America at 250: Lessons from the Founders with Jeffrey Rosen

Willy sat down with Jeffrey Rosen, bestselling author, George Washington University law professor, contributing editor at The Atlantic, and CEO emeritus of the National Constitution Center, for a timely discussion about America’s founding ideals as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. Willy and Jeffrey explored the enduring relevance of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, from liberty, equality, and government by consent to the lasting tension between Hamiltonian federal power and Jeffersonian democracy. They also discussed the founders’ warnings about faction, demagoguery, civic virtue, and the responsibility of citizens to preserve civil dialogue in a polarized age. Key Points In The Webcast: 00:00 Introduction 02:45 Willy introduces Jeffrey Rosen and his newest book 04:51 Jeffrey’s daily reading habit and the COVID Founders Trilogy project 05:52 Have we been true to the Declaration of Independence? 07:13 Government by consent: from Milton and Locke to Jefferson 12:19 January 6th, the right of revolution, and the Declaration 14:26 The pursuit of happiness: virtue, not pleasure 17:02 Hamilton vs. Jefferson and who won in the Constitution 20:56 The economic divide at the Constitutional Convention 21:16 The “dirty compromise”: navigation acts and Connecticut 22:56 The Federalist Papers: the greatest PR campaign ever 28:04 Social media, AI, and Madison’s nightmare 30:28 Why the Founders feared direct democracy 34:13 Hamilton or Jefferson: who’s winning in the Trump presidency? 39:13 Federal spending: 3% of GDP in 1926, 24% in 2026 40:44 Reagan, Clinton, and the last truly Jeffersonian president 41:44 How Clinton balanced the budget, and what it took 45:48 DOGE, the federal debt, and the limits of fiscal discipline 48:46 Civil dialogue, FIRE, and where it’s happening today 56:40 Closing thoughts: a republic, if you can keep it GET NOTIFIED about upcoming shows: » Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:    / @walkerdunlop   » See upcoming guests on the #WalkerWebcast here: https://www.walkerdunlop.com/webcasts Related webcasts: Tune in on Wednesdays for fresh perspectives about leadership, business, the economy, commercial real estate, and more! #WillyWalker hosts a diverse network of leaders as they share the wisdom that cuts across industry lines. Check out our previous videos: » Full playlist:    • Walker Webcast   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1z3wDGM... Follow us: » LinkedIn:   / walker-&-dunlop   » Facebook:   / walkerdunlop   » Twitter:   / walkerdunlop   » Instagram:   / walkerdunlop   POSTING POLICY: Please bear in mind that this is a public and professional platform. We’ll do our best to ensure that our postings on this page comply with our standards, which prohibit content that: is abusive, defamatory, threatening, or obscene is fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading violates the copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, right of privacy, right of publicity, or other intellectual property right of another contains or links to any virus, worm, Trojan horse, or other forms of malware or harmful code contains the personal information of others, such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers violates any law or regulation is otherwise offensive. We expect users not to post content that violates our standards. We cannot monitor postings or discussions in advance, but we reserve the right to remove any posting that does not meet our standards.