From The Federalist
A new documentary, The Thread of Liberty: Keeping Our Republic, produced by Ned Ryun, asks viewers whether the American republic can survive if it loses the very thing the Founders believed made self-governance possible. That is, virtue — virtue that stems from religious conviction.
Narrated by Ryun and featuring historians and scholars including Victor Davis Hanson, Larry P. Arnn, and Roger Kimball, and others, the documentary explores the “thread” between liberty, faith, and national character. Rather than treating the Constitution as a self-executing document capable of preserving freedom on its own, the film argues that the Constitution and Declaration depend on a virtuous people who understand that their rights originate not from government, but from God.
The film opens by contrasting our current success with the collapse of all other republics that came before us — a poignant reminder the United States of America is not invincible. Rachel Bovard points to what Alexis de Tocqueville found nearly two centuries ago in Democracy in America, that is, America has this vast network of churches, charities, civic associations and institutions that cultivated habits of responsibility and community. These voluntary institutions allowed Americans to govern themselves, reducing the need for a big government because citizens voluntary acted with the type of virtue required to have ordered liberty.
The documentary argues that these institutions were indispensable to American life and a result of Americans’ virtue that stemmed from religion. But what happens when government co-opts this very role?