Claremont Institute
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Claremont Institute is a conservative think tank based in Claremont, California. It was founded in 1979 by four students of Harry V. Jaffa, a professor emeritus at Claremont McKenna College and the Claremont Graduate University, although the Institute has no affiliation with any of the Claremont colleges.
The mission of the Claremont Institute is "to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.” To this end, the institute seeks to recover a limited and accountable government that respects private property, promotes stable family life, and maintains a strong national defense.
The institute came to prominence under the leadership of Larry P. Arnn, who was its president from 1985 until 2000, when he became the twelfth president of Hillsdale College. The institute is now led by ballistic missile expert Brian T. Kennedy along with chairman of the board Bruce Sanborn.
Today, approximately 20 staff members now coordinate conferences, lecture series, and other projects. The institute also publishes the Claremont Review of Books, a quarterly journal of political thought and statesmanship, as well as other books and publications, including reprints of Jaffa's works.
Contents |
[edit] Philosophy
The institute’s guiding text is the Declaration of Independence, and especially its central proposition that “all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”
Many of the Institute's scholars are students of the teachings of Leo Strauss including Jaffa, who studied with Strauss.
The institute has great admiration for the statesmanship of America's founding fathers as well as that of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill.
Uncommon for a conservative organization, the Claremont Institute tends to reject the constitutional philosophy of strict constructionism and often publishes material that is critical or derisive of conservative strict constructionists such as Robert Bork, William Rehnquist, and Antonin Scalia. According to some Institute writers, their legal philosophy is closer to that of Clarence Thomas, although outside of the Institute Justice Thomas is widely considered to apply the same judicial philosophy as Scalia.[1]
The Institute has a variety of nicknames, some derisive and others embraced willingly, including Super-Hawks, Jaffanese Americans, Claremonsters, Lincoln Conservatives, and Claremontistas.[2]
[edit] Publications
The institute publishes the Claremont Review of Books, a quarterly journal of political thought and statesmanship. The CRB is edited by prominent scholar and institute mainstay Charles R. Kesler and features regular columns by Boston College faculty member Martha Bayles, as well as novelist and journalist Mark Helprin.
[edit] Projects
[edit] Publius Fellows Program
The Publius program is the institute's oldest fellowship program. Since 1979, the institute has hosted a number of young conservatives for seminars and symposia on American politics and political thought. Publius fellows, usually college seniors, recent college graduates, and graduate students, meet with the institute's fellows and other distinguished scholars for several weeks during the summer.
Former Publius fellows have gone on to successful careers in journalism, scholarship, and public policy. A list of all former fellows can be found here.
[edit] Lincoln Fellows Program
Since 1996, the internship has offered fellowships to young professionals serving elected officials or appointed policy-makers in the federal government, as well as staff members of national political parties and non-profit institutions that research and publish on public policy and constitutional issues.
Among the 60 alumni of the program are senior staff members of U.S. Representatives and Senators, White House speech writers, legal counsel and senior advisors in the U.S. Departments of Justice and State, as well as political editorialists for the Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard.
Notable alumni of the Lincoln Fellows program include California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, political commentator Carol Platt Liebau, and editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez. A full list of former Lincoln fellows is available here.
[edit] Internship Program
The institute also hosts a number of college students each year as summer interns. Interns work on a number of writing and research projects, and attend acadademic seminars and lectures.
[edit] Notable staff and fellows
- Brian T. Kennedy (President)
- William J. Bennett (Washington Fellow)
- Mark Helprin (Senior Fellow)
- Harry V. Jaffa (Distinguished Fellow)
- John H. Hinderaker (Institute Fellow)
- Scott W. Johnson (Institute Fellow)
- Paul Mirengoff (Institute Fellow)
- John Eastman (Director of Claremont's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence)
- William A. Rusher (Distinguished Fellow)
- Timothy Sandefur (Institute Fellow)
[edit] Criticisms
[edit] Disputes with Ludwig von Mises Institute
The Ludwig von Mises Institute (LvMI) is one of Claremont's most frequent sparring partners among conservative think tanks. Though both hold similar positions on many moral and economic issues in general, the two differ greatly in ideology.
The two differ radically in their opinions about Abraham Lincoln and have engaged in several public criticisms of each other about whether Lincoln should be embraced or shunned by conservatives. This controversy over Lincoln's meaning to conservatives predates either think tank, and encompasses Jaffa's debates on the subject with National Review editor Frank Meyer and scholar M.E. Bradford.
[edit] Other criticisms
Paleoconservative pundit Joseph Sobran, responding to Claremont's criticisms, accused Harry Jaffa of venerating a "Mythic Lincoln" possessing "immaculate" and Christ-like qualities of redemption and purity. The historical Lincoln, asserts Sobran, was a "lesser, more complicated figure" with human characteristics and human flaws. [3] Political writer Derek Copold similarly satirized the Claremont Institute in 2001 by likening it to a radical Islamic sect headed by the "Abratollah Jaffa" and poked fun at the Institute's Ken Masugi for his tendency to liken opposing viewpoints to nihilism [4]
