On Dec. 18, the White House released the names of the 18 members of President Donald Trump’s “1776 Commission” formed to preserve the understanding of our founders’ mission in building our Republic on the foundation of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Trump first announced that he would form the Commission months ago, in response to the Black Lives Matter and other deconstructionist assaults on American history and the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, the Commission’s composition is consistent with the Achilles’ heel that has plagued Trump throughout his Presidency: his inclination to brag about the supposed “successes” of the free market and the growing Wall Street bubble.
A more detailed reflection on the Commission members and their activities must be undertaken to cleanse American would-be patriots of anti-Constitutional ideas, championed by this commission, such as “free enterprise,” “free market,” and “capitalism” that are never mentioned in the founders’ documents, because they are opposed to the essence of our Republic’s commitment to the universal humanity embodied in “general welfare,” “common good,” “public good,” and the other concepts defined by the Constitution and, subsequently, by its leading author, our first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Perhaps, there are a few patriots to be uncovered on the Commission, but, as it stands, their ability to actually fulfill their mission is strictly limited.
The appointed Chairman of the Commission, Larry Arnn is a loyal British traitor to the United States. His career was launched as the chief researcher of Sir Martin Gilbert’s official biography of Winston Churchill. He has published three books, one of which is titled Winston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government. In May 2017, he published an article (https://www.businessinsider.com/winston-churchill-iron-curtain-college-speech-2017-5) on Churchill’s notorious 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech. He praised Churchill and his host, President Harry Truman, for the role that they played in shifting United States post-World War II policy from one of peaceful and prosperous international relationships to one of conflict between the colonial powers and the rest of the world, especially the Soviet Union.
Arnn’s praise of Churchillian geopolitics is consistent with his espousal of British free market economics. According to Arnn’s biography posted at Hillsdale College, of which he has been President since 2000, Arnn’s career has consisted in spending 1985 to 2000 as President of the Claremont Institute. This is a think-tank connected to Claremont College which, like Hillsdale, is one of the centers of Free Market subversion in the United States. One of the guiding lights of Claremont and its anti-American outlook is long-time professor Harry Jaffa, who was a disciple of the German-American philosopher, Leo Strauss. Briefly, Strauss was a champion of the view that society’s elites must present two different truths: One for “esoteric” (internal) and another for “exoteric” (public) discussion.
Claremont routinely sponsors debates with the leading “Austrian School” organization in the U.S., the Ludwig Von Mises Society. The two institutions claim to differ, but Claremont’s John C. Eastman explains that they largely agree on policy, but Claremont chooses to claim the Declaration of Independence and other “American” sources for their outlook, while Von Mises looks back to Aristotle and other European sources. (https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/digital/restoring-the-general-to-the-general-welfare-clause/)
The other organizations Arnn serves are all of the same treasonous ideology: The Heritage Foundation, the Henry Salvatori Center of Claremont McKenna College, the Philadelphia Society, the Mont Pelerin Society, the International Churchill Society, and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Claremont is known as one of the “great” institutions dedicated to promoting free market and like philosophies. They routinely sponsor debates with the like-minded Ludwig Von Mises Society.
Obviously, the hope for a 1776 Commission that would restore the founding principles of our Republic under the direction of Chairman Arnn is as futile as were the hopes of those who saw a champion in the sniveling, foot-dragging, war-mongering, William Barr.