The Conservative Sensibility

Description

James Madison was the visionary who crafted the classical political framework of individual liberty, economic dynamism, based on a strict interpretation of the Constitution. When was the founders’ philosophy abandoned? Was it after the Civil War; or during the Woodrow Wilson Administration? This SDG is not designed to reconcile any particular problem or philosophy, but to discuss the enduring questions concerning the proper scope and intellectual competence of government. There is no better authority commenting on the current state of American Politics than George F. Will to build the case that the true classical Conservatism has always been in America’s best interest.

THE CORE BOOK IS ONLY MEANT TO BE A COMMON BASIS FROM WHICH TO START - NOT THE BOUNDARY FOR THE SDG.

Weekly Topics

Week one:  History of ‘conservative’ political theory in the US

  • Chapter 1 page 1 – 31

  • History of Political Philosophy, edited by Strauss and Cropsey

Week two: History of ‘progressive’ political theory in the US

  • Chapter 2 pages 32 – 101

  • The Progressive Movement and the Transformation of American Politics

  • Schambra and West, 2007

  • Progressive and Conservative Constitutionalism, West, Georgetown University Law Center, 1990 

Week three: Congressional duty to supervise 

  • Chapter 3 pages 102 -147

  • The Rise and Fall of the Separation of Powers, Calabresi, Berghausen & Albertson, Northwestern University School of Law, 2012.

  • Executive Power in American Institutional Development, Whittlingon and Carpenter, Perspectives on Politics, 2003 

Week four: Judicial Activism vs. Judicial Restraint

  • Chapter 4 pages 148 – 215

  • Constitutional Conservatism and American Conservatism, O’Neil, American Conservatism, 2016

  • The Constitutional Duty to Supervise, Metzger, Yale Law Journal, 2015

Week five: How best to minimize economic inequality?

  • Chapter 5 pages 216 – 298

  • The Inequity of the Progressive Income Tax, Hagpian, Hoover Institution, 2011.

  • The Consequences of Conservative Economic Policy, Hersh, Ettlinger and Pruss, Center for American Progress, 2010.

Week six:  How do we define the success of a society? Can politics change society?

  • Chapter 6 Pages 299 – 351

  • Reconsidering Culture and Poverty, Small, Harding and Lamont, Harvard University 2010

Week seven: The role of education in defending against forgetfulness

  • Chapter 7 pages 352 – 404

  • What is the purpose of education? 2012

Week eight:  Does everyone want democracy? How political philosophy drives foreign policy

  • Chapter 8 pages 405 – 456

  • Alexander Hamilton and American Foreign Policy, Holloway, Heritage Foundation, 2015

Week nine: Conservatism and religion

  • Chapter 9 Pages 457 -511

  • The Tragedy of Compassionate Conservatism, Pilbeam, Cambridge University, 2010

  • History of Inherent Contradictions: The Origins and End of American Conservatism, Kurth, American Conservatism, 2016.

Week ten: Is conservatism, as George Will knew it, dead?

  • Chapter 10 Pages 512 -538

  • Comprehending conservatism: a new framework for analysis, 

  • Muller, Journal of Political Ideologies October 2006

  • Conflict, Fusion or Coexistence? The Complexity of Contemporary American Conservatism, Zumbrunnen and Gangle, 2007.

Bibliography

The Conservative Sensibility, George F. Will, Hachette Books 2019

All listed articles to be distributed as PDFs.