Jeffrey Rosen, CEO of The National Constitution Center, Episode 116
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Jeffrey Rosen is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center (NCC), a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution. He became President and CEO in 2013 and has developed the Center’s acclaimed Interactive Constitution, which brings together the top conservative and liberal legal scholars in America to discuss areas of agreement and disagreement about every clause of the Constitution. Jeffrey is also a professor at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He is an acclaimed journalist and author of six books, including Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law. He is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School.
I’m delighted to welcome Jeffrey to the podcast to share why it’s so meaningful for him to be involved with the only institution in America to be created to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people on a nonpartisan basis. We dive into the philosophical principles behind the creation of the Constitution and what the Founding Fathers envisioned when creating it. Jeffrey also explains why he is so passionate about giving people access to the Constitution in a way that genuinely allows them to learn and understand what it stands for and how the Interactive Constitution does just that.
“It is such a meaningful, crucial mission in these polarized times where people disagree so much about politics, to be able to convene conversations about areas of agreement and disagreement about this one document of human freedom that unites us — which is the US Constitution!” - Jeffrey Rosen
“Ultimately, we feel better when we act selflessly, and that's why we're hardwired to do it.” - Jeffrey Rosen
“What all of the founders agreed about is we have the capacity to try. They had such faith in the potential of the human mind to cultivate our faculties of reason and reflection.” - Jeffrey Rosen
This Week on The Wow Factor:
How Jeffrey’s outstanding high school experience influenced his later life and career
Some of his teachers and professors at Harvard and how they inspired his love of American literature and history
Why the NCC created the Interactive Constitution for people to access online
The fantastic scholars who have contributed to the learning platform
How the constitution came into being and why it’s so miraculous
How Jeffrey experiences the Constitution and what he has learned from it
Why the Founders believed we the people as individuals and in self-government need to be virtuous so that we can achieve what they called the social or benevolent passions and emotions
What the Founders meant when they talked about the pursuit of not feeling good, but doing good
How the Constitution is based on faith traditions in that it exhorts us to be kind and to serve others
The difference between self-discipline and self-mastery, and why it’s so critical to think about what will allow us to achieve our potential so that we can serve others and the common good
Jeffrey’s unique conversation town hall with Justice Gorsuch
Jeffrey Rosen’s Words of Wisdom:
Slow down and read, and you'll discover that the fountain of wisdom flows through books. It’s ancient Greek wisdom, but it applies as much today as it ever did. Taking the time to read, learn, and grow is a capacity we all have within us every day. None of us is perfect, and we're never going to achieve our potential every day, but we can always try.
Connect with Jeffrey Rosen:
My Voice Will Go With You by Dr. Sidney Rosen
Understanding Ericksonian Hypnotherapy: Selected Writings of Sidney Rosen
Connect with The WOW Factor:
