Conservatives and the Constitution

The Atlantic magazine interviewed Ryan Williams from the Clairemont Institute whose goal is restoring the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. The article, entitled “The Conservatives Dreading—And Preparing for—Civil War” is available online.

I have been going over the article in my mind. At the time they were written, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were progressive ideas in the realm of Western civilization. Arriving on the scene after a thousand or more years of absolute and often authoritarian rule by Kingdoms and Emperors, it was a reinvention of how human beings can address  their basic, social, and cultural needs and desires.

The founding of America is based on the idea of a revolution to create a political system based on ideas of English liberalism that arises during the Enlightenment in the works of John Locke who argued that government acquires consent from the governed.  Many of the United States of America’s founding fathers (only men back in the day) such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton were progressive in their thoughts.. Now none of these original documents were perfect nor were the people who wrote them, but they were based on new ideas not on some fixed cultural order from a random time in the past.  These documents were shaped by old and new ideas in tension with each other that created a new form of government that when not co-opted by the rich and powerful is workable for our future needs.

To me it appears as if conservatives want to return to some golden age of past interpretations and ways of living.  As I watch what is happening with Islamic fundamentalists, it seems to be the same desires, to return to Islam’s golden ages and live as people once lived. The teachings of both Muhammad and Jesus, as made available to us in the twenty-first century, clearly show them as progressive thinkers in their respective eras.  They took up social justice causes,  the rights of women, challenges to hierarchical organization of society, and so much more.

In my mind, the Taliban, with their desire to return Afghanistan to the 7th and 8th Centuries is akin to the desire of conservative think tanks’ desire to return America’s political system to the 18th Century or to some earlier point in America’s history.

While I don’t want to through the baby out with the bathwater, our definition of who is entitled to rights under the constitution keeps evolving. If the founding fathers were alive today, they would write a different document as they were individuals who believed in the possibilities of the future and their ideas were shaped by the new and controversial ideas of their day.  Let us use our imagination and wisdom to incorporate new ideas shared by new voices to continue to evolve the ideas laid out so long ago. We honor those who founded this country by continuing to evolve not by staying static.