Sanford Levinson’s interview with Bill Moyers
NCDD member, Nancy Thomas, director of the Democracy Imperative at the University of New Hampshire, shares the following on her website…
To jump start your new year brains, you might want to watch or listen to Sanford Levinson’s interview with Bill Moyers. He talks about the failures of the US Constitution and why we need a national dialogue on what we mean by democracy. He says the most egregious defects in the Constitution include separation of powers and small state powers, “the almost certain presidential dictatorship that will follow a national crisis,” the electoral college, life tenure for Supreme Court justices. He calls for a constitution convention, preferably every 20 years. He wants to reaffirm the preamble (We the people…) and remind politicians that it is the credo for our political and social systems.
Levinson’s latest book is Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Has Gone Wrong and How We the People Can Correct It.
I recommend this now, as well. Took some time to listen to this interview. Very interesting. Will especially interest anyone working in civic engagement.