Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
How do you place the people in charge without creating a democratic tyranny? By the time of the American Revolution, nobody in the history of the world had yet answered this question.
In recent years, the Constitution has become a source of political controversy between conservatives and progressives. While the right defends our founding document, the left argues that it’s an antiquated plan of government that goes against the basic principles of democratic sovereignty.
In Democracy or Republic?, Jay Cost argues that America’s Constitution was designed for a republic, not a democracy. The Constitution ensures that the people rule for the good of all, not just those who happen to make up a majority.
Our Constitution does this by promoting consensus. It empowers large, broad, and considered coalitions of people who have found common cause with one another.
America, then, is not merely a democracy. It is something greater.
"The United States Constitution could use better press. It has a lot of enemies these days, and too few friends. There is a surprising dearth of modern books defending it. Jay Cost is out to change that." - Dan McLaughlin, National Review Online
Introduction
The Basics
A National Republic
Checks and Balances
The Lawmaking Process
The Necessity of Consensus
Dead-Hand Control?
The Parties
The Judiciary
Constitutional Virtue
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Notes
Index