The Republican Professor

This is Part 12 in a series celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Harvard University Press' 1985 publication of Richard A. Epstein's "Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain."

We continue our celebration of this anniversary with a fair use and transformative reading, taking a close look at ch. 7 continuing in the same section which Richard calls ""Takings Prima Facia," which takes a look at selling Eagle feathers when mere possession is a crime, as well as rights to disposition in leasehold renewals. He titles chapter 7, "Rights of Disposition and Contract" because he's taking a look at what the judiciary often misses in the panoply of takings reached by the Eminent Domain Clause and the American constitutional order, how these things interact and hang together, ensconced as it is in the purpose of the Constitution. That moral purpose is the protection of individual liberty against claims by a simple majority in a democracy, or judicial or executive fiat, or by the government in any other way in a taking of private property. It's also a good reflection on nature of property per se, whether public or private. For governments are owners as well as takers of property.

Today we discuss his chapter 7 from pp. 74 to the top of p. 80.

At the end, this episode concludes with a Chaplain's corner, with a reading of Psalm 142 in the KJV and January 31st in Streams in the Desert (Cowman Publications, Lost Feliz Station Lost Angeles, Calif. 1925 original non-woke edition).

Excellent stuff here. Excellent.

Every college student should read this book. It's a superb introduction to the political philosophy of the American regime. Praise the Lord.

We'd like to thank Harvard University Press for making this material available and Richard Epstein for writing it.

Make sure you buy the book and follow along.

It's very important for you to have your own copy on your own bookshelf, and to begin to master this material. Support your local book dealer. See if they have a copy of it, or if they'd mind keeping an eye out for you.

I always encourage buying physical books, objects you can have, hold, cherish, learn from, display on your bookshelf as a topic of conversation, things you can pass on to the next generation with your notes in them, things that do not depend upon electricity.

Toward that end:

Go to Harvard University Press for more selections available for purchase. Please support the publisher and your local booksellers.

The Republican Professor is a pro-correctly-contemplating-property-rights podcast.

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast
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YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor
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Episode 7 in the series marking the 250th Anniversary of the USA in this second quarter 2026. We're covering the next several pages of chapter 3: National Executive Power before the US Constitution but after July 4th, 1776. We discuss pp. 53 thru the top of p.61.

When the Founders signed their names onto the Declaration of Independence, they were committing a capital crime, and they were signing their own death warrants if they were caught.

They took themselves not to be looking for a fight, but rather, refusing any longer to duck the fight that in fact had come to them. And they sought to ground their cause, their reaction, to right reason in the natural law, consistent with Revelation and the Scriptures. They sought to articulate such an argument for their cause in such a way that would be rightly persuasive to any future reader and any of the nations which may inquire as to the source of their actions.

Of course, their cause was initially, in large measure, a reaction against abuse of Executive Power. But such a war required itself strong Executive Power. Therein lies the rub: how can Executive Power be strong yet consistent with the principles of Liberty ?

We're making a fair use, transformative reading and discussion of Charles C. Thach's doctoral dissertation at Johns Hopkins in 1922 called "The Creation of the Presidency, 1775-1789 made available by Liberty Fund INC in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2007. Go out and get your physical copy today. Follow along. We'd like to thank Liberty Fund for making this material available, and we'd like to thank Charles C. Thach for writing it.

This material was required reading in my Ph.D. program in Public Law and American Politics at The Claremont Colleges. It was used on the 6 hour comprehensive exams (6 hours each) and in a course called The Presidency and the Constitution taught by Joseph M. Bessette, who also served on my dissertation committee many years later.

The Republican Professor is a pro-correctly-understanding-the-American-Presidency, anti-grade-inflation-plantation podcast.

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Happy 250th Anniversary of 'Murica. You're in for a treat .

This is part 2 of multiple on the Second Chapter "The English and American Public Culture."

This episode broaches the English Bible's profound role on American Literacy Education, discussing pp. 29-34.

"The American Founders read the Bible," Oxford University Rhodes Scholar Daniel Dreisbach says in his first sentence of his Oxford University Press book. "They knew the Bible from cover to cover."

"Its ideas shaped their habits of mind."

"The Bible left its mark on the political culture of the era."

Dreisbach's first sentence in his chapter 2 is:

Ready ?

"Anglo-Americans are people of the Book, and that Book is the Bible."

WOW !

We had the author, Dr. Daniel L. Dreisbach, D.Phil. (Oxford), JD (University of Virginia Law School) on the podcast for Thanksgiving, Fall 2022.

We're going to make a fair use, do a transformative reading of the book. We'd like to thank Dr. Dreisbach for writing this, and thank Oxford University Press for making it available.

Support publishers when they make something worth reading.

Support the publisher and throw some bidness their way. Support your brick and mortar book dealer.

This episode was filmed Thursday 28 May 2026 years after Jesus in the backyard of my long-time (nearly a quarter of a century) Epistemology mentor Dr. Doug Geivett (PhD, USC under Dallas Willard), a student himself of the famous late-great Republican professor, the late-great Dallas Willard of USC's Philosophy Department.

The Republican Professor is a pro-correctly-and-adequately-articulating-the-Bible's-appropriate-influence-on-American-politics podcast.

Therefore, welcome again, through his writing, Dr. Daniel L. Dreisbach, D.Phil., J.D.

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack
https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/
https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/podcast/
https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/articles/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRepublicanProfessor
Twitter: @RepublicanProf
Instagram: @the_republican_professor

This is Part 5.

We want to thank Free Press for making this material available and thank D'Souza for writing it. Thank you, Dinesh.

We continue our discussion of Dinesh D'Souza's Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus (NY, NY: Free Press, 1991) starting chapter 2, called "More Equal Than Others: Admissions Policy at Berkeley," getting through to page 38 from page 32. We do a fair use and a transformative reading of a book I encountered in high screwel at Chatfield High Screwel in Jefferson County, Littleton, Colorado in 1991. I wrote an article about it in my high screwel newspaper, the Chatfield Charter.

This is in a series of TRP backstory episodes on The Republican Professor podcast.

I believe I originally used my paper route money to buy the book myself at Summit Ministries in Summer 1991 in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Thanks to my Grandpa Mather for sending me those 4 years.

The book is "Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus" (NY, New York: Free Press, 1991) by a very young Dinesh D'Souza.

We want to encourage you to buy the book either used or new. Throw some money at the publisher for the book to reward them for publishing good books. Follow D'Souza on social media and check out his films as well as his books. Get the book and follow along.

We want to thank Free Press for making this material available and thank D'Souza for writing it. Thank you, Dinesh.

Warmly,

Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.

The Republican Professor Podcast
The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack
https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/
https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/podcast/
https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/articles/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRepublicanProfessor
Twitter: @RepublicanProf
Instagram: @the_republican_professor

Part 6 of a series on the history of Israel based on a fair use and transformative reading of "Israel and the Nations: From the Exodus to the Fall of the Second Temple" (Eerdmans, 1963) by FF Bruce.

This episode includes interaction with the famous historical characters of Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea in his chapter VI entitled "The Syrian Wars and the Rise of the Prophets 841 to 745 BC" by the Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, FF Bruce, my intellectual and spiritual grandfather because he mentored my professor Bruce Demarest who himself studied under FF Bruce at the University of Manchester.

We're going to do a fair use and make a transformative reading of this material. We'd like to thank Eerdmans for making it available and thank FF Bruce for writing it.

The Republican Professor is a pro-biblical-literacy, pro-Christmas, pro-quality-mentoring, pro-understanding-the-history-of-Israel podcast.

The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.