Robert George is the highly regarded McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals & Institutions at Princeton. Following up on “A fight for the soul of the right,” I want to add that Professor Geroge has just announced his resignation from the board of the Heritage Foundation. This is the statement he has posted on Facebook:
I have resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation. I could not remain without a full retraction of the video released by Kevin Roberts, speaking for and in the name of Heritage, on October 30th. Although Kevin publicly apologized for some of what he said in the video, he could not offer a full retraction of its content. So, we reached an impasse.
Kevin is a good man. He made what he acknowledged was a serious mistake. Being human myself, I have plenty of experience in making mistakes. What divided us was a difference of opinion about what was required to rectify the mistake.
I’m sad to be leaving the Heritage board. I have great affection and esteem for Barb Gaby, who chairs the board, and my other board colleagues. I wish them and the Heritage Foundation the very best.
My hope for Heritage is that it will be unbending and unflinching in its fidelity to its founding vision, upholding the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the civic principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. I pray that Heritage’s research and advocacy will be guided by the conviction that each and every member of the human family, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or anything else, as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, is “created equal” and “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.”
The anchor for the Heritage Foundation, and for our Nation, and for every patriotic American is that creed. It must always be that creed. If we hold fast to it even when expediency counsels compromising it, we cannot go wrong. If we abandon it, we sign the death certificate of republican government and ordered liberty.
I wrote about Professor George’s earlier and more oblique comment on the matter of the Heritage Foundation in “In re Kevin Roberts.”
