From Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France to Yuval Levin’s new book, A Time to Build, conservatives have long been fascinated by the relationship between the American individual, state, and mediating institutions. Building properly-functioning institutions of all kinds – media, religious, or educational — is crucial to the politics and social lives of a self-governing people.

David Gelernter, Yale computer scientist and polymath, addresses the lack of institutions that would challenge growing left-wing domination of the cultural and educational landscapes. His Bradley Lecture, “New Institutions for a New Cultural Establishment,” examines with incisive wit how the center-right can build the institutions they need most.  

This lecture was originally delivered in October 1996.