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The first sentence of the lead article is insane: Of the three intellectual pillars of modern liberalism -- Marx, Darwin, and Freud -- only one is still standing.

A proper understanding of the principles of: (a) the American Revolution, as expressed by the Founders; and (b) free enterprise (expounded by Adam Smith, also in 1776) prepares the rational mind to fully understand Darwin's theory of evolution in the context of the Age of Enlightenment. As it is with economics and politics, life itself will thrive in the absence of arbitrary authority. It may be that Darwin couldn't have achieved his intellectual breakthrough without the advantage of living in a post-1776 world.

The rational, freedom-loving conservative not only rejects the tyranny of Dark Ages guilds, state monopolies, trade restrictions, monarchy, and theocracy, but he also rejects creationism -- for the same reasons. Just as economies function best without controls, and societies function best when lightly governed, so too do biological systems organize themselves and proliferate without external guidance. Adam Smith's "invisible hand" appears to be everywhere, yet the hand of Providence is never intrusive.

Those who group Darwin with Marx and Freud are horribly confused. Darwin's work has nothing to do with theirs. Darwin properly deserves to be grouped with Adam Smith and the Founding Founders, as one of the Enlightenment philosophers -- perhaps one of the last, before the horrors of the 20th Century were unleashed by lesser minds.

Darwin properly deserves to be grouped with Adam Smith and the Founding Founders, as one of the Enlightenment philosophers -- perhaps one of the last, before the horrors of the 20th Century were unleashed by lesser minds.

Actually that is a pretty good explanation. The only thing I would point out is that in a sense Adam Smith represented the post-Enlightenment period in because he believed in the self-organization of living things and life, (liberty, captalism, individualism) whereas during most of the Enlightenment period it was thought that organization had to be provided in a top down manner with rational leaders imposing order on populations (rational nation states,etc.). The shift back to the individual, liberty, and the self-organization implied by evolution is what ushered in the Romantic period and represented the end of the Enlightenment period.

What a great Idea!

We need to start a campaign to award Honorary American Citizenship to Charles Darwin for continuing in the Spirit of Enlightenment of our Founding Fathers.

He would stand in good company with the previous Honorary Citizens, Marquis de La Fayette, William Penn, Winston Churchill, Raoul Wallenberg, and Mother Theresa.