Yale’s Bruce Ackerman, a constitutional scholar, warns that unilateralism in the “most dangerous branch” of government is setting the stage for a tragic future.
Back in 2006, Bruce Ackerman co-authored the “Liberal Manifesto,” a document of protest signed by dozens of prominent intellectuals who condemned the “illegal, unwise and destructive” Iraq war and the “politics of panic” of the administration of President George W. Bush. But Ackerman, a professor of law and political science at Yale and the author of the new book The Decline and Fall of the American Republic, is worried about more than one unenlightened man in power. He believes that a runaway U.S. presidency could someday be the springboard for an authoritarian takeover. He wants to shake Americans out of their complacent belief that the Constitution will always protect their tradition of government. In the following interview, Ackerman talks about how far the country has strayed from the system the Founding Fathers envisioned and how it can get back on track.
Miller-McCune: Professor Ackerman, you’ve said publicly that an extremist such as Sarah Palin or her mirror image on the left could be elected to the White House in this century. How would such a candidate arise?
Bruce Ackerman: Since 1972, presidential candidates are selected by activists who vote in primaries, not by party leaders in conventions. These primaries are very poorly attended. And who turns out? It’s the ideologues of the left and the right. If a candidate mobilizes the strong ideological base, he or she can win. That means we can have an election in which a relatively extreme lefty runs against a relatively extreme righty.
(Original here.)
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