The Collapse of Religion, The Collapse of Democracy?
- 9 years ago
The Collapse of Religion, The Collapse of Democracy?
The Hoover Institution - Hoover Institution
In a previous Uncommon Knowledge interview, Jaffa discussed his classic Crisis of the House Divided. In this interview, Jaffa returns to discuss the sequel, A New Birth of Freedom.He begins by making a critical point: whereas the Founders had expected slavery simply to wither away, by the middle of the nineteenth century the peculiar institution had done no such thing. The Civil War, Jaffa insists, was a necessary war—an unavoidable war -- not a war of choice. When the war broke out, anyone who had engaged in a cool calculation of the odds would have put his money on the Confederacy, not the Union.Commenting on contemporary America, Jaffa points out the distinction between the "immutable principles of private morality" that President Washington spoke of and the "fundamental American values" that President Obama speaks of today."Values are moral choices, which have no object or basis," Jaffa asserts. "The value is a subjective desire, not an objective truth. A hundred years ago, nobody would have spoken about our principles as being values."
The Hoover Institution - Hoover Institution
In a previous Uncommon Knowledge interview, Jaffa discussed his classic Crisis of the House Divided. In this interview, Jaffa returns to discuss the sequel, A New Birth of Freedom.He begins by making a critical point: whereas the Founders had expected slavery simply to wither away, by the middle of the nineteenth century the peculiar institution had done no such thing. The Civil War, Jaffa insists, was a necessary war—an unavoidable war -- not a war of choice. When the war broke out, anyone who had engaged in a cool calculation of the odds would have put his money on the Confederacy, not the Union.Commenting on contemporary America, Jaffa points out the distinction between the "immutable principles of private morality" that President Washington spoke of and the "fundamental American values" that President Obama speaks of today."Values are moral choices, which have no object or basis," Jaffa asserts. "The value is a subjective desire, not an objective truth. A hundred years ago, nobody would have spoken about our principles as being values."