America at 250

As America marks 250 years of self-governance, what do its founding ideals demand of us today?

This was the question posed to me and three other panelists at the American Identity Summit at the University of Chicago on May, 16, 2016. The panel, entitled, “America at 250: Origins, Evolution, and the Future of the Republic,” featured myself, David Axelrod (Former Senior Advisor to President Obama & Founding Director, UChicago Institute of Politics), Jonathan Turley (Constitutional Scholar, George Washington University), and Tom Ginsburg (Professor of International Law, University of Chicago).

We had a wide-ranging conversation about America’s founding principles, the health of American democracy now, the state of constitutional order, creed vs. culture when it comes to American identity, immigration, and what renewal might look like at 250 years.

Three things stood out to me when I reflected immediately on this panel.

First, was that prior to engaging in what was billed as a “debate” by the Chicago Thinker, the four of us talked baseball, Cubs vs. White Sox, and other important things—just four guys and having a fun, apolitical, and very American conversation.

Second, despite what would have been a great diversity of prudential political opinion or policy prescriptions, the four of us tended to identity some of the same problems American political culture currently faces.