By Nick Gallo / Substack / LinkedIn

Incredible event with Michael Millerman and Meriwether Academy last night in Nashville!

This was the second event in our summer symposium series where we hosted dinner with people in Nashville followed by a remote call with Michael to consult his expertise in political philosophy to help us further our missions.

Many of the attendees were dedicated entrepreneurs—currently starting schools, tech projects, writing projects, and other ventures—and everyday citizens looking to become wiser, as a road to becoming better men, fathers, and citizens.

Michael has deep expertise in the eminent political philosopher Leo Strauss. Last night he helped us decode and understand Strauss’ Natural Right and History, as a means to understanding the core problems facing our nation today.

Through one lens, our problems can be traced to this trajectory:

➤ The Declaration of Independence is founded on the idea of “self-evident truths” and natural right (the right to Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness, endowed by a Creator)

➤ These notions have been strongly undermined today, with many no longer believing in the nation’s founding principles. This has led to nihilism and aimlessness which partly explains our crisis today.

➤ We must examine the crisis in its philosophical underpinnings (not merely as a political or social phenomenon), which Strauss traces to German philosophy’s undermining the notions of “natural right” and “self-evident truths.”

➤ To understand, and perhaps revive, “natural right,” we must study it as it was understood by the classics—Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and later Aquinas—as well as by moderns—including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu (the latter two having a deep influence on our Founders).

These events have been extremely inspiring. They reinvision what high-level education and policy discussion can be in a post-academic world. One in which people learn outside of institutional confines, yet also aim to create physical camaraderie.

These events take an important step in using a hybrid approach to get the best of both worlds: access to world-class instructors who are located distantly, while maintaining close local community among attendees. Looking forward to further events and perhaps ones where we can all be together!

Watch the entire recording of the conversation with Millerman on our YouTube below: