Ep 256: America’s Revolutionary Mind, with C. Bradley Thompson

In this week’s episode Doug Stuart talks with Dr. C. Bradley Thompson; a professor at the University of Clemson, and author of America’s Revolutionary Mind, which happens to be the topic of this podcast episode. They discuss the “moral history” of the American Revolution, its pertinence to 2021 politics, and how to approach 2022 as a revolutionary year. How did our founding fathers act as they faced similar intrusions into their rights in the 18th Century? How did Enlightenment philosophy play into the revolutionary Americans’ desire for a government based on natural rights? How could the founding fathers pursue freedom and equality while holding slaves? How did “relative truth” protect the institution of slavery?

According to Dr. Thompson, the Revolutionary War – as a violent conflict – was merely a result of the “moral war,” which is to say that the Americans had already engaged themselves into a mental war against British rule as a result of extreme encroachments long before any shots were fired. The British Colonial “deep state” had begun to choke out the Americans: Taxes, unwarranted search warrants, and unchecked powers of authority without “rights of Englishmen” pushed the colonists to violence to establish their own governance based on natural rights. Are we facing a similar call to action in 2022?

As Thompson notes, the key aspects to the American Revolution as a moral and violent war were found in John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: “Equality, Rights, Consent, and Revolution.” Based on these self-evident and universal truths the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence. Americans seem to no longer consider these principles to be important, especially due to our current cultural shift towards the concern for the common good. It seems as though Americans have forgotten the American Revolutionary mindset.

Objective truth is crucial to freedom, and as Americans we should strive to find the truth. We live in a “post-truth” world, which allows our liberties to be slowly eaten away. Part of the issue is our state-controlled education system. Our future generations are fed relative truth everyday. Dr. Thompson states that THE biggest revolutionary factor in America today is the homeschooling movement! As long as our children are seeking out the truth, we have hope for the future.

Show Notes

• If American history and politics interest you make sure to check out Dr. Thompson’s other publications!
• Also, if you like what he has to say, then go ahead and subscribe to Dr. Thompson’s Substack newsletter, The Redneck Intellectual. (His article archive).
• Dr. Thompson’s essay on parental rights.
• Join the #JustWalkAway revolution at Dr. Thompson’s anti-public schooling website: edwatchdaily.com.
• Have a highschooler looking for a college education based on a great-books approach? Go take a look at the University of Clemson’s Lyceum Scholar Program!
•  Check out the video version of this episode.