From October 16–18, the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal welcomed twenty Public Policy Fellows from The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) for a weekend seminar on “The Roots of American Order as the Foundation for a New Fusionism.” Gathering in the historic Russell Kirk Library and ancestral home in Mecosta, the fellows and faculty reflected on Kirk’s understanding of the American political tradition as described in The Roots of American Order (1974).

The seminar was led by Dr. David Corey, Director of Baylor in Washington and Professor of Political Science in the Baylor University Honors Program. He was joined by Dr. Bradley Birzer, the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and Professor of History at Hillsdale College, who co-led the discussions. The weekend opened with remarks by Michael Lucchese, founder of Pipe Creek Consulting, who introduced the fellows to the seminar topic. Drawing upon Kirk’s work and related texts, participants examined the interplay between freedom and order, individuality and community, and the role of the “moral imagination” in sustaining a free society.

This year’s fellows came from many of the nation’s leading institutions of thought and policy, including the Thomistic Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, Georgetown University, Providence Magazine, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the Hudson Institute, among others.