Introducing the Third Founding Project

The Pragmatic Papers is launching The Third Founding Project. The chosen name references the prior two foundings in the American story: the establishment of the U.S. Constitution and the transformation of the country after Reconstruction with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.

With an eye to our history, we can learn valuable lessons of how we modern liberals should conduct ourselves when political opposition is unyielding to negotiation or reason and instead wants to wrest control of the arc of history away from the principles of self-government, liberty, and a society governed by law.

History shows to expect bitter disappointment with a fresh founding after overcoming unyielding opponents to liberal demands. Yet, we have also seen that after a new founding, we have the opportunity to venture towards our liberal aspirations. While there is no justice to be found, there is a liberal future to be worked for.

What a founding can accomplish is to settle that the battle between liberalism and illiberal elements of society must be settled within our liberal system going forward, where the arc of history they fear can be bent through the tireless effort of liberals towards justice.

How Consensus Formed in Past Foundings

Readers may have noticed that the prior two founding of America occurred in the aftermath of horrific wars. I do not predict that eventuality because the appetite for war has largely vanished. However, that does not change the stakes of the moment we are in or the resolve demanded to not back down to whatever level of escalation the Republican Party has an appetite for.

The American Revolution was entirely preventable by the King of England and the British Parliament ^[1] The growing demands for the extension of British principles of self-government to their colonies could have been managed through negotiation, even if deeply disappointing from the standpoint of Americans. The path that other former British colonies took, like Canada or Australia, was available for a more graceful and amicable pathway to full independence.

Only in the face of implacable and cruel obstruction to a negotiated settlement did Americans forge the unity to take steps forbidden by British law, and then only after England declared America in rebellion and attacked with red coats did Americans fight the American Revolution.

Through our first founding project, the resolve of liberals and the unreasonableness of England forged a consensus that ultimately arrived at the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. The prospects of liberty were not radically transformed for the better in America versus the world we would have inhabited if England had not forced this consensus upon us. It was a tragedy, although one that liberals can be profoundly proud of our conduct.

Similarly, the Civil War was entirely preventable. The Civil War was about the evil of slavery, but not on the fault lines many have assumed after the war. While depicted by the states that took part in the Confederacy as a war over their rights, this is an obfuscation of fact. The Republican Party position was a more modest goal, that a pathway to a liberal future be open through allowing newly created states to decide for themselves whether they were to be slave states or free ^[2]. This would have been an excruciatingly slow pathway to the emancipation of slaves, without violating the agreement that slave states entered into when they ratified the U.S. Constitution.

Despite this incremental position, states in the South seceded and attacked Fort Sumter to expel the U.S. Army, and the Civil War began. The Republican Party never sought the war. However, as the war progressed, the position of the Republican Party changed. A new consensus formed that the institution of slavery could not survive to divide Americans, and this resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation and the later adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, which would have had very little serious support before the war.

While the abolition of slavery was a monumental achievement for liberalism, the reality of emancipation in the South for slaves was filled with terrors and atrocities. Reconstruction did not deliver the degree of liberal progress one may have hoped or expected. Instead, it set the groundwork for future generations of liberals to continue to press for progress and try to bend the arc of history towards justice. The Civil War was a tragedy, but one where liberals can be proud of our conduct to preserve the United States and to lay down principles of the equality of rights we are still working to make real today.

Finding Consensus on Mechanism, Not Degree

The two through lines of America’s special legacy of liberalism is resolve and the seeking of consensus. While it is possible to be an isolated liberal ideologically, a key to a liberal’s political strength is the legitimacy of reciprocity with anyone, whether you are a strong ally of the liberal project or not. So long as you are not a determined enemy of liberalism, liberals will offer an alliance of whatever shared principles we do possess.

For people plotting out the future reforms or accountability measures of the Democratic Party when we regain power, it is too early to form a consensus on the final package. Perhaps Donald Trump will be at 25% approval, and there will be general disapproval if there is not the greatest possible accountability. Perhaps we will have a microscopic majority in the Senate and a national crisis that the people will demand occupy much of our focus. Ultimately, the decisions will be made through the consensus forged by our representatives in government in a future time, a consensus we are in no position to forge on their behalf.

What strong liberal Democrats can do is come together over the avenues of reform and accountability. However, not all measures of reform or accountability are equally suitable for a consensus right now. The ideal reform and accountability agenda to address the threats to Liberal power and Democratic decline is one that can be embraced by liberals with different predispositions and expectations for the political environment we will operate in when we have the power to act. When we can agree on the mechanisms and the direction as both liberal and useful, we can find an agenda we can become unified around.

Launching the Project

We want to begin the process of seeding a unified vision of liberal strength. To accomplish this, we want contributors who feel this issue passionately but are interested in finding common ground. We will be seeking out contributors and accepting submissions to this project in a special issue of the Pragmatic Papers dedicated to this project to be released on July 4th, 250 years after our nation’s first founding began.

If we have done our job well, then you should be able to read into this project what you would want to see. What ultimately happens will be settled among liberals as we go to campaign, and among our chosen representatives when they get together to govern and preserve a liberal democracy.

If you are interested in participating, reach out to the Pragmatic Papers at [email protected] by May 25th with a 50-150 word pitch. We will provide an editorial decision to authors by May 31st. We expect first drafts to be completed by June 15th and final drafts completed and sent to the team by June 30th.

Introducing the Third Founding Project