Self-Evident Truths Held

Campus Report ^ | October 13, 2009 | Allie Winegar Duzett

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Self-Evident Truths Held

by: Allie Winegar Duzett, October 13, 2009

Matthew Spalding of the Heritage Foundation was the speaker at a recent Hillsdale College event. Spalding is the author of the upcoming book, We Still Hold These Truths, which will be released later this month.

Spalding’s presentation focused heavily on America and the conservative movement in a historical context. He began by pointing out that the issues we face now have their roots in the far past—most certainly not recent history. The first compulsory national health care, he noted, was promoted by the Germans in the early 1900’s. “[The Kaiser] was so proud of national health insurance that he wanted the rest of the world to accept it…At the World Fair in St. Louis in 1905, the German government had a display advocating national health care.” Spalding went on to explain that American politicians have been advocating national health care ever since.

Spalding explained that America is unique because of our past as a nation. America is unique because of ideas—ideas like equal rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and property. These ideas, Spalding asserted, “were later known as ‘capitalism.’” He went on to note that “Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations came out in 1776; this was no small coincidence.”

Next Spalding examined the ideas behind modern progressivism. Spalding argued that modern progressivism, or liberalism, is rooted in ideas that were imported to America from Germany in the late 1800’s.....