The American Mind

If you are interested in serious, principled conservatism, the Claremont Institute (if you don't know about the quarterly Claremont Review of Books they publish, please click here) has a new video series that is geared towards the restoration of "the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life."  (This is the mission statement of the Claremont Institute.)

The name of the new venture is entitled, "The American Mind."  Great title.  I wonder where they came up with it....  They (and I) were inspired by a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to Richard Henry Lee on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence.  The letter includes the following pertinent section:

When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion. All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, &c. ...

Steven Hayward, one of the main bloggers for Power Line, was himself a student at CGS and helped in the formation of the Claremont Institute.  In a long post published earlier today, he gives a "Behind the Music-like" take on the history of the Center.  A sample:

...the Claremont community was so different from most graduate courses of study in politics, and the approach behind which the differences over our understanding of the place of Hobbes and Locke in understanding America dissolve. Claremont was heavy on biography because that’s the best way of illuminating the real problems of politics and the intersection of thought and action.

And:

There is something subversive about the Claremont Project to the broader conservative movement, though. The kind of political engagement Claremonsters embrace stands in contrast to the apolitical aloofness of libertarianism, the anti-political disdain of certain brands of traditional conservatism, and the compromising ambivalence of some aspects of neoconservatism. American conservatism—and its primary vessel, the Republican Party—have their grave defects and limitations, but the fate of the world depends on their health and success, so it is necessary to be part of the fight to make both more wise and effective. The Claremont Institute is about as remote from Washington as you can be and still be in the continental U.S., and while “Claremonsters” are not closely involved in the daily Beltway strategy sessions, when you survey the alumni of the Institute and its programs you find senior aides to Cabinet secretaries, Senators and Congressmen, and corporate CEOs.

The Claremont Institute is exactly what conservatism needs now more than ever.