Kerby Anderson

On the last day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what government he had given them. His famous reply was: “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.” Professor Robert George wrote about “How to Keep Our Republic.”

He begins by reminding us that most Americans are concerned about the direction of this country. “A December 2025 Gallup poll found that just 24 percent of Americans were satisfied with the nation’s direction. A Politico poll from a month prior found that 49 percent of Americans thought that the country’s best times lay in the past, while only 41 percent thought that America’s best times are yet to come.”

He observes that “our civic and political structures remain fundamentally intact, even if they have been pushed to their limits in recent years and decades.” The government is still functional. What we are missing is virtue. The political culture rests upon the moral culture of the people. Virtues must exist, and virtues must be nurtured by each generation.

The basic institutions of civil society (family, religious community, and private organizations) are what promote civic virtue and are indispensable in transmitting essential virtues. Unfortunately, he concludes: “It is difficult to conceive of a moment in our nation’s history when institutions devoted to the cultivation of virtue have been weaker.”

Edmund Burke referred to these institutions as “little platoons.” They are the essential building blocks of virtue. They work together to educate and encourage virtue in the citizens.

The solution to our current divisions can’t be found in politics. It can be solved by encouraging the growth of these “little platoons.”