Status Updates From Democracy in America

The Federal Constitution.
"The love of country, which ought to check these destructive agencies, is not stronger in a large than in a small republic. Great wealth and extreme poverty, capital cities of large size, a lax morality, selfishness, and antagonism of interests are the dangers which almost invariably arise from the magnitude of states."-p.161

The Federal Constitution.
"The President, who exercises a limited power, may err without causing great mischief in the state. Congress may decide amiss without destroying the Union, b/c the electoral body...may cause it to retract its decision.... But if the Supreme Court is ever composed of imprudent or bad men, the union may be plunged into anarchy or civil war."-p.152

"The President is placed beside the legislature like an inferior and dependent power." - p.124

Doesn't seem so now.

The Federal Constitution.

"But in the exercise of his authority [the President] is not perfectly independent; the Senate takes cognizance of his relations with foreign powers, and of his distribution of public appointments, so that he can neither corrupt nor be corrupted." -p.121

Oh, really? 🤦

The Federal Constitution.
I don't believe I learned hitherto that the object of forming the Senate was to preserve the states' authority while that of forming the House was to preserve the nation's authority. Hence all states have equal representation in the Senate. Very interesting. T acknowledges this division isn't "logical" but it serves to act as yet another check on power.

Political Jurisdiction in the US.
American "political jurisdiction...[may be]...the most formidable weapon [ever] placed in the grasp of a majority. When the American republics begin to degenerate, [we can test if this is true by] whether the number of political impeachments is increased." -p111
T lauds that impchmnt means poltcns face only pol. consqncs. In France it's also always crimnl, thus less likely to be used

"But the American judge is brought into the political arena independently of his own will. He judges the law only because he is obliged to judge a case."-p.103
John Oliver this wk pointed out the danger of SCOTUS' discretionary power over which cases they ignore & esp which cases they elevate & expedite rulings on, i.e. "the shadow docket".

Judicial Power in the United States.
"by intimately uniting the trial of the law with the trial of an individual, legislation is protected from wanton assaults and from the daily aggressions of party spirit."-p.102

Townships & Municipal Bodies.
T claims it is politics at the town level that is the secret sauce of America. The buy-in/ownership/initiative there is genuine and enlivened in ways not true in much of Europe in his opinion, where generations of top-down governance makes ppl "subjects" rather than "citizens". NB, T extrapolates to all America from seeing mainly Mass. towns.