The Constitution can be a contentious topic at Hillsdale College. Students on campus seem split between two extremes: those who revere the Constitution as a sacred document, genuflecting before each statesman statue on campus, and those who cynically dismiss it as Hillsdale propaganda.
President Larry Arnn’s latest book is an articulate work for both groups.
Arnn’s book, long title and all, is an “Elements of English Grammar” for the Constitutionally illiterate. In the first section, Arnn covers everything from the founding documents to Adam Smith to the progressives in 123 concisely-written pages.
The book is titled “The Founders’ Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk By Losing It.”
Before you cynics roll your eyes, open the cover and look at the table of contents. The book is divided into two parts: “Part I: The Argument” and “Part II: Foundational Readings.”
Do you want an honest and mildly unflattering examination of the slave-holding (and slave-impregnating) Thomas Jefferson, the man who penned the words “All men are created equal?” Check out chapter six, aptly-titled “Hypocrisy.”
Add block quotations from Adam Smith, Abraham Lincoln, and about half the Founding Fathers, and an outline of natural rights, and you have a comprehensive history of the Constitution and Arnn’s vision for the future of the founding documents.
Arnn grounds his argument for the validity of the Constitutin in fixed rights and the classical definition of equality. These two points are the thread with which he sews the Declaration and Constitution together. Betsy Ross couldn’t have done a better job of it.
Arnn begins his argument by explaining the evolution of human rights, or rather that there should be no evolution of human rights (“The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”). In chapter four, Arnn writes a wonderfully illuminating passage on two meanings of the word “nature” that everyone should read.
In his discussion of the idea of equality, Arnn effectively uses Hillsdale football player Jared Veldheer to prove people are not born with equal faculties, perhaps one of the more instinctively true statements he makes in the book. Arnn writes that, today, equality is viewed generally as a result of actions rather than “the condition under which our actions begin and operate.”
From there, Arnn tackles modern-day problems that have resulted from a lack of understanding the true meanings of natural rights and the notion of equality. He directly refutes the suggestion that “economic conditions” are the hinge on which the meaning of ideas inevitably turn. He calls that “despair.” Sorry, 99-percenters. Warren Buffett isn’t in this book.
Arnn describes the Progressive movement and its rejection of universal truth as the enemies of the Constitution. He states that America is “near a moment of choice” and that his book “aims to make clear the terms of that choice.”
“Sometimes we have endeavored to embrace — and sometimes we have endeavored to escape — the laws of nature and of nature’s God,” Arnn writes. “They have been the source of our liberation, and they have seemed the source of our confining.”
It’s safe to say this book wasn’t written for politics majors, although they too might enjoy it. Think of it as Everything Public School Left Out Of American History 101.
Arnn is obviously passionate about teaching the principles of our nation’s founding, not just to college students, but to the general public as well. His inclusion of the “Foundational Readings” points to this. Also, it’s probably not a coincidence that the book came out when it did, since it serves as a great primer for Arnn’s online Constitution course, which begins in a few weeks.
The title of Arnn’s book has a double meaning. Not only is this little book a key to the Founders’ thinking, but also a key for the average American. Anyone who reads this book will have a better understanding of the ideas behind our nation’s founding and the importance of maintaining those ideas in their classical meanings today.