Joel Goldstein, Saint Louis University School of Law professor and respected scholar of the vice presidency, presidency and constitutional law, spoke in the annual Donald J. Sutherland Lecture on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 15, stressing the need to adhere to the basic underlying values of the U.S. Constitution.
Goldstein spoke before an audience in the Guthart Cultural Center Theater about the basic principles that underlie the U.S. Constitution. “Increasingly in our public life, officials and citizens tend to subordinate basic constitutional values in order to achieve policy or partisan preferences or personal goals,” Goldstein said, condemning today’s polarized political discourse and calling for what he called “constitutional morality.”
Goldstein identified federalism, separation of powers, checks and balances, democracy, pluralism, the rule of law and commitment to deliberative government and civil discourse as principles of “constitutional morality.” He also described specific provisions of the Constitution that best explain them.
Goldstein noted how 42nd Vice President Walter Mondale, who served alongside President Jimmy Carter, transformed the vice presidency “from a position from the periphery of the executive branch whose primary role was to serve as a potential presidential replacement, to an active and ongoing presidential adviser.”
One example of “constitutional morality” that Goldstein cited was how Mondale put aside partisan differences with his successor, George H.W. Bush, to help him adapt to Mondale’s new vision for the vice presidency.
“I find this topic to be particularly interesting and timely, that the questions of constitutional principles and constitutional morality seem to me to be very important ones for us to consider both at this current time, when these issues may seem very pressing to many Americans and others around the world, but actually salient for all times,” said Benjamin Rifkin, dean of the Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and coordinator of the Sutherland Lecture series.
“The Sutherland Lecture today raised issues and enduring questions about constitutional principles, and how the American republic puts those principles into practice through elected leaders and the American public,” said Hofstra professor of political science Meena Bose, who attended the lecture with two of her political science classes. She continued, “These are very timely and important questions as we move into a presidential election year.”
Sebastian Adams, a junior history and political science double major, found it interesting that Goldstein “described how people were willing to overcome their own partisanship for what they believed was better for their country.”
When asked what lesson he wanted Hofstra students to take away from his lecture, Goldstein stated that “even though we’re a nation of laws and not persons, the laws only operate if the persons make them operate, and the constitutional principles are only as good as the willingness of people to insist on them.”
Goldstein urged the audience to understand that “public participation … is not simply a right, but a duty, and if we embrace these constitutional values and the benefits our constitutional system brings us, it’s surely in our interest to preserve them.” He reminded attendees of the words of Benjamin Franklin when asked by the citizens of Philadelphia what kind of government had been created at the 1787 Constitutional Convention: “A republic, if you can keep it.”