Founding Fathers Come Alive

Accuracy in Academia ^ | September 8, 2010 | Malcolm A. Kline

[AccuracyAcademia]

The funny thing about books that cover the Founding Fathers is that they generally only come alive when the authors quote their subjects. This is perhaps inevitable given that any writer will be at a disadvantage laying his own prose and conclusions beside theirs.

It is a particular pitfall for academics, especially when they add their own interpretations alongside those of the luminaries. Richard H. Immerman of Temple is the latest brave soul to make such an effort in Empire For Liberty: A History of American Imperialism From Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz.

“Franklin identified six ‘Things’ in particular to ‘diminish a Nation’: ‘being conquered,’ ‘Loss of Territory,’ ‘Loss of Trade,’ ‘Loss of Food,’ ‘Bad Government and insecure Property,’ and the ‘Introduction of Slaves,’” Immerman records. Yet and still, when Franklin went to London, he brought his own slaves along, Immerman claims, although he called them servants.

[LS]

You might look for my book next spring, “What Would the Founders Say?” (Sentinel). I looked at ten issues-—religion, guns, private property, bailouts, debt, etc.-—and looked at what the Founders both said and did about these topics.

[Texas Fossil]

Arthor's Bio

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Biography of Malcolm Kline

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia (AIA), a non-profit research group reporting on bias in education. In that capacity, Kline serves as editor-in-chief of AIA’s two web sites—www.academia.org and www.campusreportonline.net. Kline also edits AIA’s monthly newsletter, Campus Report. He has hosted a monthly online broadcast on www.rightalk.com.

He previously worked as the editor of the National Journalism Center (NJC) and has written for a variety of publications including USA Today, Crisis magazine, The American Enterprise, Organization Trends (from the Capital Research Center), Insight magazine, Human Events, The National Catholic Register, The Non-Profit Times, and Consumer’s Research magazine. A graduate of the University of Scranton, Kline also worked as an intern at the NJC, contributing research for columnist Donald Lambro’s syndicated column.

The husband of the former Annie-Grace Saungweme, and father of three, the native Pennsylvanian now makes his home in Triangle, VA.

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[Texas Fossil]

About AIA

Accuracy in Academia, a non-profit research group based in Washington, D. C., wants schools to return to their traditional mission-the quest for truth. To promote this goal, AIA documents and publicizes political bias in education in Campus Report, its monthly newsletter.

CR articles focus on:

* The use of classroom and/or university resources to indoctrinate students;
* Discrimination against students, faculty or administrators based on political or academic beliefs; and
* Campus violations of free speech.

[ALPAPilot]

“Strauss is best known for arguing that responsibility for the horrors of the twentieth century can be traced to modernity’s rejection of classical values,” Immerman states.

Anyone who would construct such an inconsistent sentence knows next to nothing of Leo Strauss. He would have viewed the term "classical values" as an oxymoron. In addition, Leo Strauss championed a close and careful reading of Great Authors. I don't think he included the writers of intelligence reports among the great authors.