The Well-Tempered Teacher

At the start of this study of character formation, David Hein raises a tension that has bedeviled American conservatives ever since the beginning of the republic. How is one to balance “inner freedom and outer structure . . . individual liberty and institutional tradition”? The First Amendment is a pillar of classical liberalism, which in our country stands as a certain form of conservatism, a bulwark against the identity politics of the left. But individual rights have a disruptive impact too, undermining the traditional customs and transcendent authorities that conservatism upholds.