The Week in Review at the Abbeville Institute Sept 19-23, 2016

Topics: Charles Carroll, James Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Statesmanship, Agrarianism, Decentralization, George Washington


Brion McClanahan

Brion McClanahan is the author or co-author of six books, How Alexander Hamilton Screwed Up America (Regnery History, 2017), 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America and Four Who Tried to Save Her (Regnery History, 2016), The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers, (Regnery, 2009), The Founding Fathers Guide to the Constitution (Regnery History, 2012), Forgotten Conservatives in American History (Pelican, 2012), and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Real American Heroes, (Regnery, 2012). He received a B.A. in History from Salisbury University in 1997 and an M.A. in History from the University of South Carolina in 1999. He finished his Ph.D. in History at the University of South Carolina in 2006, and had the privilege of being Clyde Wilson’s last doctoral student. He lives in Alabama with his wife and three daughters.

One Comment

  • Peter Giger says:

    As usual so much “food for thought” in this podcast. Particulary poignant is the idea of self-sufficiency and of course which continues interminably to bring us back to those salient origins in Southern traditions which make America of World-class importance. Ironically, probably one of the issues which led America to the state conflicts is the temptation to associate Slavery on the one hand and luxury and self-indulgence (of the Planters) on the other. We can see today still this is considered a “given”. That the “haves” do less work the the “have nots”. The important issue to elucidate I think is not the power of the “haves” but the responsibilities, liabilities, vision, education, and experience which this “status” implies and is never spoken of. I believe this is what spurs the dynamics of detractors in a game of “self-evidence” whereas “seeing is believing” and obsessively agnostic and superficial. Ironically, it is The Planter here that is the empiricist, pragmatist, and mentor both politically and economically. Antagonisms run deep and resentment high whereas it seems a merciless monotony of trifling objections and insulting precocious condemnations such as jealousy and envy. (These would also possibly move a “Planter” to counter such objections.) The problem with such objections as we have left unanswered is the polemics regarding liabilities of authority and legitimate authorities at that. When mentorship is condemned on the basis of human rights violation how can an individual learn without being a mere pirate, usurper swindler, and expropriator. The whole MOTIVES are lost also.

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