Hillsdale College's *Imprimis*: Exploring Key Themes and Ideas
Hillsdale College's Imprimis is a monthly speech digest that addresses critical issues facing American society. Rooted in the college's mission to uphold "civil and religious liberty and intelligent piety," Imprimis features thought-provoking essays and speeches by prominent figures on topics ranging from political philosophy and economics to education and culture.
The Enduring Importance of Common Sense
Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump emphasized common sense, declaring that he and his supporters represented "the party of common sense." In his Inaugural Address, he reiterated this theme, stating, "We will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense."
But what exactly is "common sense"? René Descartes famously claimed that it was "the most widely distributed thing in the world." However, in contemporary America, this assertion seems questionable. Is it common sense to deny the biological reality of sex, to open borders without considering the consequences, to prioritize diversity over competence, or to celebrate art that is indistinguishable from pornography?
Like concepts such as love, justice, and knowledge, common sense is difficult to define precisely. However, we recognize it when we see it, and we immediately sense its absence when it is replaced by something else. In recent decades, American culture has suffered from a deficit of common sense, eroding valuable institutions and cultural norms.
The revival of common sense often clashes with the views of the "elites," those who promote policies that seem detached from reality. These elites, often products of privileged institutions, advocate for ideas that undermine traditional values and norms.
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President Trump's effort to restore America involves acknowledging the decay within our institutions and rescuing cultural achievements from the oblivion to which the establishment elite has consigned them. The "long march through the institutions," a Marxist concept, has led to a co-option of these institutions by ideas that undermine their original purpose.
The Power of Ideas and Cultural Restoration
Irving Kristol observed that the institutions of society are "at the mercy of the ideas in the heads of the people who populate these institutions." This highlights the importance of challenging the prevailing cultural rebellion against traditional values.
The election of Donald Trump signaled a shift in the zeitgeist of American culture. His administration aimed to remake the status quo, issuing executive orders that affected various aspects of American life, from immigration to the economy.
Trump's vision includes a "new golden age," characterized by economic prosperity, technological innovation, and a return to normality. This return to common sense involves restoring cultural touchstones that have been neglected or denigrated by the elites.
Examples of such cultural restoration include Kenneth Clark's Civilization, a BBC series that celebrated the monuments of Western culture, and Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, which introduced classical music to a wide audience. The Book of the Month Club also played a role in promoting good books and fostering a culture of reading.
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These initiatives demonstrate a culture at one with itself, innocent of the self-loathing that has plagued elite American culture in recent decades. Kenneth Clark emphasized "energy" and "confidence" as hallmarks of a vibrant civilization, while identifying "lack of confidence" as a civilization's downfall.
Donald Trump's energy and vision offer hope for a political and cultural restoration, sparking a new golden age rooted in common sense and traditional values.
The Assault on Religious Liberty
Faith and freedom are essential components that define the prevalence of civil and religious liberty. The Blake Center for Faith and Freedom focuses on considering the integral relationship of Christianity, Western Civilization, and American ideals and institutions.
Confronting Critical Race Theory
Critical race theory has become a tool of political power, achieving "cultural hegemony" in America's public institutions. It is driving the vast machinery of the state and society. It is urgent that we fight back against disparate impact thinking.
The Importance of National Sovereignty
The EU brings benefits, but it does so by destroying national sovereignty.
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Economic Principles and the Moral Framework of the Marketplace
When Alexander Hamilton became the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury, he immediately began to prepare a schedule of tariffs, along with excise taxes on such commodities as alcohol and tobacco. Join us at the Blake Center for Faith and Freedom for an evening dedicated to exploring the moral framework for the marketplace. What is the relationship between morality and markets?
Protecting Defense Investments and National Security
We must take the steps necessary to protect our defense investments and end our dependence on China and other foreign countries for goods that are essential to our national health and security. Going forward, our best leaders will eschew political gamesmanship and work to control our borders, fix our public health agencies.
The Dangers of Progressivism
With their dehumanizing rhetoric and soft-on-crime policies, progressives create permission structures that excuse crime and violence, remove accountability, and blur the distinction between right and wrong.
Hillsdale College's Commitment to Freedom
Hillsdale has always been broadly partisan on behalf of freedom. Indeed we are required by the College’s charter document, written in 1844, to offer “sound learning” of the kind needed to preserve the blessings of “civil and religious liberty and intelligent piety in the land.” In the early decades of Hillsdale’s history, that meant opposing slavery.
We have these rights because we were born with them sewn by God into our nature, and we cannot find our earthly fulfillment without them. If we put these facts together as a people, we will have recovered the understanding that produced the American Revolution. We will stop these current predations upon our rights.
Restoring Constitutional Government
It may become possible to restore constitutional government in place of the administrative or bureaucratic state that has almost overtaken it. That is the issue that matters the most. The worst evils stem from it.
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