The American tradition,

by Clarence B. Carson

Book Overview

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0007DE8I0
• Release Date: January 1964
• Publisher: Foundation for Economic Education
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Defender Of Freedom

Dr. Carson, who passed away in 2003, deserves to be much better known among lovers of freedom. His case for the American tradition that undergirded our Constitutional order is made with gemlike logic and effortless eloquence. In particular, the essay "To Agree To Disagree," near to the end of the book, makes plain not only how the tradition functioned to ensure public harmony among persons of divergent convictions, but also what we have lost as we've allowed the tradition to be effaced and discarded: "Effective disagreement means not doing what one does not want to do as well as saying what he wants to say. What is from one angle the welfare state is from another the compulsory state. Let me submit a bill of particulars. Children are forced to go to school. Americans are forced to pay taxes to support foreign aid, forced to support the Peace Corps, forced to make loans to the United Nations, forced to contribute to the building of hospitals, forced to serve in the armed forces. Employers are forced to submit to arbitration with labor leaders. Laborers are forced to accept the majority decision. Employers are forced to pay minimum wages, or go out of business. But it is not even certain that they will be permitted by the courts to go out of business. Railroads are forced to charge established rates and to continue services which may have become uneconomical. Many Americans are forced to pay Social Security. Farmers are forced to operate according to the restrictions voted by a majority of those involved. The list could be extended, but surely the point has been made." Before this book was published in 1964, there was nothing like it. It is possible that there will never be anything to equal it. Rest in peace, Dr. Carson.

An American Standard

It isn't enough to say Clarence B. Carson's book should be required reading by every american. This book should be read and re-read on a consistent basis. Reading this book ennables one not only to love being an american, but, more importantly, to confidently stand up against those who would tarnish the principles we enjoy.

Reviving America's battered soul

"Those who have gone far toward deifying majority rule and popular government as ends in themselves may think they have found allies in the Founders... [They are] wrong." - Clarence B. CarsonClarence Carson's *The American Tradition* is an attempt by the author to counteract the efforts made by modern intellectuals to innoculate American students against an understanding of their country's true essence. For the basic ideas of the Founding Fathers, Carson argues, "did not just slip away because of defective memory", but as a result of the concerted efforts of modern liberals at "undermining, distorting, obscuring and defaming the American tradition".By "tradition" Carson means "a body of beliefs, customs, habits, ways of doing things which are handed down from generation to generation" (p22), originating in the convergence of popular practices, just as a trail in a forest is shaped by repeated use. This he contrasts with ideologies, which are exhaustive models of reality, originated by intellectuals and generally imposed by force on the rest of the population.Using these two concepts, the author divides America's history into three stages: the colonial era, during which an authoritarian tradition prevailed; the late 18th and 19th centuries, which were characterized by the emergence and preservation of a tradition of freedom; and the late 19th and 20th centuries, during which collectivists ideologies systematically displaced the specifically American ideals, resulting in the statist onslaughts of the thirties and sixties, and the modern socio-democratic status quo."Lest we forget", Carson attempts to salvage the original American tradition of freedom, discarding the anti-concept of "democracy" and the treacherous identification of Americanism with "pragmatism", and reviving such crucial notions as the Higher Law; Republican government; federalism; individualism; political equality; individual rights; voluntarism; and internationalism - all of which together represent the core of the American tradition.Even though I do not completely agree with the author's analysis (I think that he underestimates the role of intellectuals in shaping the classical liberal tradition, for instance; and I found his discussions on "rights and responsibilities" dangerously close to justifying conscription), I believe this book should be read by all Americans today, especially those who have not yet realized how far their country's founding principles have been betrayed by its intellectuals and political leaders for several generations. To quote Carson, what such people "do not perceive is the illusory character of what is said to be preserved and the very real uses of power which have been introduced."Virtually all the chapters abound in penetrating insights, but I particularly loved the last one, where Carson tries to identify the mistakes that were made by the Founders when drafting the Constitution, reminding me of the similar work being done by Judge Narragansett at