Church, there is no salvation. If someone outside the visible bounds of the Church is saved, it is only by the superabundant merits of Jesus Christ and the instrumentality of the Catholic Church, the sacrament of salvation.We must not be indifferent. We must boldly preach the truth at all times. And we must not be afraid to stand up for these beliefs, even when it is inconvenient. In some contexts doing so can lead to our bodily martyrdom. In the United States of America, the constitutional order is more or less compatible with the free practice of the Catholic religion. However, we must be cognizant that there is a distinct difference between religious freedom in the American idea and the Catholic teaching.The American notion protects us, to an extent, but it is more geared to creating a national identity that transcends religion. This should make any faithful Catholic nervous because it is working. How many American Catholics do you know who are more concerned about being American Catholics than being Catholics who happen to be American? Religious freedom is freedom from coercion. Ultimately, it is freedom FOR the truth, FOR the Catholic Faith. We cannot forget this, lest we descend into a banal coexistence or tolerance without the drive to share the fullness of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot be indifferent and we cannot be content to allow anyone to stay in error. We must respect their right to religious freedom by not coercing them and respecting their journey, in good conscience. But the task and privilege of evangelization remains in full force. Get full access to Good Distinctions at www.gooddistinctions.com/subscribe

Lindsay and Madison discuss the Lowell Mill Girls, as well as how to improve upon poor working conditions, that you should never be afraid to fight for your rights, and that history has a funny way of continuing to be a bitch. Information pulled from the following sources: 2021 ThoughtCo article by Robert McNamara 2017 Atlas Obscura article by Cara Giaimo 1881 The Atlantic article by Lucy Larcom American Antiquarian Society American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations Bill of Rights Institute article by Edward G. Lengel National Park Service (1) Women & the American Story New-York Historical Society article Wikipedia (1) Go check out our friend Nicki over at the As the Money Burns podcast, which is part of the OSSA network. Get your groceries and essentials delivered in as fast as 1 hour via Instacart. Free delivery on your first 3 orders. Min $10 per order. Terms apply. Become a member on Buy Me A Coffee for as little as $1/month to support the show.  You can write to us at: Ye Olde Crime Podcast, PO Box 341, Wyoming, MN 55092. Join the conversation over at the Cultiv8 Discord and join the Olde Crimers Cubby to chat with us and other listeners of the show. Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, Spotify or Goodpods! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Youth in this country are becoming politically polarized as young as 11 years old according to recent studies out of Cambridge University.  And it's having an impact at home, in the classroom, and on society. David Bobb from the Bill of Rights Institute explains how social media has played a role and why we need to foster more civil discourse. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boyd expands on his conversation with David Bobb from the Bill of Rights Institute about how kids are becoming polarized at young ages. He discusses how we can combat this worrisome trend. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boyd shares his insights on National Bill of Rights Day with some help from David Bobb of the Bill of Rights Institute. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are kicking off a new series today focusing on the Bill of Rights.  Hopefully we all know the Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution and enshrine some of the most basic tenets of liberty and freedom we know today.  But what do we know beyond that?  What do we know about how it came to pass through ratification and the debate between the Federalists and Anti-federalists on this issue?  And why was James Madison, one of our country's Founders and Father of the Constitution so opposed to its passage initially, and how and why did he become its champion? Join our panel and returning guest Tony Williams with the Bill of Rights Institute for part 1 in our new series on the Bill of Rights.

Ralph Ellison wrote one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, Invisible Man. He was also a gifted essayist and in this episode we discuss two essays in particular: “The Little Man at Chehaw Station” and “What America Would be Like Without Blacks.” The former was first published in The American Scholar in the Winter 1977/78 issue. In my view it's one of the finest meditations on American identity ever written. That latter first appeared in Time magazine in April of 1970. They both appeared in a collection called Going to the Territory in 1986 and can also be found in The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison published by Modern Library.   We discuss the problem of aesthetic communication in American democracy, why the American condition is a “state of unease,” and the centrality of writing and our founding documents to American identity. Ellison loved both the traditional and the vernacular and was deeply attuned to how the interaction of these elements produced a complex cultural pluralism. Although written over 40 years ago, these essays seem quite timely. Consider this (from the “Little Man” essay): “In many ways, then, the call for a new social order based upon the glorification of ancestral blood and ethnic background acts as a call to cultural and aesthetic chaos. Yet while this latest farcical phase in the drama of American social hierarchy unfolds, the irrepressible movement of American culture toward the integration of its diverse elements continues, confounding the circumlocutions of its staunchest opponents.”   Our guests are Marc C. Conner and Lucas Morel. Marc Conner is President of Skidmore College (and Professor of English). Prior to coming to Skidmore in summer 2020, Marc was Provost and the Ballengee Professor of English at Washington and Lee University. His primary area of scholarship and teaching is literary modernism, both narrative and poetry, including Irish modernism, the modern American novel and African-American literature. He has authored and edited eight books, primarily about the work of Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, and James Joyce, including The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison, named one of the 100 notable books of the year by The New York Times. Lucas Morel is the John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics and Head of the Politics Department at Washington and Lee University. He is the author of Lincoln and the American Founding and Lincoln's Sacred Effort: Defining Religion's Role in American Self-Government. He's also edited two books on Ralph Ellison: Ralph Ellison and the Raft of Hope: A Political Companion to “Invisible Man” and more recently, The New Territory: Ralph Ellison and the Twenty-First Century (which he co-edited with Marc Conner). Dr. Morel conducts high school teacher workshops for the Ashbrook Center, Jack Miller Center, Gilder-Lehrman Institute, Bill of Rights Institute, and Liberty Fund.

The government will pay the 48 outstanding Marikana litigation by the end of this month - 10 years after the massacre. Solicitor General, Fhedzisani Pandelani says 48 cases are outstanding. Families of slain Marikana miners are suing the state and President Cyril Ramaphosa for a billion rand. Elvis Presslin spoke to Khuselwa Dyantyi, a Candidate Attorney at the Socio-economic Rights Institute, SERI, who is representing the 36 mine workers who were killed by police...

GUEST 1 OVERVIEW: Isaac Saul is a politics reporter and the founder of the independent, ad-free, non-partisan politics newsletter Tangle, where we summarize the best arguments from the right and left on the news of the day. GUEST 1 WEBSITE: https://readtangle.com   GUEST 2 OVERVIEW: Tony Woodlief is Executive Vice President at State Policy Network, which advocates practical federalism and catalyses thriving, durable freedom movements in the states. Previously he led the Bill of Rights Institute, the Market-Based Management Institute, and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Prior to those positions he worked for Koch Industries and the Charles Koch Foundation. Tony's essays on politics, faith, parenting, and culture have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Washington Post, and other publications, and he has appeared on Fox News, CSPAN, and radio programs across the U.S. His short fiction has appeared in Image, Ruminate, Saint Katherine Review, and elsewhere. An alumnus of the University of North Carolina, Tony holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan, and an MFA in creative writing from Wichita State University. He is the author of I, Citizen, a book about reclaiming American self-governance. GUEST 2 WEBSITE: https://tonywoodlief.com/ 

It is no longer a slippery slope fallacy to claim that after guns, they will come for metal knives, and after the metal knives, they will come for the plastic ones. Great Britain has seen a string of knife bans, to the point that it is not even legal to carry a knife if the authorities do not think that your reason is good enough. (Story from the hstoday.us below) The Church of England is literally using language like “pointy knifes” must be banned, letter below. To further the point, they are literally attempting to ban plastic cutlery for purposes of carbon footprint reduction (How will we prepare food at this rate?), again new story below. This may seem silly, but it is actually happening to knives. Many conservatives have been laughed at for even suggesting that this is the logical end of the gun debate, that all guns will be banned and knives will be next. We see that occurring in Britain in real time. When discussing the topic of Gun Control, one can easily run into the weeds of stats and lose the war for winning the battle. We need to remember from where does this type of ideology stem, and what has it produced. Note, I am a stats guy. I believe in knowing the facts, but that is only a small percentage of the conversation if you wish to win someone on the other side of the Gun Control Debate. Last week we discussed stats and common arguments, so now let's look at the origins of gun control and what the philosophy of gun control has produced in societies that have implemented it. In America, it bears merit to look at why gun control was even considered in a society that had recognized a citizen's common law right to own a firearm since the English Bill of Rights of 1688. This Bill of Rights, by the way, reinstated the rights of all to keep and bear arms. Protestants, specifically, had been stripped of this right under persecution by James II. So why would a Protestant nation even consider gun control laws, they had just left violent persecution in Europe. Many of them fought for these very reforms. So why would some of these refugees employ similar tyrannical policies? For the same reasons those in Europe oppressed the Protestants, sin and power. Looking at American History is like looking at the tale of two Americas. One America was fighting for Christ's Liberty for all, and the other living in the same sin nature in which the rest of the world wallows. The gun control issue is one of many debates that has serious philosophical implications. Either all have the right to defend themselves, as God has declared in His Word, or Man has the right to pick and choose if man has the right to self defense. When man usurps God's authority, tragedy inevitably strikes. One of the first gun laws in America was written in Virginia in 1640 specifically against the African Slaves who had been brought to the New World: “Prohibiting negroes, slave and free, from carrying weapons including clubs." (The Los Angeles Times, "To Fight Crime, Some Blacks Attack Gun Control," January 19, 1992) Also passed in 1640 Virginia was this statute: "That all such free Mulattoes, Negroes and Indians...shall appear without arms." [7 The Statues at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619, p. 95 (W.W. Henning ed. 1823).] (GMU CR LJ, p. 67) Virginia continued to institute such laws and was joined by South Carolina in 1712 when the latter codified a statute banning:"An act for the better ordering and governing of Negroes and slaves." [7 Statutes at Large of South Carolina, p. 353-54 (D.J. McCord ed. 1836-1873).] (GMU CR LJ, p. 70) In 1791 the 2nd Amendment was ratified, codifying the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It is important to note that the first congress almost split over the issue of slavery during our battle for independence from Britain, which truly didn't end until January 8, 1815 in New Orleans. Benjamin Franklin after having returned from France to broker the end of the French Revolutionary War brought a petition before Congress that read as such: ““Mankind are all formed by the same Almighty Being, alike objects of his care, and equally designed for the enjoyment of happiness.” All people were entitled to the “blessings of liberty . . . without distinction of color.” It noted the contradiction of slavery and freedom in the American experiment while seeking the means “for removing this inconsistency from the character of the American people,” and it called on Congress to grant “liberty to those unhappy men who alone in this land of freedom are degraded into perpetual bondage.” It advocated not only the end of the slave trade, as the Quaker petition had the day before, but the end of slavery itself.” billofrightsinstitute.org The Abolitionist case took a back seat to survival and rested until the decadespreceding the Civil War which, however complex, was at least in part foslavery. In those decades marching up to the Civil War many states passed other egregious gun laws. In 1825 Florida enstated a law allowing local authorities to ransack Melanated homes (slave or free) for the purposes of confiscating any weapons of any sort (even a cane could be considered contraband. In 1828 Florida did in fact reverse somewhat to allow Free Melanated people to own firearms, only with a license. (Because you know you can't trust some sorts of people so we need licenses. This argument has become no less immoral with time.) In 1831 Florrida reversed again and repealed all licenses held by melanated people. (If God is not the one endowing us with our rights, and government is, then our rights are based on elections and political whimsy.) In 1857 the Dredd Scott vs Sandford case, one of the worst cases of jurisprudence ever seen in America, the court upheld the following: Fro Chief Justice Taney: “if members of the African race were "citizens" they would be exempt from the special "police regulations" applicable to them. "It would give to persons of the negro race...full liberty of speech...to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went." (Id. p. 417) U.S. Supreme Court held that descendants of Africans who were imported into this country and sold as slaves were not included nor intended to be included under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, whether emancipated or not, and remained without rights or privileges except such as those which the government might grant them, thereby upholding slavery. Also held that a slave did not become free when taken into a free state; that Congress cannot bar slavery in any territory; and that blacks could not be citizens.” After the Civil War, the reconstruction era saw the above laws “Slave Codes” become “Black Codes”. These often banned Melanated ownership of firearms without a license. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was meant to overturn these and the 14th Amendment reinforced the CRA of 1866, but states continued in their sin. “Opponents of the 14th Amendment objected to its adoption because they opposed federal enforcement of the freedoms in the bill of rights. Sen. Thomas A. Hendricks (D-Ind.) said "if this amendment be adopted we will then carry the title [of citizenship] and enjoy its advantages in common with the negroes, the coolies, and the Indians." [CONG. GLOBE, 39th Congress, 1st Session, pt. 3, 2939 (4 June 1866)]. Sen. Reverdy Johnson, counsel for the slave owner in Dred Scott, opposed the amendment because "it is quite objectionable to provide that 'no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States'." Thus, the 14th Amendment was viewed as necessary to buttress the Civil Rights Act of 1866, especially since the act "is pronounced void by the jurists and courts of the South," e.g. Florida has as "a misdemeanor for colored men to carry weapons...and the punishment...is whipping..." [CONG GLOBE, 39th Con., 1st Session, 504, pt. 4, 3210 (16 June 1866)].” The KKK was formed the same year in 1866, primarily by Democrats who felt as Thomas Hendricks did. This organization and those who held hate in their hearts towards the freed slaves wanted gun control to make their business of oppression easier. Saturday Night Special Laws were concocted and enacted to make inexpensive firearms “Saturday Night Specials'' difficult to obtain. This made it difficult to afford a firearm for all of those who the left saw as undesirable, especially the melanated individuals, but also the Appalachian and Italian, who were also connoted with “higher criminality and lower breeding”. Remember, these were the same people who were enthralled with eugenics and thought the poor and slaves were in these circumstances because of their genetics and nature. In 1911, the Sullivan Law was enacted. This law required police permission to obtain a permit to own a handgun. Again, the Southern Italian was also specifically singled out as particularly criminal in nature, as well as the more melanated African American. In 1934 the National Firearms Act was passed to prevent the ownership of firearms that were considered too dangerous to be left in the hands of the common folk. Firearms under this law were still available if you were to ask for a license and pay a tax equal to that of a used automobile. In 1941 Florida a judge admitted to the unequal administration of a gun control law: “In concurring opinion narrowly construing a Florida gun control law passed in 1893, Justice Buford stated the 1893 law "was passed when there was a great influx of negro laborers in this State....The same condition existed when the Act was amended in 1901 and the Act was passed for the purpose of disarming the negro laborers....The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population and in practice has never been so applied...". Watson v. Stone, 148 Fla. 516, 524, 4 So.2d 700, 703 (1941) (GMU CR LJ, p. 69)” After MLK was assasinated in 1968, the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed and Robert Sherril, an avowed anti-gun journalist admitted that: “that the Gun Control Act of 1968 was "passed not to control guns but to control Blacks." [R. Sherrill, The Saturday Night Special, p. 280 (1972).] (GMU CR LJ, p. 80) "The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed not to control guns but to control blacks, and inasmuch as a majority of Congress did not want to do the former but were ashamed to show that their goal was the latter, the result was they did neither. Indeed, this law, the first gun-control law passed by Congress in thirty years, was one of the grand jokes of our time. First of all, bear in mind that it was not passed in one piece but was a combination of two laws. The original 1968 Act was passed to control handguns after the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been assassinated with a rifle. Then it was repealed and repassed to include the control of rifles and shotguns after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy with a handgun.... The moralists of our federal legislature as well as sentimental editorial writers insist that the Act of 1968 was a kind of memorial to King and Robert Kennedy. If so, it was certainly a weird memorial, as can be seen not merely by the handgun/long-gun shellgame, but from the inapplicability of the law to their deaths." (The Saturday Night Special and Other Guns, Robert Sherrill, p. 280, 1972)” In 1994 Clinton introduced HR 3838 to ban firearms in government housing, people who need to be able to protect themselves more than most. All of this to say, Britain's gun and knife bans have not worked, Australia's bans have done little, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao's bans accomplished exactly what they wished. Why would we in America continue the regressive and Anti-God philosophy of Gun Control. Let us live in Liberty, but with responsibility. Those who commit heinous acts should be held to account, but we can also deter them with an armed populace. Knife Crackdown: https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/border-security/u-k-launches-nationwide-crackdown-on-knife-crime/ Pointy Knife Ban: https://www.rochester.anglican.org/communications/news/government-urged-to-restrict-the-sale-of-pointed-knives.php Plastic Cutlery Ban: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/20/single-use-plastic-plates-and-cutlery-could-be-banned-in-england List of Gun Laws: https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/media/29093/the-racist-origins-of-us-gun-control.pdf Bill of Rights Institute: https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/benjamin-franklin-and-the-first-abolitionist-petitions NY State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen Debate: https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2021/08/a-historians-assessment-of-the-anti-immigrant-narrative-in-nysrpa-v-bruen/

Former NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce joins Labor Relations Radio for a wide ranging discussion about the post-pandemic activism, life after the NLRB, union organizing, the politics of labor policy, as well as art.As a former Board Member and Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Chairman Pearce served by appointment of President Barack Obama for two terms, concluding in August 2018.On August 23, 2013, he was sworn in for a second term that expired on August 27, 2018. He served as Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board from August 27, 2011-January 22, 2017. Prior to his time with the NLRB, Chairman Pearce was a founding partner of the Buffalo, New York law firm of Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux, where he practiced union and plaintiff side labor and employment law.Since leaving the NLRB, Chairman Pearce is a visiting professor and the executive director of the Workers' Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to assuming his positions at Georgetown, he was a visiting senior scholar and Lecturer at Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations.In addition to a distinguished legal career in both the private and public sector, as well as academia, Mark Gaston Pearce is also an accomplished artist and has served on the Board of Directors of Buffalo Arts Studio and the Advisory Council of the Burchfield Penny Art Center.For further background, Chairman Pearce's bio is here.To view the art of Mark Gaston Pearce, go here.Click here for Labor Union News

This podcast is public so feel free to share it.Former NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce joins Labor Relations Radio for a wide ranging discussion about the post-pandemic activism, life after the NLRB, union organizing, the politics of labor policy, as well as art.As a former Board Member and Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Chairman Pearce served by appointment of President Barack Obama for two terms, concluding in August 2018.On August 23, 2013, he was sworn in for a second term that expired on August 27, 2018. He served as Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board from August 27, 2011-January 22, 2017. Prior to his time with the NLRB, Chairman Pearce was a founding partner of the Buffalo, New York law firm of Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux, where he practiced union and plaintiff side labor and employment law.Since leaving the NLRB, Chairman Pearce is a visiting professor and the executive director of the Workers’ Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to assuming his positions at Georgetown, he was a visiting senior scholar and Lecturer at Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations.In addition to a distinguished legal career in both the private and public sector, as well as academia, Mark Gaston Pearce is also an accomplished artist and has served on the Board of Directors of Buffalo Arts Studio and the Advisory Council of the Burchfield Penny Art Center.For further background, Chairman Pearce’s bio is here.To view the art of Mark Gaston Pearce, go here. Get full access to LaborUnionNews.com's News Digest at laborunionnews.substack.com/subscribe

  Mark Gaston Pearce wants all workers to know their rights and understand how to assert them through collective action. He advances this mission as executive director of the Workers' Rights Institute at Georgetown University's Law School. It draws on his deep experience as a labor lawyer and his service, during the Obama Administration, as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. At WRI, he brings together diverse stakeholders, from law students to litigators, nonprofit and worker center leaders to develop strategies for reaching and educating workers and identifying gaps in law and policy that need to be modernized. At the top of that list, according to Mark, is an updating of the National Labor Relations Act, which has not changed since its inception 86 years ago. The need for worker protections and unionization is painfully clear in a global pandemic. The workers we depend on for food, transportation and deliveries sacrifice their health for our comfort and suffer from income inequality. Recent labor victories at Amazon and Starbucks are inspiring but the lengths employers will go to stop them is chilling. Mark tells us how to do more than sit on the sidelines.    

In the very early hours of September 9, 1739, a group of slaves digging a drainage ditch for the Stono River near Charleston, South Carolina, decided to break into a general store for a drink to celebrate their hard (and unpaid) work. The events that followed culminated in the largest and bloodiest slave rebellion in colonial American history.Sources:“Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade.” Enslaved Peoples of Historical Slave Trade, 31 May, 2013. https://enslaved.org/fullStory/16-23-92889/. Hoffer, Peter Charles. Cry Liberty: The Great Stono River Slave Rebellion of 1739 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).Mutti-Burke, Diane. “What the Stono Revolt Can Teach Us About History.” H-South, H-Net Reviews. October, 2006. Niven, Steven J. “The Stono Slave Rebellion Was Nearly Erased From US History Books.” The Root, February 22, 2016. https://www.theroot.com/the-stono-slave-rebellion-was-nearly-erased-from-us-his-1790854336. “Resource Bank Contents.” Africans in America. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/index.html. Smith, Mark M., ed. Stono: Documenting and Interpreting a Southern Slave Revolt. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2005).“The Stono Rebellion.” Bill of Rights Institute. https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-stono-rebellion. “The Stono Rebellion: Crash Course Black American History #6- YouTube.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pND-9KhM1Xw. “Two Views of the Stono Slave Rebellion South Carolina, 1739.” Becoming American: The British Atlantic Colonies, 1690-1763. National Humanities Center. http://www.nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/peoples/text4/stonorebellion.pdf. Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.comFor more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Podcast Host John Ericson interviews Author Tony Williams on the role of religion in the Constitution. This episode focuses on Article VI, which prevents religious tests for holding public office, and the 1st Amendment, which guarantees that the federal government will not establish religion or interfere in the free exercise of religion. Williams expounds on the challenges that continue to test us and how Religious Freedom is still an evolving idea. What does the Constitution say about public religious displays? Prayer in public schools? What are the origins of the separation of Church and State? What other contentious issues do we continue to wrestle with in our time? Tony Williams is a Senior Fellow at the Bill of Rights Institute in Arlington, Virginia and the author of six books including Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America, with co-author Stephen Knott, and Hamilton: An American Biography. Williams has degrees from Ohio State University and Syracuse University. Intro and outro created by Thomas Fosdick. Project supported by a grant from Virginia Humanities.

Jeremy Tate, CEO of Classical Learning Test and Host of the Anchored Podcast, and Dr. David Bobb, Director of the Bill of Rights Institute speak on the topic: "The Growing Threat to Free Speech"

This November we're going to start releasing Civics episodes every week. But in the meantime, Nick talked to Mary and Gary at the Bill of Rights Institute about a recent Supreme Court case, Mahanoy v BL, where a cheerleader was punished for snapchatting some expletive-laden content after school. This episode is from their civics-themed podcast, Fabric of History. You can hear all their episodes here: https://billofrightsinstitute.org/podcasts

James Madison wrote in Federalist 55, “Had every Athenian been a Socrates; every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.”  What did he mean?  The Founders knew representation was central to the American experiment so it was no accident that the Constitution created our legislative branch before any other.  They were also wary of that branch having too much law-making power so they split that authority into a bicameral legislature.  While the Federalists wanted to give more power, like taxation, to Congress, the Anti-Federalists were wary of such “enlargement.”  Unsurprisingly, that debate continues today.  Please join our panel and special guest Tony Williams from the Bill of Rights Institute as we deep dive into the structure of the “first branch.”

Welcome back to America's leading higher education podcast! In this EdUp Embedded episode of The EdUp Experience Podcast, sponsored by UnMudl, we welcome Ryan Stowers, Executive Director of The Charles Koch Foundation.  Ryan comes on EdUp to discuss the state of higher education and the necessity for change - both due to coronavirus and due to traditionalism.  The Koch Foundation seeks to catalyze post-secondary education organizations through change and into the future state - which is to bring more equity and access to students.  Hear Ryan discuss why entrepreneurs should consider reaching out to Koch to boost their business! Ryan Stowers has been a leader at the Charles Koch Foundation for over 15 years. Before joining the Foundation, he worked for the American Enterprise Institute after earning a bachelor's and master's degree from Utah State University. Stowers serves on the board of the Bill of Rights Institute and the Institute for Humane Studies, as well as the national advisory board for the John M. Huntsman School of Business and the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University. Thanks so much for tuning in. Join us again next time for another episode!  Contact Us! Connect with the hosts - Elvin Freytes, Elizabeth Leiba, and Dr. Joe Sallustio ● If you want to get involved, leave us a comment or rate us! ● Join the EdUp community at The EdUp Experience! ● Follow us on Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube Thanks for listening! We make education your business!

Power to the states or concentrate power in a central federal government? This was a major debate among the founding fathers and it still rages on today. Join our panel and special guest Tony Williams with the Bill of Rights Institute as we discuss how our current system can be described as partly national and partly federal.

How did the concept of Natural Law influence the Founders as they drafted the Declaration of Independence and later, our United States Constitution? Join our panel and our guest constitutional expert, Tony Williams with the Bill of Rights Institute, as we discuss “The Founders & Natural Law”! Episode 65 of Constitutional Podcast. Livestreamed on 3/30/3031. Sign up for our next Constitutional Chat via Zoom at www.constitutingamerica.org

David Bobb from the Bill of Rights Institute sits down with Rob Jackson to discuss the classical education K-12 movement.

Brooke Goldstein is a powerhouse attorney, an award-winning filmmaker, a founder, and mom. Soon after settling on human rights law, she founded the nonprofit Children's Rights Institute, followed up by The Lawfare Project. You can find her lecturing at law schools across the country, or analyzing and debating on major TV networks - unapologetic about her views. We caught up on how making a documentary about terrorism when she was "young and stupid" steered her to human rights law, running businesses while raising three boys, and her tried and true tips for stepping up your public speaking and debating game.

Lathan Watts, Director of Public Affairs for First Liberty Institute, and Dr. David Bobb, Director of the Bill of Rights Institute speak on the topic: “The Right of the People Peacably to Assemble”: Protesting in America--Past, Present, and Future.”

In this episode I interview Elizabeth Evans, the Manager of Regional Programs at the Bill of Rights Institute, based in Gilbert, Arizona. She is an award-winning teacher with 17 years of experience teaching the social sciences, including 8th-grade civics, AP U.S. History, and AP Government.  Elizabeth tells us all about her experiences using children's literature as a means of access for all students as well as a way to bring students Into conversations about topics they may not otherwise have the vocabulary or knowledge to feel comfortable joining.  You'll leave the podcast with some strategies and suggestions for your classroom!

This conversation still has me reflecting on so many good points! David Bobb joined the Bill of Rights Institute as president in 2013 and has worked for twenty years at the intersection of civic engagement and education reform. Having taught courses in American politics and public policy in the history and political science departments of Boston College and Hillsdale College, he was also founding director of a national civic education program for high school teachers at Hillsdale College, as well as the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Studies, in Washington, D.C. David has designed online educational programs used by more than half a million participants and is a nationally-recognized proponent of civic education that engages the hearts and minds of students. Author of Humility: An Unlikely Biography of America’s Greatest Virtue (HarperCollins, 2013), David has written for the Wall Street Journal and Fast Company, among many other publications. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from Boston College, where he received fellowships from the Pew, Earhart, and Bradley Foundations. Bill of Rights Institutemybri.org

How the Bill of Rights protects the rights of individuals and states, and the first ten amendments came to be! In part 1 of our “Bill of Rights & YOU!” series, Janine Turner, Cathy Gillespie, and Student Ambassadors Tova Love Kaplan and Dakare Chatman interview Dr. David Bobb, President of the Bill of Rights Institute, on the historical context and purpose of the Bill of Rights! Livestreamed on 10/08/2020. Sign up for our next Constitutional Chat via Zoom at https://www.constitutingamerica.org

As our kids head back to school, there are massive protests and riots in America’s largest cities, increased anti-American sentiment, and the cancelling of some of the most important people from Western history. Amidst all this chaos comes the question: why is this happening? Why do these people in the streets hate America so much? The answer is they were taught to hate it. On this special “back to school” episode we are joined by Katie Gorka, who gives a crash course on American public education and where it all went wrong. Show Notes:The Heritage Foundation webinar: “Teaching American Exceptionalism and Overcoming Impediments to Teaching the History We Need” The free digital textbook from the Bill of Rights Institute, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness On the intellectual pedigree of the founding: Robert R. Reilly, America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding The great new textbook on American history: Wilfred M. McClay, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story The organization Katie mentioned in Virginia: DoBetterFCPS See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California announced on Monday that it officially received the state funding needed to complete its downtown Riverside project. The funds were approved by Governor Gavin Newsom for the 2019-2020 budget. With $3.5 million in state funding, construction can now begin on Mission Heritage Plaza—a mixed-use building and home to the new Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California. Rose Mayes, vice president of the institute's board of directors says the recent unrest around systemic racism shows the community needs this institute for people of all backgrounds—a place to gather daily, advocate for civil rights and facilitate intergenerational learning about disparities in housing, health and economics. “We’re repeating some of the same things we were supposed to have addressed a long time ago back in the early sixties and now we are right back from square one," said Mayes. "And one of the things is because we didn’t continue to strategize

Correspondent Tom Wilmer reports from Birmingham , Alabama. Join Charles Woods III, education programs manager at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute , for a TED talk-style walking tour of the institute’s museum and adjacent Kelly Ingram Park. The park was the site of major protests in the 1960s, where attack dogs were unleashed and the city's then-police chief directed assaults on the protesters with high-pressure fire hoses.

The value of civics education in middle and high school cannot be overstated. The Founding Fathers knew that if America did not hold fast to the principles they had set forth in our founding documents, the great American experiment would surely fail.David Bobb, President of the Bill of Rights Institute joins The Daily Signal podcast to discuss how they are providing civics education to students across America, and pushing back against the false narratives regarding America's founding.Plus we share a good news story about how you can support our veterans during National Medial of Honor Day.If you would like to mail a letter to a National Media of Honor recipient, visit https://www.janinestange.com/moh/ for all the details.The Deadline to get your notes in the mail is March 18, 2020!Enjoy the show! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What role does humility play in leadership? Do you have to give up ambition to be humble? Dr David Bobb, President of the Bill of Rights Institute and author of Humility: An Unlikely Biography of America's Greatest Virtue, joins Boyd to discuss. Boyd Matheson, Opinion Editor at Deseret News, takes you inside the latest political happenings. Bringing an elevated conversation on the principles that drive this country and make Utah a great place to thrive and live. Listen weekdays 12:30 to 1 pm at 1160 AM and 102.7 FM, online, or on the app. https://kslnewsradio.com/

                     In this episode, Jessy and Rebekah welcome a guest into their vagina. Introducing (drum roll please!) Leigh!!!! Here is a little bit about Leigh, in their own words:At the intersection of sex education and creativity is where you will find multiracial pansexual genderqueer professional dominant, Mistress/Master Leigh. They are an international LGBTQIAP and sex worker rights’ advocate/organizer, community-based sex researcher/educator, filmmaker/performer, martial artist/fetish wrestler, an alternative sex media consultant, and a professional dominant who does fetish work as both male and female. Leigh specializes in multiplayer scenes, LGBTQAP, and physically disabled persons. This will be their 3rd DomCon teaching for the industry-only classes. You can regularly find Leigh’s entitled ass trying to submit you on a Jiu Jitsu mat or just attempting to stay woke.This is a very fun and informative episode so listen up. We learned a ton and we think you will too.02:00: We play Fuck, Marry, Kill: the Putin/Pence/Kellyanne Conway edition!05:00: Leigh introduces themself, and we can assure you that despite what they might say they are not boring AT ALL.06:15: Here is an article – and accompanying video from Vice – with some information about fetish wrestling. And here is a really cool piece from The Mirror that gives a great overview of the consent involved and what the motivations behind fetish wrestling are.09:45: Here is the Time article by Samantha Cooney in which Leigh is quoted as saying, “sex workers are experts at negotiating consent. When you have a monetary transaction, there have to be very clear boundaries about what is going to transpire because it is an issue of money.”10:30: Here is the Buzzfeed article by Melissa Broudo that Leigh references as the source of their comment on sex workers and consent. It is an INCREDIBLE read.10:45: Here is a link to Melissa Broudo’s organization, The Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy and Rights Institute, AKA  Soar Institute, which works to “shift minds, hearts, and skills of service providers, communities, and policy makers to benefit those involved in the sex industry, trafficked individuals, and related communities.”13:30: This Medium article is by no means a full analysis on radical feminism, but it is somewhat useful in gaining familiarity with the term. There are a lot of huge problems with radical feminism which include, but are not limited to, it’s tendency to discriminate against the trans community as well as its insistence that sex work is inherently exploitative of those who perform it.21:30: You should listen to Lei...

Dallas Woodhouse, Executive Director of North Carolina GOP, joins Tyler to talk about health care reform, tax reform, and recently drawn districts in North Carolina, David Bobb, President of Bill of Rights Institute, joins Tyler to talk about the continued growth of those who oppose frees speech both on campus and against, and with all the NFL protests many people forget you can’t protest the flag because the flag represent freedom and freedom is required to protest

Boyd Matheson of the Sutherland Institute is filling-in for Rod Arquette this week:Rod Arquette Show Daily Rundown - Monday, September 18, 20174:05 pm: Utah Senator Mike Lee joins the show to give us his thoughts on Constitution Day4:20 pm: Dr. David Bobb of the Bill of Rights Institute joins the show to discuss humility, and his book “Humility: An Unlikely Biography of America’s Greatest Virtue”5:05 pm: Jason Perry of the Hinckley Institute of Politics joins Boyd to discuss the beginning of confirmation hearings for Jon Huntsman, Jr. to become Ambassador to Russia5:20 pm: Matt Holland, President of Utah Valley University, joins Boyd for a discussion on Constitution Day, as well as Abraham Lincoln’s role in tying together the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence6:05 pm: Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum joins the show for a discussion about the Obamacare repeal and replace bill put forth by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy and why it deserves the support of Congress6:35 pm: Bill Duncan of the Sutherland Institute joins the show for a discussion about how the Colorado baker legal case can be a win-win for the LGBT community and those seeking religious liberty

December 28, 2015 - Today, we're joined by Stephen F. Knott, who along with co-author Tony Williams brings us Washington & Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America. George Washington and Alexander Hamilton's relationship has gotten renewed attention since the smash Broadway musical, ending almost 200 years of being overlooked. From the early days of the Revolutionary War on the hills of Rutgers University -- where Hamilton's artillery covered Washington's retreat from New York City -- to victory at Yorktown, the Continental Congress and the first presidential administration, Washington and Hamilton had an often difficult, father-son relationship. But one that left a legacy that sustains America, even now into the 21st Century. Mr. Knott is a Professor of National Security Affairs at the United States Naval War College in Newport, RI. You can follow him on Twitter @Publius57, and find his co-author Tony Williams @TWilliamsAuthor. Mr. Williams is a history teacher at the Bill of Rights Institute, as well as the Washington, Jefferson, and Madison Institute and the author of four previous books.    

North Carolina is suffering extraordinarily high numbers in poverty within our population. The Tar Heel state has been named one of the worst states in the US in its handling of the poor by several studies & a New York Times article earlier this year. Gene Nichol speaks passionately on the need to address this state-wide injustice to our citizens. Gene Nichol is Boyd Tinsley distinguished professor of law and Director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina. From 2005-2008, he was president of the College of William and Mary. Nichol was Burton Craige professor and dean of the law school at UNC (1999-2005); law dean at the University of Colorado (1988-1995); and Cutler professor and director of the William & Mary Bill of Rights Institute (1985-1988). A widely published author, he is also a monthly op-ed writer for the Raleigh News & Observer.