Backbone Radio

Krannawitter on the Founding

Slated on Backbone Radio, July 4 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

Ross Kaminsky writes: On this Independence Day weekend, Backbone Radio is pleased to offer you a very special two hour discussion with Professor Tom Krannawitter, formerly of the Claremont Institute and Hillsdale College, who as of this week has joined the political science faculty of Colorado Christian University. Professor Krannawitter, the author of Vindicating Lincoln, is one of the nation’s leading experts on the American founding, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and the history of those founding principles through our nation’s history, not least as a cause of the Civil War.

During these two hours, Professor Krannawitter will – insofar as it’s possible in such a short time – lay out a fascinating story of American independence, looking at prior and contemporaneous European history to emphasize just how remarkable, how inherently optimistic and beautiful, was the vision of Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Washington, Hancock and the many other Founders who risked everything to oppose the most powerful nation in the world.

We’ll talk about principles of the founding itself, not least the focus on individual liberty and how that impacts the relationship between a man and government in our nation.

You rarely hear strong defenders of the Founding tackle the issue of slavery. It’s a subject that is often used by opponents of liberty to attack the Declaration of Independence – from which all principles of our republic essentially flow. We’ll speak with Professor Krannawitter about how the Declaration and Constitution was profoundly anti-slavery documents and we’ll tackle the challenging question of Thomas Jefferson’s slave ownership before spending some time talking about Abraham Lincoln, the topic of Dr. Krannawitter’s book.

We’ll spend a little time speaking about the Progressive moment and the more general reason that liberals must attack the Declaration of Independence if they want to further their statist goals. And we’ll end the show with a possibly hopeful discussion of what we can do to reclaim our lost liberties and our ever-declining understanding of what the American Revolution really stands for.