John Nantz - Rediscovering Republicanism: Renewing America with Our Founding Vision and Values

Renewing America with Our Founding Vision and Values

John Nantz

HAMILTON BOOKS
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Rowman & Littlefield

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

Names: Nantz, John, 1986 author.

Title: Rediscovering republicanism: renewing America with our founding

vision and values / John Nantz.

Description: Lanham: Hamilton Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield,

| Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary:

Rediscovering Republicanism explores and explicates Americas two key

political ideologiesfounding-era American Republicanism and American

Progressivismand argues that American Republicanism rests on a sounder

view of human nature and politics and offers the best path forward for

renewing and reforming America's federal government todayProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021027643 (print) | LCCN 2021027644 (ebook) | ISBN

9780761872337 (paperback) | ISBN 9780761872344 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Federal governmentUnited StatesHistory. |

RepublicanismUnited StatesHistory. | Progressivism (United States

politics)History. | United StatesPolitics and government.

Classification: LCC JK311.N36 2021 (print) | LCC JK311 (ebook) | DDC

320.473dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027643

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027644

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

To Americas Founding Fathers

Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Lincoln among them.

We owe our Republic to you.

And to my very American mother, Jane Nantz.

Being your son has been an incredible blessing.

This book would not exist without the contributions and support of many people. I first want to thank my inimitable research assistants: Gustav Axn, Alex Sanchez-Olvera, Chelsey Bartlett, and May Hlaing. Gustav worked with me in Washington, D.C. for a summer and returned to the United States from Sweden to work together during his December holiday. Sanchez-Olvera provided thoughtful research support, full-and part-time for over a year. Bartlett and Hlaing helped me complete the final draft manuscript during a summer of intensive work together at Stanford. This book would not be nearly as well-researched or insightful without this groups supportand would not have been nearly as fun to write. Thank you.

I also received support and encouragement from some true intellectual and literary giants. Amity Shlaes provided a much-needed boost of encouragement during a hard phase of writing. Dr. George Nash provided consistent, sincere encouragement over several years while guiding me to several books and thinkers that deeply shaped my thinking. Dr. Paul A. Rahes thinking and booksmost notably his Republics Ancient and Modern (1992)helped lay the intellectual foundation on which this book stands.

A team of professionals helped get this book polished up and ready to share. Bernadette Serton spiritedly edited this book during the summer of 2020, re-architecting the manuscript and making it far more readable and insightful. She was also a pleasure to work with. I also want to thank the publishing team at Rowman & Littlefields Hamilton Books, and Brooke Bures in particular, for helping shepherd this book to publication.

Family and friends played a critical role in making this book a reality. My friend Pat Casey accompanied me on this long and challenging journey for almost a decade. Your insights and challenges were invaluable. Charlie Page reviewed the manuscript multiple times, making thoughtful recommendations and editorial suggestions each time. And Jane Nantz, my mother, provided critical support throughout the writing of this book. In the beginning, almost everyone I spoke with discouraged me from writing this book, sometimes quite strongly. Mom, this book would not exist without youthank you.

Institutions helped too. I wrote most of the book at Stanford University, benefitting enormously from the resources and environment that Stanford afforded. And the Library of Congress provided an incredible venue to research and to write during my six-month stint in Washington, D.C.

Throughout, the people who supported this book not only helped sharpen and challenge the thinking, writing, and ideas, but also made the process far more enjoyable and fun. Many thanks to everyone who helped move this book from idea to a reality. The books best parts often came from others; the faults that remain are my own. Many thanks to everyone who helped and supported this projectI cannot thank you enough.

When well-designed institutions function properly, people thrive. Few institutions in human history have been more ingeniously designed than the United States federal government via the Constitution of the United States of America in 1787 and its essential appendix, the Bill of Rights, two years later. This auspicious beginning, more than two centuries ago, helps explain why the United States remains a magnet for opportunity seekers, students, entrepreneurs, dissidents, and persecuted believers, and why Americas Constitutionthe first written constitution in history and the longest in service todayhas served as an inspiration and model for emerging democracies around the world since its creation.

Yet for decades now, Americas federal government has been underperforming in ways large and small. Social Security and Medicarethe federal governments two largest undertakings after national defenseface looming insolvency. The federal governments war on poverty, initiated in 1964, has not only failed to end poverty, as promised by President Lyndon B. Johnson, but also arguably made poverty more intransigent. Amtrak, Americas federally funded rail system, has never broken even since the U.S. Congress created it in 1971, and the U.S. Postal Service ( USPS ) lost more money in 2012over $15 billionthan the nation spent on the U.S. State Department that same year. Recent years have not brought much improvement: the USPS lost $9 billion in 2019.

How can an enduring institution, so thoughtfully crafted, now produce such poor results? Politicians, political scientists, and historians articulate answers within their disciplines. But the problem and its solution can be illuminated differently and perhaps more clearly by business strategists and organizational experts who work with organizationsbusinesses, non-profits, and governmentsand study why some underperform and fail while others succeed. These experts certainly have more examples from which to learn. While the world has only 193 national governments, the United States alone has over 5 million businesses with 40,000 having 500 employees or more.