Guest: Bill Norton is a constitutional scholar, author, and educator with more than three decades studying the American Founders. He is a co-author of "Behind the Bill of Rights" (with Jeremy Nelson of the National Center for Constitutional Studies) and of "Speaking the Language of Liberty" (with Mark Herr of the Center for Self Governance), with "Behind the Declaration of Independence" and "Behind the Constitution of the United States" forthcoming. He owns a construction company, is a lifelong artist and curriculum designer, and serves as the education director of Liberty Village in Hurricane, Utah.
This episode is a preview of the show's upcoming founding-principles training series — four lessons across eight episodes on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — which begins airing Monday, July 6.
Key topics:
- How the Founders actually built the Constitution as a "mixed form of government"
- Using founding principles as a lens on today's fights — the SAVE America Act, the border, and more
- Fixing what's broken, facing what's new, and not becoming what we hate
- "Speaking the Language of Liberty" and the patriot who called herself a tyrant
- Frédéric Bastiat's "The Law" as a starting point
- Liberty Village: a 30-acre founding-era America in the Utah desert
- How Jenny Beth and Bill Norton first met, and the night that turned protest into strategy
Timestamps:
00:00 — Welcome, and why the daily show paused for constitution training
01:03 — Meet Bill Norton: four lessons, eight episodes
02:45 — Applying founding principles to today's biggest fights
04:13 — Beyond Band-Aids: fix what's broken, face what's new, don't become what we hate
05:50 — Jenny Beth's "equal and opposite reaction" test
06:54 — The Declaration, the Constitution, and how it was actually built
08:46 — The Bill of Rights and "Behind the Bill of Rights"
09:58 — "Speaking the Language of Liberty" and the patriot who called herself a tyrant
12:25 — Why Bastiat's "The Law" is the place to start
12:59 — When the training airs, America's 250th, and the July 4 plan
13:58 — Liberty Village: a 30-acre founding-era village in Utah
19:15 — Benjamin Franklin's home as a kids' discovery center
20:37 — How Jenny Beth and Bill Norton first met in 2011
22:44 — Sleeping in a car to stop Obamacare
24:46 — From anger to productive action
26:48 — Rallies are the first step, not the last
27:55 — Founding-level Americans are still here
Links: jennybethshow.com · teapartypatriots.org