LCN Opinin’ 015 – John B. Nevin on Hillsdale College Constitution Course Part 1
Posted on October 9, 2022 by John B. Nevin
https://libertyclick.news/2022/10/09/lcn-opinin-015-john-b-nevin-hillsdale-college-constitution-course-part-1/
As I take this course I will provide comments for any and all that land here. I’d like to note that I have no illusions that these words are eagerly awaited by anyone at Hillsdale College, in my life, on this website, or indeed, beyond the chair in which I sit. Nevertheless, it is my understanding that people sometimes accidentally find things on the internet, and even just right here locally, I am aware of one for whom reading a set of random words would be a considerably better than average experience.
The free online Hillsdale College Constitution 101 course is available here for thrill-seekers who wish to participate.
The class overview summary reads:
The Constitution established a limited government, but a government with sufficient powers to protect Americans’ God-given rights to ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’ This course examines the design and purpose of the Constitution, the challenges it faced during the Civil War, how it has been undermined for over a century by progressivism and post-1960s liberalism, and how limited government under the Constitution might be revived.
This virtue signaling / intentionally transparent language may be a just and wise candle-in-the-dark amid the distortion caused by deception, political agenda, bias, propaganda, corruption, and imposters, or indeed might help to connect Hillsdale with the demographic of clientele that it seeks. My fear is that the choice reduces virality. By this I mean that I do not view it as a successful proposition to use an invitation to Hillsdale’s course as a means of encouraging furtherance of Constitutional understanding among those acquaintances whom I’d consider… most in need of it.
How many are repelled who, until reading that overview, were looking for what they perceive to be a more ‘balanced’ survey? And what would my hedonist friends say about what they would call, ‘all that God stuff?’ Having that language on the landing page for the course – where many are looking for a reason to click away – causes retention of that subsection of viewers who either are comfortable with that and the ‘progressivism and post-1960s liberalism’ bit, those who take note of it and proceed skeptically, or those who do not see it at all.
But perhaps I’ve got it all wrong. Hillsdale is a Christian Conservative college, so why fuck around? I could just as easily be spending my time criticizing FBI / CNN / CDC / DNC etc for driving off sane people with their overt behavior and covert signaling — or myself for failing to coddle the delicate sensibilities of the considerable number for whom my full name induces indigestion.
I do believe that each purveyor should choose their own boundaries of exclusionism — but still I wonder if I am justified in hoping this one — whom I know brings authentic scholarship and honest thoughtfulness — will be fit for widespread use. Either way, I will concede it is a certainty that Arnn’s leadership, vision, and facilitation of this popular and accessible educational historical series is more likely to sustain freedom for civilized man than my stupid opinion about it.
1: The Theory of the Declaration and the Constitution w/ Larry P. Arnn
At 13:30, Arnn says: