On Tuesday Susan dropped in on Sandy Levinson's Constitution Day lecture at DePaul University, just a few train stops down the line from here. He's a law professor at the University of Texas who also travels in political science circles quite a lot. As the title suggests, this book decries the undemocratic nature of much of the U.S. Constitution and concludes with a passionate call for a constitutional convention before it's too late. Amongst Levinson's concerns are the undemocratic nature of the Senate, the seemingly unchecked growth of the executive branch, the undemocractic electoral college, and life tenure for judges.
It was an interesting lecture, but I wonder if he's right to say that calling for a new constitutional convention need not entail demeaning the founder's handiwork, especially since at one point in the book he likens our relationship to them as similar to that of an abused spouse (!) filled with excuses for why we stay with the Constitution as is, despite its many abuses.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the question of what sort of disruption is necessary to locate compelling alternatives to the founding fathers' (paternal) authority in contemporary politics, as I have been working through a paper that focuses on representations of the founding that can be seen on YouTube. Check out this irrereverant and humorous short about George Washington for a taste of it:
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