Mr. Rosen ladies and gentlemen, [applause] freedom day. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to freedom day am jeffrey, the president of this wonderful institution, the National Constitution center, which is the only institution in america that brings together citizens of different perspectives to unite around this beautiful document of human freedom that unites us, the u. S. Constitution. Mission and to encourage citizens around the country to celebrate and educate themselves and debate the meaning of freedom. Mr. Rosen to acknowledge the visiting area founder of freedom day the woman who conceived of this great celebration and has made it a permanent part of the freida libby. [applause] mr. Rosen the first two years of freedom day brought together the leaders of america to debate the meaning of issues ranging of the future of religious freedom to the future of free speech. Today we are gathered for a meaningful event. This year, freedom day launches a new twoyear initiative that is going to be a centerpiece of our work. It is a National Commission called, a madisonian constitution for all. This important commission will ask what would James Madison and , the framers of the u. S. Constitution make of our current presidency, congress, courts, and media . And how can we resurrect madisonian values of the rule of law and limited government and constitutionalism today. . This important commission is convened at a time when there is great debate in america and around the world about the tension between populism and constitutionalism. James madison and the other framers were not populists. They studied failed democracies like greece and rome. They recognized that unchecked mockracy could lead to rule. In federalist 10, madison has two crucial stations. He says, in a republic, as opposed to a democracy, First Citizens should never be able to directly instruct their representatives. The idea of tweaking representatives tweeting representatives would not have been a madisonian vision. [laughter] mr. Rosen the second thing he said is that we need to dictators between referenda and decisionmaking. The important decisions are delegated to the peoples representatives rather than off votes. E so the idea that we designed a system with separation of powers and limited government and individual rights in order to promote deliberation was crucial to the madisonian project. And yet we know that in america and around the world, there are new technologies and forces that are threatening this new social , Media Technologies making it possible for citizens to rest express themselves in quick, mob like voices rather than through thoughtful deliberation. Like polarization and the self sorting of citizens into filter bubbles and echo chambers are challenging the deliberation that madison thought was necessary for the future of freedom. Therefore, we have convened some of the greatest minds in america from all four branches of government, the three branches and the fourth the state, to address this national question. I am glad you have taken the time to come to philadelphia and many more watching us on cspan and other places. We are going to launch this commission and bring you some of the greatest thinkers to ask this question. What would the framers think of our current fixations . And how can we resurrect madisonian values . And for the next two years we will be fanning across America Holding podcasts and , commissioning white papers and we will issue reports and in two years we will reconvene here in philadelphia and propose some solutions that we hope will cast light on one of the most crucial questions. What is so excited about this project, in addition to its importance, its civic important and constitutional importance is the remarkable bipartisan support we have received. I am thrilled to report that our commission will be cochaired i buy a group that includes our visiting scholars here at the center senator , mike lee and chris coons and representatives in the house. A wonderful group, united by their love for the madisonian constitution. And our commission is also women i amy two about to introduce you to. And we will have a conversation. Lee liberman otis, and caroline fredrickson. The president of the american Constitution Society. The leading liberal and conservative and libertarian Lawyers Organization of america bound together to support this amazing project. It is important and exciting and we will have an incredible series of conversations. Before beginning come i also thank bill, who has come from the Rosedale Foundation and has provided seed money to start the foundation. They are so committed to preserving madisonian values and discourse. Thank you very much. Thank you, bill. [applause] mr. Rosen lets begin. Fasten your seatbelts and please join me in welcoming the cochairs of them madisonian constitution for all, Lee Liberman Otis and caroline fredrickson. [applause] mr. Rosen welcome. It is such a thrill to have you both here in person. I really need to tell you that the collaboration between the federal society and Constitution Society under the leadership of lee and caroline has been central to everything the Constitutional Center has achieved in the past couple of years. The centerpiece of our initial Work Together was the interactive constitution which , many of you have heard about. If you have not, go to the app store and download the interactive constitution. Go to constitutioncenter. Org and find this thrilling tool where caroline and lee and their great organizations have nominated legal scholars to write about every clause of the constitution describing what they agree and , disagree about. An in addition to being tool, itnary toll models what madison thought about democracy. I thrilled to have enlightened am and enlightened every time i sign onto this amazing and free tool and learn from this great tool. First of all, please join me in thanking lee and caroline. [applause] i am so glad we are off and running on the next phase of our collaboration, this great madisonian commission. Lee, why is it important for americans to study what madison thought about the constitution and why he is important today . Ms. Otis i think basically the constitution is premised on the notion that we can form a government. I think as madison said in federalist one, based on reflection and not on passion. But it also set up institutions designed to do that and adherence to its institutions is central to whether the experiment is going to be a success. Which hamilton notes at the beginning of federalist one is an open question. It is not clear that this is a possibility, to create a government based on reflection and reason, as opposed to tradition, hierarchy, or Something Else. Mr. Rosen a government based on reason and reflection. What a beautiful statement. Caroline, acs is devoted to the madisonian constitution. Although the organizations sometimes disagree about the meaning. Why do you think it is important for americans to study what madison thought today . Ms. Fredrickson you know i just , first want to thank you for having this event here in that e National Constitution center. It is so important, the events you put on and the exhibits that people can see here. I would say that we at acs and the federalist society, we dont agree on a lot in terms of the constitution, but we do stand shoulder to shoulder when it comes to the important work of educating the public about the constitution, ensuring that people are reading it, thinking about how it came to be, and anticipating the challenges that we face in the future and how the constitution will protect us and where it needs to change. So i think these dialogues are important for the resilience of our democracy and i would also just say that i am the daughter of a historian, so i also think it is important to understand our own history in order to understand the future we are walking into. Mr. Rosen beautifully said as well. What did your dad teach . Ms. Fredrickson american history. [laughter] mr. Rosen magnificent. I think all of us were blown away by the success of this constitution, which has gotten 10 million hits. The ap exams have made it a centerpiece of the curriculum. We are working with an academy to bring it to schools across america. It has been thrilling. It has really been a model for so many collaborations including debates that have spanned across the country from d. C. And new york, to San Francisco and chicago where organizations , nominate debaters and educate americans about the account about the constitution. Why is this collaboration important . My otis i should also add thanks of course to carolines further brilliant leadership you have been providing to this institution, and your tireless and energetic efforts to organize these splendid debates. Thank you very much for that. Mr. Rosen thank you. That, i thinkess that, it turns out that it is possible one big question i think about the constitution is to what extent does it have a meaning that is possible to discern. One way to figure it out is by hearing both sides, about peoples different views about what it provides. And these debates are a wonderful opportunity for people to do that. And i think everybody, including the debaters, find that they learn things from them about the constitution and that enables them to make judgments, not on the basis of what they would like the constitution to mean, but on the basis of arguments about what it actually means. And i think it will not work, the constitution will not work if people are just deciding, i really like this result and therefore i am going to conclude the constitution says that. The civil,t having vigorous, energetic discussion about what it actually says is in a sense just central to the whole enterprise of having Constitutional Government. Mr. Rosen that is beautiful, too. The two values of the importance of bringing people together for facetoface discussion, to hear unfamiliar arguments and the importance of separating your political from your constitutional views as functions of the debates. Caroline what do you think the , virtue of the debates both in person and online has been . And why are they important . Ms. Fredrickson the debates have been fabulous. I highly commend them to you. They are online and you can watch them. They have touched on some of the most important constitutional issues we face as a nation. To hear bothility sides is important in refining ones own bloom point ones own viewpoint and engaging with this important document. We have had some interesting ones. The last one which dealt with the Supreme Court justices. And term limits. It was unique in that the debate was structured to have one oneralist society versus American Constitutional Society person on each side of the debate facing off against each other. The debate is always not so clearcut how it falls liberal or conservative. Similarly a lot of arguments about interpretive methodology from originals him to living constitutionalism. It is also not so clearcut. There are some of the liberals that are in originalists and conservatives that believe in the living constitution. Of whatout your notion falls on the political spectrum. Thinking about how should we how do wedocument, extract meaning from it, and how do we apply it as law . Seeing that applied to a current debate, in our own personal lives, these things are connected. The constitution has a deep substantive basis for so much of what we do. I think why the work of the National Constitution center is so important, along with the American Constitutional Society, we keep reminding people that the constitution has force and that it has meaning, is actually real as it is applied to peoples lives. Mr. Rosen that is beautiful too. [laughter] ms. Fredrickson we cant go wrong with you jeff. Mr. Rosen we are told where we live in a society where conservatives and liberals cant even have civil discussion. Here you have lawyers of two main organizations in america collaborating o the importance of the constitution, and convergent and that this unites us as a nation. I amted he will excited you will share this mission. Thinking in thanking them. [applause] thank you for including us. Mr. Rosen we are now going to jump into our first panel involving the media. And gentlemen, this is an Extraordinary Group you are about to hear from. Se leaders of journalism we have with us Mark Thompson, the ceo of the New York Times, gary rosen, editor of the saturday review of the wall street journal and author of a brilliant book about James Madison, and the head of politics at msnbc. When participation started Mark Thompson came to the Constitution Center to discuss his brilliant new book called enough said, this discussion about how the degradation of rhetoric that began during the classical period as containing the passions of the crowd may today be in fleming it. It is a tour de force. I invited mark to join this commission. He agreed. You are about to hear from the top leaders in america discussing one of the most urgent questions of our time, which is how we can preserve madisonian preserve values in a time where they seem to in siege . Please join me in welcoming them. [applause] mark, you started all this off in your beautiful book. Just sent me the epilogue you drafted for the new addition, which powerfully takes on the question of populism versus the rule of law it and post the law post brexit and post 2016 election. If you could distill for the , thence your argument threats toward public deliberation and why. Ofk in a way, my day job being chief executive at the New York Times, and the subject of a project i began four years ago about rhetoric when donald trump comes for lunch at the New York Times, the two things come together. I feel like i am now living in the pages of the book. Tuesday the obvious to state the obvious, we are seeing now two of the important pillars of broader public life. Particularly in america, both of them coming under attack. I dont think that is an accident that populists regard both Mainstream Media and to some extent the Legal Systems in our countries as being enthralled tod elites and the establishment, and therefore worthy of attack. The phrase enemies of the people used by President Trump towards the New York Times and other media in this country. The same phrase enemies of the people used by the daily mail to describe judges that have the temerity to suggest that parliament decide whether or not the former article which begins the process of the u. K. Leaving the european union, whether that article 50 should be triggered, that that should be discussed in parliament. The reaction of one of our was to accusepers those judges of being enemies of the people. There is a more sharp and somewhat more naked attack now on some of the structures in both of our countries. My understanding, i am sure the weakest on this stage, central s conception of how you think about government, which is absolutely of the people, but not prey to sudden and extreme passionate gestures by the people. Some of these structures, it seems to me, straightforwardly under attack. Mr. Rosen that crystallizes it. The idea that any elitist institution like the New York Times is an enemy of the people and that the sudden passions of the people should be tamed is the madisonian ideal. Gary, youre a scholar of madison and have written a book about his thoughts. What are your thoughts on the framing between this problem in the constitution and what would madison make of our media today . We have to stipulate from the start that madison would look at our media world today and consider it an absolute nightmare for constitutional democracy. Madisons whole political project was to figure out ways passion,nd direct extreme expressions of interests. If you read the federalist papers, it is about these institutions that are meant to channel and refine all of these and notions floating around in our political life. Were to see our world today, we have all of these Incredible Technologies that all of us use and appreciate, but which are so brilliant at magnifying and transmitting ideology impassioned points of view, riling up people in ways that have nothing to do with deliberation, analysis on the public ends. They really are what we have. These incredible tools for generating what madison called section called faction. By passion and interest that dont have a broader idea of the publics good in mind. He wouldnt like it. He wouldnt tweet. [laughter] this is important as well, he would see our institutions, our media, especially our Quality Press as an important check on the excesses of our government. He himself was a participant of that in his own day. The federalist was not written as a philosophical book, but as a series of newspaper pieces. Madison himself in the early days of the republic, especially with the Federalist Party was gatheringin his mind power in this disturbing way, he took to the press to rally people on behalf of the constitution. He would see what a lot of the press is doing today as serving an important constitutional function. Apart from different policy debates. Do we think immigration should be handled this way or that way . What do we think about taxes . I have been impressed over the by what the months better segments of the press are doing to highlight what our system of government is about, what it means to have courts that have a Certain Authority and mandate, what the responsibilities of the legislature are, what a president s