Ken Masugi

Ken Masugi is Director of the Center for Local Government, The Claremont Institute. He is co-author of Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State (Rowman and Littlefield, 2002). Dr. Masugi is editor or co-editor of six other books, including (with Bradford P. Wilson) the Ashbrook Series on Constitutional Politics publication, The Supreme Court and American Constitutionalism.

He has extensive teaching experience, which includes two years as a visiting professor at Ashland University and visiting positions at James Madison College of Michigan State University, Princeton University, and the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he was John M. Olin Distinguished Visiting Professor. His federal government experience includes four years as a special assistant to the then-Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Clarence Thomas (1986-90).

Summary: America has had to reexamine its previous attitudes toward multiculturalism, in light of the September 11 attacks. When do cultural differences justify discriminatory treatment? What are the limits of toleration? The civilized principle of toleration is based on the first step of agreement on the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence—that all men are created equal. Now, our obligation as citizens is to perpetuate and refine that and other principles of the American Founding. The search for the establishment of our citizenship requires revisiting the American political tradition in light of today’s security exigencies and the liberty and “public happiness” that the American Founders hoped to establish. Dr. Masugi will preview these and other themes from his forthcoming book, Reconstituting American Citizenship: Natural Rights in the Face of Multiculturalism.