American Political Culture

From Inside Higher Ed: "Ed Department: DEI Violates Civil Rights Law."  Office for Civil Rights declared race-based scholarships, cultural centers and even graduation ceremonies illegal.

For Wednesday:

• Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address.
• Barack Obama's keynote address at the Sojourners/Call to Renewal "Building a Covenant for a New America," June 26, 2006, https://sojo.net/articles/transcript-obamas-2006-sojournerscall-renewal-address-faith-and-politics 
• SECOND ESSAY ASSIGNED FEB 19, 

Tocqueville

Wonderful sentiment, and I couldn't agree with it more -- and I value Congressman Bacon, very much -- but ... a piece from the first weeks of the Standard: https://t.co/bMV0yliY9a cc: @jpitney @BillKristol pic.twitter.com/NIRvnjX7Lt

— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) February 16, 2025

The moral:  always try to check the original sources of quotations.

The very first line of Tocqueville's introduction: “No novelty in the United States struck me more vividly during my stay there than equality of conditions" (p. 9)

• What did that phrase mean to Tocqueville? 
• He was not blind to slavery -- discussion on Wed.

Maintaining a democratic republic

• Circumstances – physical isolation (remember when we discuss presidency)
• Laws – the Constitution
• Mores (moeurs)–what are mores? (p. 287)

Religion

"The religious atmosphere of the country was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States." (p. 295 of Lawrence-Mayer ed.) 

• Recent data. 
• Wealth, religion, and the US as an outlier: graph
• Religious nationalism
• Belief in the Bible
• Ten Commandments and Bible readings -- Different versions
• Creationism  and an  international comparison  (remember when we discuss Edwards v. Aguillard)

 Civil Religion

• Winthrop's "City on a Hill"
• The Liberty Bell: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10)
• The national motto, "In God We Trust"
• The Dollar Bill:  pyramid and eagle
• The Pledge of Allegiance (see old method of salute)
• 1777 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Lady Gaga sings the National Anthem two weeks after the January 6 insurrection.  Note that she turns and points to the Capitol flag as she sings "...our flag was still there."