Constitutionalism in an Age Without Limits

The deepest threat to American constitutional order comes from our vanishing ability to rule ourselves

• Pure democracy places no restraints on the immediate will of the majority, subjugating both minorities and taking action based on sober reflection to the immediacy of the moment.
• The framers of the American Constitution considered pure democracy dangerous-both to the stability of the new government, as well as to the existing order that comprised a number of diverse and quasi-autonomous colonies. The limited constitutional order they framed is explicitly designed to frustrate the ability of groups hostile to the common good.

If our constitutional order is to survive, we must find ways to restore the functions-virtue, enterprise, honor, fecundity-that were presupposed by the Framers and on which, therefore, American constitutional order hinges

• A citizenry without the virtues necessary for self-government can hope to sustain the noble tradition of liberty under law bequeathed to us by our ancestors
• The fashionable fears about threats to “our democracy” notwithstanding, the deepest threat to our order comes from our vanishing ability to rule ourselves

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/constitutionalism-in-an-age-without-limits/