Mike Church’s Symposium On Rethinking The American Union Begins

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Finally! Time to Rethink The American Union

Mandeville, LA –This Clip of The Day was originally aired and published on Jan 26,2014 and is part of the Founders Pass Flashback Collection.

Exclusive Transcript – “How can you not be excited about this, folks?  I’m just wondering when Chris “Hissy Fit” Matthews and the usual suspects over at those other networks pick up on this and try to accuse of some kind of chicanery or some kind of seditious behavior.  This is a discussion that is long overdue, I’d say almost a century if not longer overdue.  What is the harm in discussing this?  Doesn’t the possibility of an actual more perfect union, not consecrated as it currently is, doesn’t the prospect of that outweigh the concerns for having mere discussions about this?”  Check out today’s transcript for the rest…

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EXCLUSIVE: Today’s Clip of The day from The Mike Church Show

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  My buddy Pete Haworth, who is running the site, I refer to it often, called NomocracyInPolitics.com, he has acquiesced to my wishes.  The charge was to get together a meeting of historically, scholarly — you don’t even have to be an historical scholar, you just have to be able to think inventively, intuitively, creatively about the current state of the American Union, and then theorize or postulate about how it could change, how it might change.  One of the things that you would need to do to do this would be to take an inventory of some sort and weigh the pros and cons of the current structure.  There are seven authors that are going to participate in this, myself being one.  The first essay has been posted, “Evaluating the Current Union of the States: Character and a Consolidated Union” by Bruce Frohnen.  Professor Frohnen is one of the most prolific writers out there.  I don’t think the man ever sleeps.  There are essays of his that appear at Nomocracy, at Imaginative Conservative.  They’re all great reads.  I list them every day in the Pile of Prep.  I’m a big fan of reading Professor Frohnen.  His essay is prefaced by this:

[reading]

Editorial Foreword: This essay by Bruce P. Frohnen is the first installment of a new Nomocracy in Politics symposium, “Evaluating the Current American Union of States.” The symposium will examine the various costs and benefits that Americans and others incur as a result of our current Union of States–a.k.a., the United States of America. The symposium will progress gradually over a period of weeks.

[end reading]

Mike:  How can you not be excited about this, folks?  I’m just wondering when Chris “Hissy Fit” Matthews and the usual suspects over at those other networks pick up on this and try to accuse of some kind of chicanery or some kind of seditious behavior.  This is a discussion that is long overdue, I’d say almost a century if not longer overdue.  What is the harm in discussing this?  Doesn’t the possibility of an actual more perfect union, not consecrated as it currently is, doesn’t the prospect of that outweigh the concerns for having mere discussions about this?  As your host and chief executive officer of this program here, reigning over all 18 or 19 of you, I’m proud to announce my brainchild has finally found an editorial home and will now get an airing.  Now it’s up to the people that read Nomocracy or others that may encounter this to spread the word about it and to actually engage in the conversation.  I just want to read you the introductory paragraph to Professor Frohnen’s essay because I haven’t read it myself.  Pete just posted it late last night.  He starts like this:

[reading]

A symposium devoted to “evaluating the current American union of the states” may sound designed to institute reconsideration of the issues and grievances precipitating and resulting from the Civil War.  Perhaps in part because I was born and raised (mostly) in the West, I have no emotional investment in such a debate.  Moreover, it seems to me that there is plenty of fault on both sides in relation to that war, and that the airing of grievances in terms of a conflict 150 years gone, while certainly of continuing intellectual interest, can be of little practical use in considering where we currently stand, and where we should go as Americans.  That said, I find it highly interesting and of significant importance for Americans to re-think the value of their union.  This is no less the case because most Americans today no longer think of themselves as citizens of a state within that union, but rather as citizens of a nation containing fifty (or more) administrative sub-units.  Indeed, perhaps the central question we face as a people is how consolidation of our federal republic into a national government of general, in principle limitless power and authority affects our ability to lead good, decent lives.

 

[end reading]

Mike:  Wow, great start.  I agree with Professor Frohnen.  There’s no need to refight the Civil War or the causes that led to it.  There is a small need to establish a legal framework for that.  If conclusions are drawn, the inevitable insults and the inevitable historical mistruths are going to be hurled.  [mocking] “Once a state enters a union, you can’t leave.”  It’s like Hotel California.  Just call it Hotel America.  You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.

End Mike Church Show Transcript