Minotaur Book Club: Selections from the Federalist Papers

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Minotaur Book Club
We're taking a month off due to vacations and travel for our organizers. See you in September!

The next book will be 3 specific selections from The Federalist Papers. We'll update the description here later with the choices.

The video for July's meetup is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zbXQfyT9Fes

The value, beliefs, and attempts to deal with the interests and frailties of the people are set forth in these papers. How have we met the expectations of the Founders regarding keeping the Republic? What values have we forgotten as we have turned into the wolves and sheep that they warned us of? As we enter a multi polar world there is a possibility for a more peaceful, collaborative, and just emerging world order. Can the universal issues of governance debated in the Federalist Papers help as America and the world at a time of crisis.

Sponsored in part by the Sociological Imagination Group

Date and Time:
Our third meeting will be held on Thursday, September 11th, 6:30pm – 8:30pm EST
and every second Thursday of the month thereafter.

Chosen Book:
“The Federalist Papers” by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
Available as HTML: https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text
Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/federalistpapers1961hami/
Or check your local library

CAUTION: There are a lot of books that are commentaries or excerpts without including the full text. If you buy a copy from a bookstore, Kindle, audiobook, etc. double check that you are getting the full original writings.

The Minotaur Book Club delves into timeless questions and contemporary challenges, inviting participants to explore the roots of governance, liberty, and democracy through the lens of history and philosophy. The discussions will provide a fertile ground for examining how the principles of justice, equality, and collective responsibility have evolved and where they still fall short.

Purpose: The purpose of the book club is to counteract our country’s historical amnesia and strengthen our democracy. To that end, we will read and discuss books that help us to understand the American Project, diagnose persisting problems, and suggest ways to fulfill the mission of the Preamble to the Constitution.

"We the People of the United States, to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The Minotaur is one of the key archetypes representing the threat to social order when government leaders threaten democracy by converting public goods to private purposes. The best defense for a democracy is educated citizens.

“A society ignorant and free, never was, never will be.” – Thomas Jefferson
“We have given you a republic, if you can keep it.” – Benjamin Franklin

END OF ANNOUNCEMENT