by jpitney | Oct 9, 2024 | Constitution, Presidency, Washington
Tom Nichols at The Atlantic Washington fought for the office rather than its occupant. Sharply cognizant that his every action could constitute a precedent, he tried through his conduct to imbue the presidency with the strength of his own character. He took pains not...
by jpitney | Aug 26, 2024 | Civic Education, civic virtue, Constitution, Separation of Powers
Frederick M. Hess at AEI: Self-government depends on our accepting electoral outcomes or court decisions even when we disagree vehemently with the result. It depends on presidents and voters understanding that the executive branch isn’t empowered to spend billions of...
by jpitney | Aug 10, 2024 | Constitution, Deliberation, Democracy
Nathan Gardels at Noema: It is a mark of just how deep the crisis of governance across Western democracies has become that conflict irresolvable through political competition is giving way to the reconsideration of founding constitutions and the institutions they...
by jpitney | Jun 26, 2024 | Civility, Constitution, Uncategorized
C-SPAN Washington Journal: The American Enterprise Institute’s Yuval Levin talked about how the framers of the Constitution dealt with political division and how the document they created can be used to restore civility among those who disagree..
by jpitney | Jan 6, 2024 | Constitution, Deliberation
Nathan Gardels at Noema: “Constitutions need general acceptance so we can turn to their rules to manage our differences,” the former left-of-center Chilean President Ricardo Lagos told me in September 2022 after the first attempt to ratify a proposed new constitution...
by jpitney | Jan 1, 2024 | Congress, Constitution
Liz Cheney, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning (New York: Little, Brown, 2023), 49. In Article VI of our Constitution, the founders required that every member of Congress, all state legislators, and “all executive and judicial officers” of the federal and state...
