Dear  John,

Seminars at the Kirk Center in Full Swing

Interns from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy gathered at the Kirk Center on July 8, 2022, for a day-long seminar on “Dimensions of Contemporary Conservatism.” Faculty speakers included Dr. Glenn Moots from Northwood University and Dr. Sarah Estelle from Hope College. The day began with a session led by Dr. Moots focused on the following topic and related questions: What was the American Founding? Have we abandoned the Founding today? Are we now a nation without a source? Or do we yet have within us the beliefs, practices, and institutions necessary to renew the promise of the Founding for a new generation? The interns were hopeful that the latter path is still available to them.

Dr. Estelle led a session provocatively called “The Economic Way of Loving.” She offered a marvelous presentation on the meaning of love beginning with Aristotle and moving to the moderns, and showed how often economic laws and policies came alongside love rightly understood and supported human flourishing. A final panel led by Kirk Center Executive Director Dr. Jeff Nelson engaged the two speakers and the interns in an especially spirited discussion on the nature, benefits, and drawbacks of globalism. The day ended with a trip to Mecosta’s local bookstore and ice cream shop.

As you may know, the Center also attracts foreign translators, scholars, and visitors who have read Kirk’s books. This summer, at the request of a lawyer from Brazil who had read Kirk’s books in Portuguese, the Kirk Center hosted a four-day seminar for Brazilian professionals on “Russell Kirk and Ordered Liberty.” These young lawyers and entrepreneurs discussed aspects of their common cultural heritage, as well as divergences, with resident Fellows at the Center and parted with ideas for encouraging conservative principles in Brazil.

This week, we hosted interns from the Acton Institute and participants at our annual public seminar featuring Dr. George Nash, and the new editor of The University Bookman, Dr. Luke Sheahan.

Classic Kirk: “A Revolution Not Made, but Prevented”

One of Russell Kirk’s popular essays from the 1980s considers a timely topic: what is the nature of the American founding?

Kirk’s starting point is a suggestive phrase from Edmund Burke that he wrote in defense of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 arguing that it was a revolution prevented and not made. Kirk takes that insight and applies it to the American Founders. In doing so he contrasts the American and French Revolutions, arguing that the American Revolution aimed to re-establish civil social order, whereas the French Revolution aimed to overturn it, and remake it along abstract revolutionary lines. “The Patriots of 1776,” Kirk writes, “intended no radial break with the past…they thought of themselves as conservators rather than innovators.”

Thanks for your ongoing interest in our work, John . As you can see, the Kirk Center has already had an active summer. More is planned. However, our budget is extremely modest. We have our limits. Yet our program is as active and educationally transformational as most organizations many times our size. The cultural yield for your investment in our program is tremendous. We are in great need of your support at this halfway point in our year.

If you value the Kirk Center and want to see that it continues to flourish, please see the link below and donate today. As always, we appreciate your partnership and thanks for all you do to help brighten the corner where you are.