Even before the election of Donald Trump, America’s pearl-clutching
class has been invoking James Madison and his fear of “impetuous
majorities” and his desire for “majority rule based on reason rather
than passion,” worried that the “adults” in the political halls were
losing their grip and being forced into “extremism” by mob rule.
Bouie points out that the extremist evils of our age are the result of anti-democratic action from the very institutions created to preserve the elite veto over “mob rule.”
* The Electoral College – an anti-majoritarian institution – put Donald Trump in the White House, trumping the majority vote.
* The Civil War – driven by the narrow, parochial priorities of elite
enslavers – killed more Americans than any of the “populist” parties
since.
* The Senate – Congress’s anti-majoritarian upper house – is the home
of the filibuster, dominated by politicians elected by a minority of the
population, pursuing policies that gridlock Washington and preclude
compromise on urgent issues like background checks for gun purchases,
funding for public services, or immigration reform.
Yet we continue to misdiagnose America’s political disease as “mob rule”
rather than “elite rule.” This misdiagnosis matters, because it leads
to prescriptions that merely heighten the grip by elites: rather than
reforming the electoral college or campaign finance, DC elites want to
regulate social media and fund “civic education provided by wealthy
citizens with a vested interest in defending existing institutions.”
