Dr. Gillis Harp
June 5, 2012 - American Founders Luncheon
“There is No Special Providence for Americans: Lessons for Today’s Conservatives from John Adams”

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Recent years have witnessed a dramatic revival of popular interest in one of our previously most neglected founders, John Adams of Massachusetts. The self-effacing Adams would certainly have been surprised to see the best-selling biographies and television miniseries about him that have appeared since the 1990s. Not only has the general public become more interested in his life and thought, but historians have also come to appreciate both Adams the man and Adams the patriot and politician. Adams’s vestigial Calvinism and his deeply conservative temperament produced a different kind of leader. What historian Paul Conkin terms “his preference for being right rather than popular, and his supreme devotion to public duty” contrasts vividly with today’s talking heads who play shamelessly to the lowest common denominator. Many of today’s conservative pundits are following the logic of the market as they seek to attract the largest audience with appeals to passion over reason. Patrick Deneen has recently spoken of the need for conservative renewal and the importance of revisiting the movement’s historical roots. A reconsideration of the conservatism of John Adams can be a helpful part of that recovery.

Gillis J. Harp is a professor of history at Grove City College and member of the faith & politics working group with The Center for Vision & Values. He is the author of “Positivist Republic: Auguste Comte and the Reconstruction of American Liberalism, 1865-1920” (Penn State Press, 1995) and “Brahmin Prophet: Phillips Brooks and the Path of Liberal Protestantism” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). Dr. Harp has previously taught at McGill University and the University of Toronto, and is currently researching a book on the history of American conservatism. His academic specialty is American intellectual and cultural history, especially the nineteenth century. Harp earned his B.A. in history from Carleton University, and both his M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia.

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Randall Wenger, Esq., The Independence Law Center
March 13, 2012 - American Founders Luncheon
“James Wilson: A Founder Whose North Star Can Guide Our Rescue of Good Government”

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The mind of this Pennsylvania Delegate to the Constitutional Convention was described as “one blaze of light.” It was said of James Wilson that “Government seems to have been his peculiar study; all the political institutions of the world he knows in detail, and can trace the causes and effects of every revolution from the earliest stages of the Grecian commonwealth down to the present time.” A philosophical giant among giants, he was one of the most prolific speakers at the Constitutional Convention. Despite his disappointments, he was able to say that our constitution presented “the best form of government which has ever been offered to the world.” Washington ultimately appointed him one of our nation’s first Justices of the Supreme Court.

His ability to help craft a constitution and to administer it in the courts did not arise out of a vacuum. While his knowledge of history and philosophy were amazing, these were secondary. Instead, he understood law to be something that does not proceed from government but from God Himself. Those laws best suited to guide men and nations must harmonize with the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God and preserve the Natural Rights of Man. James Wilson’s insights into these Laws of Nature and Natural Rights were not only well suited for designing our remarkable constitution, but are vital to rebuilding the crumbling foundations of our Republic.

Join us for lunch on March 13, 2012, for $17.76 at Pittsburgh’s Rivers Club to hear The Independence Law Center’s Randy Wenger, Esq., discuss “James Wilson: A Founder Whose North Star Can Guide Our Rescue of Good Government.”

Randall Wenger Bio

Randall Wenger  is chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Independence Law Center, which fights to defend citizen rights to exercise religious and other First Amendment freedoms.

Mr. Wenger holds a juris doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania, the alma mater of American Founder James Wilson. He also he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago, the intellectual home of renowned economist Milton Friedman.

Mr. Wenger dedicates his life’s work to protecting the God-given freedoms enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. His commitment to these liberties led him to leave a career in the strategy wing of the Coopers & Lybrand management consulting division to pursue a degree in law. While at the University of Pennsylvania, he served as president of the law school’s Christian Legal Society before graduating in 2000. As an attorney with Clymer & Musser in his native Lancaster County, Pa., and later with Boyle, Neblett & Wenger in the Harrisburg area, Mr. Wenger practiced in numerous federal appellate and district courts around the country, specializing in public policy litigation. His work earned recognition from Alliance Defense Fund leaders as someone uniquely qualified to advocate for liberty and pro-family issues.

The founder of the non-profit Independence Law Center, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Institute, Mr. Wenger routinely provides counsel to citizens throughout the commonwealth struggling with private and public civil liberties issues. His lengthy list of legal cases includes challenges pertaining to:

• the constitutionality of state and federal Defense of Marriage Acts (Cozen O’Connor v. Tobits; U.S. District Court, E.D. Pa.)
• taxation of church property (Northumberland Baptist Church v. Wyoming County Board of Assessment Appeals and Revision of Taxes; Wyoming County Court of Common Pleas)
• freedom to picket a pornography shop on public property (Routes 202 & 309 Novelties Gifts, Inc. v. The King’s Men; U.S. District Court, E.D. Pa.)
• the right of a religious organization to deny a request to facilitate a civil union (Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Ass’n of the United Methodist Church v. Vespa-Papaleo; U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd. Circuit)
• intervening on behalf of a pregnant minor seeking to not to be forced into an abortion. A baby boy was born on November 4, 2011.

Pennsylvania Family Institute and the Independence Law Center are located near the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg.

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Jane E. Calvert, Associate Professor of History, University of Kentucky
December 13, 2011 – American Founders Luncheon
“John Dickinson: America’s First Political Hero”

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Before 1776, few men equaled Founding Father John Dickinson in international reputation and influence and none surpassed him. Colonial legislatures sought his council, Congress sought his guidance, the French philosophe Voltaire proclaimed him the American Lycurgus, and the British considered him, as John Adams put it, the “ruler of America.” Jefferson proclaimed that “his name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution.” Yet, today few Americans are aware of this great patriot’s contributions for one main reason: He refused to vote on or sign the Declaration of Independence. Despite taking up arms for the American cause, his reputation never quite recovered even though he held significant leadership positions following the war. Historians have been confounded by how this great champion of American liberties could not sanction American liberty.

Join us on December 13, 2011, at Pittsburgh’s Rivers Club to hear historian Dr. Jane E. Calvert of the University of Kentucky and, visiting associate professor at Yale, describe John Dickinson’s achievements and explain the apparent contradiction in his thinking and behavior. Her talk will highlight the religious influences on Dickinson’s political philosophy and show how, even more than most Founding Fathers, Dickinson’s values, causes, and example speak loudly to us today.

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June 7, 2011 – American Founders Luncheon
Joseph Postell, Ph.D.
“The Federalist Papers and the Foundation of American Conservatism”

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Are the Founders responsible for today’s big government? Some people think so. Join us for the next American Founders Luncheon Series on June 7 when our speaker Joseph Postell of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs takes up this question. Postell said, “Although many Americans love the Founders, they often feel uneasy about certain elements of the Founding. Many conservatives argue that the Founders were too modern, and that their emphasis on rights, freedom and equality has actually laid the groundwork for Big Government and its supporting ideology today. Are these conservative critiques of the Founders correct?”

Register to join us for lunch to hear Postell’s answer at Pittsburgh’s Rivers Club for $17.76 when he discusses “The Federalist Papers and the Foundation of American Conservatism.” Doors open at 11:45 a.m. The program will begin promptly at noon and dismiss before 1 p.m.

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Astrophysicist, author and science-faith think tank founder Dr. Hugh Ross travels the world challenging students and faculty, churches and professional groups to consider what they believe and why … and now he’s coming to Grove City College! Join us for two fascinating discussions involving the intersection of science and scripture!

March 31, Sticht Hall

• 2 p.m. “Why the Universe is the Way It Is”
• 7 p.m. “An Astronomer’s Quest”

No registration necessary.

Hugh Ross, astronomer with a PhD from the University of Toronto, did research on quasars and galaxies as a post-doctoral fellow at Caltech. He is an internationally known speaker and president of Reasons To Believe. He is also the author/coauthor of 10 books, including Creation as Science, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, and More Than a Theory.

The Center for Vision & Values is pleased to announce bestselling author, commmentator and syndicated radio talk show host, Dr. Bill Bennett as the featured presenter at the 5th Annual Ronald Reagan Lecture.

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SEPTEMBER | 9781935191759 (cloth) | ISI Books | $29.95
U.S. History / Politics | 496 pages | 6 x 9 Illustrated

AUTHOR EXPLORES ARCHIVES AND A CENTURY OF EXPLOITATION

In this intensively researched new book, bestselling author Paul Kengor shines light on a deeply troubling aspect of American history: the prominent but neglected role of the “dupe.” From the Bolshevik Revolution through the Cold War and up to the present, many liberals/progressives have unwittingly aided some of America’s most dedicated opponents.

Based on fascinating archival information—including previously unpublished FBI files and documents from the Soviet Comintern archives—Dupes unveils a long list of liberals who often provided fodder for America’s adversaries. Kengor identifies a wide range of figures, from “Potemkin Progressives” like John Dewey, Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, and H. G. Wells to “Progressives for Obama” like Tom Hayden, Mark Rudd, Jane Fonda, and Bill Ayers; from Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter to Senators John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Dick Durbin; from Hollywood stars like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall to playwrights like Arthur Miller and Lillian Hellman; from Dr. Benjamin Spock to Dr. Howard Zinn. Perhaps most intriguing of all, Kengor uncovers stunning new evidence of the extensive propaganda work of Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party member and also mentor to a young man in Hawaii named Barack Obama.

Yet Dupes also defends such liberal icons as Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and FDR, showing how they were trashed and demonized by Soviet and American Communists. At the same time, Kengor reveals that the ranks of the duped once included an actor named Ronald Reagan—who, of course, became perhaps America’s greatest anti-Communist.

Packed with stunning revelations, Dupes shows in alarming detail the extent to which U.S. adversaries exploit the American home front.

Paul Kengor, Ph.D., is the bestselling author of God and Ronald Reagan, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, and several other books. A professor of political science and the executive director of The Center for Vision and Values at Grove City College, he has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Political Science Quarterly, among other publications. Kengor has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, C-SPAN, and many other outlets.

Order your copy today.

Read a Q&A with Dr. Kengor on his new book.

To interview Dr. Paul Kengor, please contact him directly at pgkengor@gcc.edu.