Turley's Constitution
One of our most notable political commentators privdes his thoughts on the Constitution.
Susan Quinn | March 17, 2026
n Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution, Jonathan Turley explores with a deep understanding the wisdom of our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and how the Founders ensured that we honored and implemented them. Turley explains the contributions that James Madison and Thomas Paine made to our growth, even though the two men had different beliefs, including different ideas about liberty and democracy. Turley also warns us about our current state of affairs:
We are seeing, in my view, the similarly extreme changes in economic conditions that produced earlier revolutions and the potential for a type of democratic despotism. If we wait for these economic conditions to grow more acute and destabilizing, it may prove too late to avoid the patterns of history in the erosion of individual rights and social order.
On the verge of the American Revolution, Thomas Paine made many contributions to help our country separate from Britain, especially at a time when our Revolutionary Army was struggling:
Common Sense was perfectly (and intentionally) timed as an effective response to the irate monarch. Second, when Common Sense came out, the Continental Army had reached one of its lowest points in morale and had been reduced to half of its size from just a year earlier. Washington would credit the publication for turning around the dire situation with its ‘unanswerable reasoning.'
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It was time, Paine argued, to make a choice and take a stand. He made that case at the request of Washington, who saw Paine as the only writer who could reinvigorate his troops. Paine did so with his signature style of direct and accessible rhetoric: ‘These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier, and the sunshine patriot will, in times of crisis, shrink from the service of his country.’
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/03/turley_s_constitution.html
