The Secret Formula of American Success: The 28 Founding Principles

Commentary

A question my radio listeners often ask me, and one I have pondered myself, is whether there is any solution to the seemingly unsolvable social and economic problems of our time. In 2018, I interviewed a college professor named Paul Skousen during a news segment, and he provided an answer. He convinced both my audience and me that we simply need to return to the wisdom of the Founding Fathers. By doing so, we would grasp the underlying reasons behind current events and know the precise solutions.

In my interviews with him, I asked Skousen where his wisdom came from, and he introduced me to the 28 founding principles of America. “What 28 founding principles? I’ve never heard of them!” I exclaimed. He explained that his father, Cleon Skousen, had uncovered them while studying the U.S. Constitution.

Cleon Skousen, in his search for the thinking behind our Constitution in the 1930s, read all the writings and correspondence of the Founding Fathers, as well as the notes from the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As he read, he noticed that certain great and clear principles kept surfacing. Each time one of these principles appeared, he wrote it down, and the list grew. However, after reaching 28 principles, he realized that everything else he came across was just a repeat of what he had already recorded. He then summarized these principles into a book titled “The Five Thousand Year Leap: 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World,” published in 1981.

I’ve read the book at least five times. I love it so much that I produced an online course based on it, organized a bus tour around it, created two video series, and published a Chinese book on it. Thousands of my followers are fascinated by these principles and are amazed by how they made the success of the United States possible—something they never knew before.

America’s Success Isn’t Coincidental

The book tells us that the United States didn’t become the greatest nation on this planet by coincidence. In fact, between 1783 and 1790, after the Revolutionary War and before the federal government was established, the United States was in a state of blight and depression. Trade was blocked by Britain, the dollar was worthless, veterans were suffering, debt-related riots were spreading across the country, and the Continental Congress had neither money nor power to fix these problems.

However, once the Constitution, which incorporated those principles, was ratified and the federal government began functioning in 1790, everything started to change.

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Two years after the new government was in place, George Washington wrote, “The United States enjoy a scene of prosperity and tranquillity under the new government that could hardly have been hoped for,” and “Tranquillity reigns among the people with that disposition towards the general government which is likely to preserve it. … Our public credit stands on that ground which three years ago it would have been considered as a species of madness to have foretold.”

After that, the United States moved forward and never looked back. In just 120 years, it became the most powerful nation in the world, producing 50 percent of all industrial goods globally with merely 6 percent of the world’s population—unrivaled by any other great nation or dynasty in human history.

The Success Formula Is So Coherent and Clear

Few people today realize that these principles exist, and that they are so profound, coherent, and clear. They are the invisible force binding everything we know today: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the checks and balances between the three branches of government, the balance between state and federal governments, how our economy operates, and how we choose our public servants.

The 28 founding principles capture the essence of decades of learning by the Founding Fathers—from ancient Greek, Roman, Israeli, and British governance, to the 116 days of work at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787, to the 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay during 1787 and 1788. In simple and concise terms, these principles make up the formula for America’s success.

The Principles Don’t Change Over Time

It’s amazing how these principles have persisted through 250 years and remain valid today. They aren’t outdated knowledge from 18th-century plantation owners. Rather, they capture the essential relationship between man and God, nature, and other men. These principles are universal truths that endure the test of time, and, believe it or not, they provide answers to the most difficult problems we face today: rising crime, exploding national debt, homelessness, government overreach, disintegration of the family, loss of faith, cultural degradation, and even wars.

I hereby invite you to embark on a special journey to explore the wisdom of our Founding Fathers and the 28 principles they left us, which created the great nation we now live in.

Our journey will start with an 81-foot marble statue that every American should know, but few do, in Plymouth, MA, where the Mayflower II is moored. To be continued …

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.