I am reading “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution” by Bernard Bailyn, which is an astonishing history of the intellectual and philosophical input that our founders put into their heads way before they met in Philadelphia to pass the Declaration of Independence first and the Constitution later. The wide array of treatises, essays, literature, poetry and history they read dating back more than 2000 years and referenced easily in their speeches and writing is carefully documented by Bailyn.
It also serves as a shocking reminder to every American as to how far we have allowed our educational system to fall short of providing the intellectual and philosophical fuel our democratic republic needs to sustain itself. Without it, self-governing republics suffocate.
There was nothing spontaneous or made up on the spot during those deliberations in Philadelphia long ago. Nothing occurred by magic or pure chance. All the ideas put together in those two historic and timeless documents were drawn from the greatest writers, playwrights, philosophers, theologians and thinkers from days long before America was even a dream in anyone’s eyes.
Bailyn obviously was a scholar of the utmost pedigree who taught at Harvard and passed away in 2020. The first thing that came to mind while reading his book was a stunning finding from the Pew Research Center that came out about 20 years ago that adult Americans, on average, only read one book per year.
There was no mention of what type of book the average American was reading. It could have been anything from a sultry summer romance novel or a dark science fiction story about how AI is going to destroy mankind to an in-depth exposé of the secret life of a celebrity. Chances are pretty high the book read by the average American each year was not on the order of Augustine’s “City of God” or Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables.”
The emphasis was “on average,” meaning there were many adults who didn’t read one book in any given year. There are voracious readers who may read a book per week to bring the average back close to one.
Former President Bill Clinton was one of those voracious readers. He somehow found time to read at least one book per week, according to news reports at the time.
The question for today would be what would our current generation draw upon if asked to write a new Constitution or Declaration? Would it be based on some amalgamation of lyrics from current rap songs, quotes from Marvel comics movies about superheroes, or any pithy comment made by a professional NBA or NFL superstar after they won a championship against all odds and “fought like soldiers” through pain or setback?
Or would they just go to their computer and ask AI to write a new Constitution for us?
There may not be enough intellectual or philosophical fuel left in the American pipeline to reproduce such miraculous documents once the current older generations who have studied it and tried to practice it pass on one day. This is a major reason to support any effort to bring back classical liberal education to our classrooms and homes in 2026 and beyond.
Granted, there are far more diversions in the 21st century that compete for the time and headspace of Americans today than in the 18th century. But are the brain darts that are fired at us daily on social media through our cell phones, laptops and television sets really helping build us up as whole people, or are they turning us into fiery, angry, narrow-minded smaller tribes of like-minded folks who are losing the capacity to live peaceably with each other despite our marked differences of opinion?
In the human brain, there is a small structure in the limbic system called the amygdala that controls your behavior and emotions. It is more commonly associated with governing your “fight or flight” response system. Modern technology has allowed marketers the ability to tap into your purchasing preferences based on your search and purchase patterns. It has also given political experts the ability to target your “political amygdala” — let’s call it — on an almost continuous basis. No wonder we feel so exhausted all the time.
In our founders’ time, such emotions could only be tapped through paper pamphlets or newspapers. But once those were read and dropped into the trash bin or burning fire, your brain had a chance to relax and recover some degree of normalcy before the next stimulus came around.
Can’t we all use some of that brain restoration and healing today?
