Rarely does scholarship anticipate the most dramatic events of the moment. In this timely work Gary Hart does just that, arguing for the restoration of republican virtues and for homeland security as an important first step. The American democratic republic has from its founding been a paradoxical success. Simultaneously attached to state and national power, citizens' rights and citizens' duties, American democracy has uniquely turned its reliance on consent from the governed into a powerful governing of the consenting. In a remarkable political feat, America's founders combined mixed government, the language of popular sovereignty and a self-conscious emphasis on checks and balances to forge a republic that has weathered the test of time. The complex realities of the twenty-first century, however, have fundamentally challenged the underpinnings of this enduring American experiment, repeatedly exposing the tensions at the heart of America's mixed system of government. What then is the nature of an American republic in an age of democracy? How can the democratic values of social justice and equality be balanced with republican values of civic duty and popular sovereignty? Bringing to light a long-neglected aspect of Thomas Jefferson's political philosophy--the "ward republic"--Gary Hart here offers a wholly original blueprint for republican restoration in which every citizen can participate democratically in the governing of his or her own life. Of crucial relevance for contemporary society, including its startlingly prescient plan for homeland security, Restoration of the Republic provides original insights into issues of national urgency as well as the timeless questions that bedevil the American democratic experiment.

Our republic is imperiled. At a time of unprecedented government spending, historic deficits, and gathering foreign threats, America stands at a crossroads. We can either reassert fiscal discipline and reduce the government to the size envisioned by ourFounders, or we can continue on the current path of spending ourselves into oblivion. In Restoring the Republic, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes lays out a detailed agenda for solving the menacing problems that threaten our nation's future. Born and raised in the breadbasket of California, thirty-six-year-old Nunes has seen firsthand how the convergence of big government, big business, and the radical Left has wreaked havoc on entire communities, turning the once-thriving farmland of the San Joaquin Valley into a blighted desert reminiscent of the Dust Bowl. Now the same forces are doing their damage on a national level, threatening America's very foundation. But Nunes has a plan to stop them. -- p. 4 cover.

From Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George Will, whose “thinking is stimulating, erudite, and makes for great reading” (The Boston Globe) comes a “biting, humorous, and perceptive” (The New York Times Book Review) argument for the necessity of term limits in Congress. The world’s oldest democracy—ours—has an old tradition of skepticism about government. However, the degree of dismay about government today is perhaps unprecedented in our history. Americans are particularly convinced that Congress has become irresponsible, either unwilling or incapable of addressing the nation’s problems—while it spends its time and our money on extending its members’ careers. Many Americans have come to believe fundamental reform is needed, specifically limits on the number of terms legislators can serve. In Restoration, George Will makes a compelling case, drawn from our history and his close observance of Congress, that term limits are now necessary to revive the traditional values of classical republican government, to achieve the Founders’ goal of deliberative democracy, and to restore Congress to competence and its rightful dignity as the First Branch of government. At stake, Will says, is the vitality of America’s great promise self-government under representative institutions. At issue is the meaning of representation. The morality of representative government, Will argues, does not merely permit, it requires representatives to exercise independent judgment rather than merely execute instructions given by constituents. However, careerism, which is a consequence of the professionalization of politics, has made legislators servile and has made the national legislature incapable of rational, responsible behavior. Term limits would restore the constitutional space intended by the Founders, the healthy distance between the electors and the elected that is necessary for genuine deliberation about the public interest. Blending the political philosophy of the Founders with alarming facts about the behavior of legislative careerists, Restoration demonstrates how term limits, by altering the motives of legislators, can narrow the gap between the theory and the practice of American democracy.

In Restoring Our Republic, Ned Ryun examines the genesis for the ideas which inspired our constitutional republic, from the ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans to the English and their common law. Ryun also discusses the machinery of the republic built by the Founders meant to protect the rights of the American people and how that machinery has been dismantled by Progressives. "Restoring Our Republic is powerful love letter to the United States of America. Detailed and sweeping, yet digestible and engrossing, this is the book America needs right now, a potent antidote to the poisonous lies promulgated by today's elite, those unworthy heirs of the exponential greater men of the founding. Ned Ryun gives us back our history, and in doing so reveals the truth about who we are asAmericans."-- Kurt Schlichter, Senior Columnist at Townhall.com"Ned Ryun nails it with Restoring Our Republic. Our Founder Fathers weren't anarchic revolutionaries. They fought instead to preserve our Judeo-Christian Civilization. That civilization, the greatest ever, is under lethal assault once more from those who detest PresidentTrump's MAGA agenda. Read Restoring Our Republic to refuel your commitment and help win back our country."-- Sebastian Gorka Ph.D. Former Strategist toPresident Donald Trump, Host of America First"The success of our republic isn't by chance: it is due to disciplined, deliberate choices. The growth of socialism now threatens the freedom this success provides. How will Americans now choose? Ned Ryun's Restoring Our Republic examines this and celebrates the DNA of American liberty."-- Dana Loesch, nationally syndicated radio host and best-selling author"Restoring Our Republic is both a love letter and a call to arms. As the republic of liberty created by the settlers of this country is slowly replaced with a new regime, Ryun reminds us of what we had and how we can get it back. This is not simply a diagnostic, much less a eulogy, it is a plan for the reinvigoration of our nation, for the unity of her people, and for the restoration of the Republic."-- Chris Buskirk, Publisher and Editor of American Greatness"Ned Ryun incisively details the fundamental principles and history of freedom and liberty that made America great, as well as the disastrous consequences of throwing overboard the constitutional ideals of theFounding Fathers. Restoring Our Republic makes clear that the only way to make America great again is to keep America free."-- Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist"Ned Ryun's Restoring Our Republic is a great analysis of what we've fought for, where we've been, and where we're going."-- Dan Bongino, The Dan Bongino Show"Restoring Our Republic is a historical road map of how the United States of America came to be the greatest force for good the world has ever known. Ned Ryun explains the complex underpinnings of the American experiment and pulls no punches in warning of the fragility of American exceptionalism. Understanding that America's constitutional and legal foundation was laid thousands, not hundreds of years ago, Ned calls on Americans to appreciate the gift they've been given, while warning of the dangers ahead if they stray from the Founders' course. A celebration of western civilization and values,Restoring Our Republic reminds us that a strong America means a return to our core tenets. This book is sure to become the must read manifesto of Constitutional conservatives."-- John Cardillo, Host of America Talks Live

Offers a transnational perspective on 17th-century English republicanism, focusing on the lived experiences of English republican exiles.

Over the latter half of the twentieth century, the Guatemalan state slaughtered more than two hundred thousand of its citizens. In the wake of this violence, a vibrant pan-Mayan movement has emerged, one that is challenging Ladino (non-indigenous) notions of citizenship and national identity. In The Blood of Guatemala Greg Grandin locates the origins of this ethnic resurgence within the social processes of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century state formation rather than in the ruins of the national project of recent decades. Focusing on Mayan elites in the community of Quetzaltenango, Grandin shows how their efforts to maintain authority over the indigenous population and secure political power in relation to non-Indians played a crucial role in the formation of the Guatemalan nation. To explore the close connection between nationalism, state power, ethnic identity, and political violence, Grandin draws on sources as diverse as photographs, public rituals, oral testimony, literature, and a collection of previously untapped documents written during the nineteenth century. He explains how the cultural anxiety brought about by Guatemala’s transition to coffee capitalism during this period led Mayan patriarchs to develop understandings of race and nation that were contrary to Ladino notions of assimilation and progress. This alternative national vision, however, could not take hold in a country plagued by class and ethnic divisions. In the years prior to the 1954 coup, class conflict became impossible to contain as the elites violently opposed land claims made by indigenous peasants. This “history of power” reconsiders the way scholars understand the history of Guatemala and will be relevant to those studying nation building and indigenous communities across Latin America.