Law & Liberty: “Who Tells Your Story?”
By Nathan and Elizabeth Schlueter
“Who expected it? A world-wide pandemic, recurring food and supply shortages, massive unemployment, widespread violence and lawlessness, deep political disagreement and distrust, feckless leadership, and a general breakdown of our political institutions.
To many Americans, the current state of affairs seems surreal, if not apocalyptic. As we fret about the dangers of George Orwell’s 1984 our country is spinning towards George Miller’s Mad Max. What we need now is sober realism wedded to the right ideals. We need Hamilton. We don’t mean Hamilton the man—although we could sure use a statesman like Alexander Hamilton right now—we mean Hamilton the musical.
We will admit, when the musical first came out in 2015 we were skeptical. A rap musical dramatization of the American Founding? Wouldn’t this musical be a boring sermon in political correctness?
But with nine children under the age of 20, it is difficult to avoid completely the latest pop fads, and songs from the Hamilton soundtrack eventually made it onto the song list for long family car trips. We found ourselves first surprised, and then positively delighted by the creativity, thoughtfulness, wit, and sheer excellence of the songs…”
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Nathan Schlueter is a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Hillsdale College. He teaches courses in social and political philosophy, ethical theory, Roman Catholic theology and philosophy, and literature. He is the author of One Dream or Two? Justice in America and in the Thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Lexington Books, 2002), co-author, with Nikolai Wenzel, of Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives: The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate (Stanford University Press, 2017), and co-editor, with Mark Mitchell, of The Humane Vision of Wendell Berry (ISI Books, 2011). His articles have also appeared in First Things, Public Discourse, National Review Online, and Perspectives on Political Science.
Professor Schlueter is a JMC fellow.
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