Texas Tech University

Freedom and the Constitution

Dr. Wilfred McClay

G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty at Oklahoma University

There is a growing anxiety that in today's America, we the people no longer govern. Instead, we fear that the very possibility of self-governance is gradually being taken away from us by an elite class armed with forms of expert knowledge that are beyond the reach of democratic deliberation. But such a fate is not inevitable. This lecture explores the proper role of expertise in a democratic society, and argues that the U.S. Constitution, rightly understood, provides an incomparable structure for balancing the competing claims of expertise and democratic self-rule.

This lecture took place in the English/Philosophy Building at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.