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Principles that Offer a Way Forward

November 2, 2009 | By Amanda Reinecker

Order your copy of
We Still Hold These Truths today

What others are saying

"A clear and compelling case for America's founding principles as an enduring source of real, practical guidance for today, explaining how we got so far off track and laying out how to get our nation back on course."

-- William J. Bennett, bestselling author of America: The Last Best Hope and nationally syndicated radio host

"In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty. But what are those essentials? And where do we get them from? Matthew Spalding, both a scholar and Knight Templar of American constitutionalism, is uniquely qualified not only to shed light on these questions but also to slay the intellectual dragons pitted against our Republic. This is vital armament in the battle for constitutional restoration."

-- Jonah Goldberg, editor at large, National Review Online

"With his trademark clarity and considerable eloquence, Spalding explains and extols our country's principles and tells us why the way forward depends on reclaiming them. We Still Hold These Truths is must reading for every American."

-- Mitt Romney

"In his splendid new book, Matthew Spalding provides a spirited defense of the truths asserted by our Founders when they conceived the American republic. Combining the skills of the historian, the philosopher, and the political scientist, Spalding shows why Americans in our time should be no less confident than our forebears in holding these truths, and no less forceful in asserting them."

-- Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University.

"This book recovers the timeless truths on which our self-governing nation was founded and which made America the model of human freedom. These first principles are the indispensable guides policy makers need now."

-- Paul Ryan, United States Congress

For more than a century, Progressives have been directly assaulting the unique and timeless principles of America's Founding. In recent years, this attack has grown only more strident.

A new book by Heritage Foundation scholar Matthew Spalding defines those principles that have made America great. He further explains how these ideas, not those of the Left, offer a better path for America.

Order your copy of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering our Principles, Reclaiming our Future.

Through careful examination and analysis, Spalding, the director of Heritage's B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies, outlines our nation's ten foundational principles: "liberty and equality, natural rights and the consent of the governed, religious freedom and private property, the rule of law and limited constitutionalism, all culminating in self-government at home and independence in the world."

These principles, he argues, have worked together to create a "free, prosperous and just nation unlike any other." And they provide guidance on today's important debates about the size and scope of government and its role in American life.

Progressives have long attempted to remake and transform America by rejecting these principles. Their agenda would move America further and further away from what Abraham Lincoln, recalling the intentions of the Founders, described as "a government of the people, by the people, for the people."

But America does not need to be remade and transformed, Spalding argues. Its principles can serve America in the 21st century just as they have in the past. And it seems the American people agree with this view, as evidenced by the tea parties and the summer's town hall meetings.

Momentum is building for We Still Hold These Truths. This morning, the book was ranked 10,000 on Amazon.com's daily top seller list. As of this writing, it had climbed to number 373 overall and number 16 in U.S. history.

Help put another conservative in the top ten by ordering your copy today.

It is critical that this book do well in its first few days on the market. When publishers see that sound conservative books like Spalding's succeed, more of them will be published.

Americans must renew their commitment to core principles and apply them with new vigor to national political debates. We Still Hold These Truths helps start this process by equipping readers with the necessary tools to rediscover and recover the timeless truths of our Founding. The book makes a compelling case against radical Progressive efforts to reject our core ideals -- and it offers an impassioned, well-reasoned and positive case for the principles that define America's greatness.

Other Heritage work of note

  • Climate change alarmists argue that changes to the weather patterns have historically led to increases in violence and warfare. Not so fast, warns Heritage national security expert James Carafano. "To distract Americans from the economic catastrophe the bill would cause, proponents have turned to arguing that passing the bill is an imperative for national security," he writes in the Washington Examiner. "The reality, however, is it is too difficult to predict over the long term how the interactions between humans and the environment will turn out." Furthermore, a cap-and-tax proposal would weaken America's economy by hampering growth -- and that would really put us at risk.

    What do you think? Post your comments here.

In other news

  • New technologies are enabling energy firms to economically extract natural gas from shale formations, dramatically increasing potential supplies. Instead of restricting this domestic source of low-cost energy, Congress should enact regulations that allow for further exploration and extraction.

Coming up at Heritage

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Amanda Reinecker is a writer for MyHeritage.org-- a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation. Nathaniel Ward, the Editor of MyHeritage.org, contributed to this report.