#1333 The Constitution Today
Listening to America
Listening to America
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2019
⏱️ 61 minutes
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Summary
"I don't think, from my point of view, you can think that the Constitution is sacred."
— Clay S. Jenkinson
We discuss Akhil Reed Amar's The Constitution Today, a selection for the Book Club, which contains essays written by Amar over the past two decades. Amar gives us a road map for thinking constitutionally about today's America.
Find this episode, along with recommended reading, on the blog. Support the show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at jeffersonhour.com/tours. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let's ramble. Okay. Good day Thomas Jefferson Hour podcast listeners. This week a book from the Jefferson |
| 0:08.1 | Hour book club series. Aquille Reed Amar, the Constitution today. |
| 0:13.6 | He's prolific, he's a friend of mine, |
| 0:15.9 | we added him to the Jefferson Hour Book Club, |
| 0:18.9 | and he really is addressing the areas of the Constitution that we need to focus in on as we try to |
| 0:27.6 | figure out how to govern ourselves 250 years after the Constitution was drafted. |
| 0:33.3 | It's an interesting book. |
| 0:34.7 | It's a collection of essays from the past 20 years and we talk about a number of things and |
| 0:41.6 | my goodness you share your opinions this week sir oh well you do I'll say |
| 0:46.1 | this that you know when I started working on Jefferson a long long time ago I was |
| 0:51.8 | interested in his agrarianism and his status as an American |
| 0:55.1 | revolutionary and Montecello and etc. I didn't know when I started that he was so |
| 1:01.4 | interesting on the question of the Constitution. |
| 1:04.5 | And I think you and I have both in a certain sense been radicalized by Jefferson because his |
| 1:08.9 | view was, hey it's a document. |
| 1:10.7 | That's great. |
| 1:11.7 | Blame it on Jefferson. I like that. |
| 1:13.0 | I'll take it. I think it's true. |
| 1:14.0 | You know, he, you're right. |
| 1:15.0 | You're right. You're right. |
| 1:16.0 | This view is don't, don't let this thing be sacred. |
| 1:19.0 | Treat it for what it is. |
... |
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