Peter Berkowitz Emphasizes the Value of America’s Style of Government
Published February 15, 2022
The American form of government is notable for its ability to self-correct. Its features of a limited government—grounded in the consent of the people—and filtered through elected representatives have played a key role in ensuring the rights and freedoms of all peoples.
Additional Resources:
- Watch “Endowed by the Creator: Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Perter Berkowitz on Our Unalienable Rights,” an episode of Uncommon Knowledge. Available here.
- Watch “Peter Berkowitz Illustrates the Beauty of Natural Rights,” on PolicyEd. Available here.
- Watch “Peter Berkowitz on the Prevention of Abuses of Power,” on PolicyEd. Available here.
It has been observed, and rightly observed that, at its inception, the United States gave legal sanction the heinous institution of slavery. That’s true.
It’s also true, as Lincoln, and former slave Frederick Douglass, and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., pointed out, at the same time the United States was founded in the affirmation of a principle that unequivocally condemned slavery as an evil institution. And it was in light of that principle that we eradicated that evil institution.
It was through a form of limited government grounded in the consent of the people, but which filters and refines the will of the people through elected representatives that we not only eradicated slavery, that women won the right to vote, that ultimately Jim Crow and legally sanctioned racial discrimination was eliminated.
It was through that that we now, prohibit discrimination based upon gender and sexual orientation and more.