From the historic campus of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, where the good, the true, and the beautiful are taught, nurtured, and honored, this is the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, bringing the activity and education of the college to listeners across the country.

I think the American family, of course, is the backbone of everything that makes this country great.

This parent's movement is the most encouraging sort of outpouring of grassroots political energy that I've seen in this country

for some time. This is your host Scott Bertram, and that's Nate Hockman, a staff writer at National

Review. His latest piece is at City Journal, city-journal.com. It's called Parents Revolt. We'll talk

at length with Nate about that piece coming up just a little bit later on in today's program.

First, we're joined now by Dr. Wilfred McLeigh. He is Victor Davis-Hanshire in classical history and Western civilization at Hillsdale College.

Dr. McClay, thanks for joining us. Oh, it's my pleasure, Scott. It's always good to be with you.

Talking today about an essay you wrote for Law and Liberty,

lawliberty.org, identity, patriotism, and education.

How have past generations balanced individual identity

with this national American identity.

Oh, well, I think that partly depends on the period you're talking about,

but I think one of the things about being an American is it's always been,

had an element of complexity, I should say a citizen of the United States,

rather than saying American because that can apply a lot of different things. You know, you have a loyalty to your state and an identity

that is bound up in the state, a separate identity bound up in the nation, in membership in the nation.

And then there are other identities below the level of the state in jurisdictions,

county, city, municipality, village, region, etc. All of these. And I'm talking here only about geographical ones,

but there can be other,

many, many, many other forms of identity.

But I think Americans have always been able to operate

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