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Essay Contest results or currently running contests

Aug. 2011 Essay Contest Winner, S. Brosey

Posted on September 5, 2011 by The American View

Stefanie Brosey was awarded Third Prizes ($250) along with her sister.

by Stefanie Brosey

Are the original political traditions of American law and government being honored today? What are our original political traditions, and where did they come from? “The representative assembly deliberating under God; the virtuous people, virtuous because deeply religious and thus committed to the process of searching for the transcendent Truth. And these are we believe symbols we can be proud of.” These are the political traditions that came from the book, “The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition” by Willmore Kendall and George W. Carey, and I believe them to be correct. These traditions came from the founding fathers’ understanding the Bible and trying to do the right things. They were a virtuous people because they trusted and obeyed God. Today, in our country, these original political traditions are not being honored today.
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Aug. 2011 Essay Contest Winner, C. Brosey

Posted on September 5, 2011 by The American View

Christina Brosey was awarded Third Prizes ($250) along with her sister.

Third Prize (Two winners) $250.00

by Christina Brosey

We live in the greatest nation on earth, the United States of America, which is one nation under God. This nation was great because it was founded on God’s Word, the Bible, and God was acknowledged as the supreme ruler of the land. Americans had faith in God and built up strong families and because of that our nation was strong. The basic symbols of our American political tradition according to Kendall and Carey the authors of the book by the same name are: the representative assembly deliberating under God and the virtuous peoples who are virtuous because they are deeply religious and thus committed to the process of searching for the transcendent truth, reflect how this nation was founded. Now the question is: Are these symbols being honored today? I believe that these symbols are not being honored today.
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Aug. 2011 Essay Contest Winner, H. Krauss

Posted on September 5, 2011 by The American View

Hannah Krauss receives the Second Prize of $500 for this essay

Second Prize (Two Winners) $500

by Hannah Krauss

There are a myriad of political changes that are currently going on in our country that are wreaking havoc on our American political traditions. We are moving away from these traditions, which started at the Mayflower Compact and continued to blossom and change gradually through the years until the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. According to Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey in their book The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition, we are not honoring the political traditions of American law and government because we are no longer acknowledging or following the basic symbols of our American political tradition. The basic symbols Kendall and Carey mention in their book are ‘the representative assembly deliberating under God’ and the ‘virtuous people’ who are, according to the authors on pg. 154, “virtuous because deeply religious and thus committed to the process of searching for the transcendent Truth.” Our American law and government are based on these two symbols. When these two symbols and those derived from them are no longer being followed, there is no reason to honor the original political traditions of American law and government. That is what is happening today. Further symbols have resulted from these two basic symbols and thus are also very important to our traditions of law and government.

Aug. 2011 Essay Contest Winner, G. Hughes

Posted on September 5, 2011 by The American View

Second Prize (Two Winners) $500

by Gabby Hughes
July 23, 2011

Trapped by a Lie

The claim to liberty declares itself on the rooftops, and the cry for equality echoes in the streets. Shouts for the people’s rights fill everyone’s ears. Desires for the people’s freedom fill everyone’s hearts. This is America. This is what the Framers stood up for so very long ago. At least, the textbooks, the teachers, and the media tell us so. But, is it the truth? Is it what the Founding Fathers stood up for? Is it the real America? “Certainly, freedom and equality qualify as America’s core truths,” the obstinate, misinformed traditionalist would say. “All men are equal! I shouldn’t be denied my rights as a human being!” Sure; people are human beings, and governments must protect the rights of humanity. Sure; the Framers founded the United States of America as an independent country when they severed their ties with Great Britain. Yet, did the Framers begin a completely new political tradition of freedom and equality in 1776 or did they seek to continue a political tradition that already existed? Careful analysis of several official documents, as presented in The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition by Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey, proves that the Framers sought to continue the original tradition. Today, though, society relies on “all men are created equal” and the Bill of Rights to be the tradition of American government. Despite the fact that the “all men are created equal” phrase and the Bill of Rights do not enjoy the status as America’s earliest, highest commitments and fundamental symbols in light of the true American political tradition, modern intellectuals and ordinary citizens alike believe these are what constitute the tradition.
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Aug. 2011 Essay Contest Winner, A. Hembree

Posted on September 5, 2011 by The American View

Alex Hembree took first prize of $1000 for this essay.

First Prize (One Winner) $1,000

The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition
by Alexander Hembree

2011 07 22

America today faces a crisis of the worst kind. She has forgotten her inheritance and is in the process of experiencing a fundamental change in the way she identifies herself. A lack of comprehension of our American political tradition has led to its derailment. In turn, this derailment has brought about our current predicament – our government attempting to overrule and replace the principles, commitments, and mechanisms of our original tradition in favor of an ungodly, un-American, and untraditional distortion.

Original Tradition
When looking through the annals of history, a political pattern is apparent in the early maturation process for all new nations. This pattern, known as self-identification, begins when a people start to develop a collection of symbols. This collection reflects the core values that define the people as unique and independent. The symbols of our American tradition can be described as “the symbols of a virtuous people, through deliberative processes, striving to achieve and advance their declared purposes which involve, inter alia, better ordering of justice”..” (Kendall and Carey 112-113)
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Aug. 2011 Basic Symbols Essay Contest Ends; Multiple Winners

Posted on August 22, 2011 by The American View

The Basic Symbols of American Political Tradition essay contest has come to a close. Thank you to all those who submitted an essay. I am pleased that each entry noted, and several cited, the crux of Kendall & Carey’s argument:

[T]he symbols of a virtuous people, through deliberative processes, striving to achieve and advance their declared purposes which involve, inter alia, better ordering of justice (p 112-13).

Stated more succinctly: The basic symbols of American political tradition are local government, under God, by Christian magistrates.

It is my pleasure to announce the winners as follows:
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