Jamelle Bouie makes the case for majoritarianism
New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie joins us this week to discuss his recent work on how the Constitution and other counter-majoritarian institutions are getting in the way of democratic progress.
Democracy Works · Jamelle Bouie, Jenna Spinelle, Candis Watts Smith, Michael Berkman
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (op3.dev) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
Jamelle Bouie's writing spans everything from 19th century American history to 1990s movies, but he's spent a lot of time recently thinking about America's founders, the Constitution, and the still-unfinished work of making America a multi-everything democracy. In that work, he's identified a contradiction that he believes is impeding democratic progress:
"Americans take for granted the idea that our counter-majoritarian Constitution — deliberately written to constrain majorities and keep them from acting outright — has, in fact, preserved the rights and liberties of the people against the tyranny of majority rule, and that any greater majoritarianism would threaten that freedom," Bouie wrote.
In this interview, we discuss that claim and why he's is looking to Reconstruction as a time that could provides lessons for our current political moment. Bouie is a columnist for the New York Times and political analyst for CBS News. He covers U.S. politics, public policy, elections, and race.
Jamelle Bouie at the New York Times
Bouie's lecture on "Why the Founding Fathers Still Matter" at Penn State
When the People Decide - our series on ballot initiatives and direct democracy
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.