Harvard’s Harvey Mansfield on America Today
Uncommon Knowledge | Peter Robinson with Harvey Mansfield
In his 59th year at Harvard, at age 90, Harvard professor of government and alumnus (AB ‘53, PhD ‘61) Harvard Mansfield reflects on the role of religion in self-government, the necessity for men to feel a sense of self-importance, the danger of materialism to democracy, the state of universities today (including Harvard), and why the U.S. is still worth studying and fighting for.
As the interview begins, Robinson summarizes, “In [your book] Tocqueville, religion and family represent an indispensable supplement to politics that keeps it under restraint with a reminder of a higher and more intimate life than political life. Both…are necessary to self-government.” The two go on to discuss the importance of both religion and family, from the foundation of the U.S. through politics today.
A few Mansfield quotes from the interview:
“We should be hesitant to constitutionalize our differences…we have a constitution which is supposed to unite us.”
“I cannot see that…[Harvard’s] present policy of…replicating the democratic national convention at every commencement is in any way satisfactory or in its interest to maintain.”
“I’m too much of a Crimson deep down [to give up on Harvard].'“
When asked what he would tell 18-22 year-olds about why the US is still worth studying and fighting for, Mansfield responds:
“We are trying to do the most difficulty thing there is, which is to build and keep a successful republic, a successful experiment, in self-government. In self-government, human beings don’t have instincts. We’re left free by nature to do many things…so we have to find our own sense of government, and that is what America is about and that’s what it’s doing, and I think and hope it will continue.”
