2006 Symposium

The 2006 Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal Annual Symposium, at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C., asked “What’s the Big Idea? True Blue vs. Deep Red: The Ideas that Move American Politics.”

The symposium’s framing essay by University of Virginia Professor of Politics James W. Ceaser argues that our deep divisions as a nation into “true blue” and “deep red” go beyond partisanship or culture.  Rather, he maintains, they reflect profoundly different understandings of human character and politics, rooted in “foundational ideas” about nature, history, and religion that have long pedigrees in American public life.

Moderated by Hudson Senior Fellow Amy A. Kass, a panel of 14 distinguished commentators tackled these questions: Are our political divisions indeed significant and based on such grand themes?  Or can they be explained by more-superficial social and economic divisions?  Is a politics driven and divided by large and contrasting ideas dangerous and volatile?  Or is it healthy and vigorous -- the source of American renewal?  How are these larger intellectual divisions played out in specific policy debates over the size of government, immigration, foreign affairs, economic inequality, higher education, and other questions?

Clearly, if American politics is driven by “big ideas,” think tanks and foundations are big players.  Should such institutions seek to sharpen and enrich those ideas, or should they rather attempt to moderate and bridge major intellectual divides?

A transcript of the day’s entire proceedings is available online.