Difference between revisions of "Notes:BC1.CWintro"

Revision as of 17:57, 10 February 2015

Glenn and I wanted to help shift our country's political momentum.

• We took an ineffectual stab at doing that in the months leading up to the 2012 election
• It was a website that Glenn still maintains. Cogently written, but prior to the election we probably reached about 20 people.

Three motivating factors:

1. Political division that has become more strident.
2. Americans are increasingly out of touch with the reasons for our success as a nation and as the world's dominant economy.
3. Well intentioned (and sometimes cynical) government policy that has damaging unintended (and intended) consequences.

But you can't just start talking. You have to seek understanding and be guided by that.

• We are Coming Apart and few understand what is happening, why, or what to do about it.
• Today's youth is 8 or 9 generations away from our country's beginnings and do not understand American exceptionalism--though this was likely true to some degree of every generation since the middle of the 19th century.

When I was a kid, we could recite parts of The Declaration, but never thought about what it meant. It was not something profound, it was homework.

Terri is a math teacher at the high school. There are a lot of people worried that one of our country's biggest problem is declining math skills and a lot of work and thought is going into how to get kids to absorb math. Kahn Academy is a celebrated website funded by some high profile people--such as Bill Gates--who see innovative math education as somehow promising salvation.

It occurred to me a couple of days ago that declining math skills (and I'm not convinced this is really the case) is nowhere near our biggest problem.

It is a falling away from understanding the source of America's greatness. If we could fix that, everything else would follow.

• The evolution of English liberty and constitution and how it spun off the United States is not understood

And that is a fascinating story.

• Rule of Law is not understood by many - including myself not so long ago. This is the same as saying that our Constitution is not understood by many.
• Democracy is not understood.

France is a democracy.

The United States is a constitutional republic with democratic input.

• Economic freedom is neither understood nor appreciated.
• Capitalism is understood by very few--including economists. (Likewise for socialism.)
• We want people in America to either remember or discover what made America exceptional--we want immigrants to have a better understanding of what made America the place they want to be.
• The spirit and appreciation of the ideas and history that can bring us back to a reverence for liberty has to be captured in a reasonably concise manner and in a form that does not require plowing through a library full of profound books.

• We wanted a way to educate, inform, discuss these things and we thought that the web was the best way to reach a large audience.

We want to build some political momentum for the real meaning of liberalism.

• We don't want to just lecture.

• Glenn and I aren't smart enough or energetic enough to do it ourselves.
• We needed a way that others--anyone--can contribute information and participate in the education and discussion.
• We needed a concise Wikipedia for American civics and economic freedom.

So we put together another website aimed more at addressing the things I just listed than in attacking specific issues--though it contains a forum for that as well.

• The website purports to be non partisan--one of the rules being that advocacy for political parties or candidates is off limits.

• It does admit to a dedication to liberty, an admiration of the founding principles of the U.S., and promising to discuss what that means, etc.

A central part of this website is a discussion of the Constitution, and I set out to sit through the Hillsdale on-line lectures Constitution 101 to get smart enough to write a series of articles.

• Then it occurred to me . . . .

If I try to write it all, CW will be a long time coming and somewhat narrow in its perspective.

• we need help--but not just any help.

• We need the help of people who have an understanding, an appreciation, and an enthusiasm for what we are trying to capture

and an ability to write about it.