Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

9-22-2020

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Law & Society eJournals; Law & Society: Public Law eJournals; Legal Anthropology eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; AARN Subject Matter eJournals; Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence & Legal Philosophy eJournals; Anthropology & Archaeology Research Network

Abstract

This review essay provides an overview and critique of Sandy Levinson's and Jack Balkin's excellent book Democracy and Dysfunction University of Chicago Press 2019 The piece argues that Levinson and Balkin are correct to posit that the governing structures of the federal government are in serious need of reform and reinvigoration At the same time however embracing structural changes alone will not be enough if a great many voters continue to cast ballots based on empirical falsehoods Accordingly institutional reforms are a necessary but not sufficient condition for making the federal government more functionalbrbrIn Democracy and Dysfunction Balkin and Levinson debate over a series of essays in the form of letters whether correcting the problems afflicting our governing national institutions will require fundamental changes or more interstitial changes Levinson posits that the Constitution itself enshrines structural flaws that have led us to a crisis point he argues that only the strongest sorts of reforms "“ constitutional amendments "“ can successfully restore our national governing institutions Balkin by way of contrast claims that the federal government currently suffers from "œconstitutional rot" and argues that a series of statutory and judicial interventions could arrest this trend Both posit that institutional reforms whether of a constitutional or statutory stripe could successfully address the federal government's contemporary dysfunctionbr br"œA Republic If We Can Keep It" argues that implementing structural reforms alone will not be sufficient if US voters lack even the most basic knowledge of our government and routinely cast ballots based on the misinformation circulated the growing number of internet echo chambers Simply put any successful effort at either statutory or constitutional reform will require a general consensus within the body politic that the federal government is broken and needs fixing this will require voters to obtain and deploy accurate information about their government and its institutions At present the prospects for such a consensus appear quite bleak Civic education in the United States may charitably be described as "œmoribund" Once commonplace over 30 states currently do not require high school students to take even a single class in civics or government As Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has observed this banishment of civics and government from the nation's K12 curriculum "œhas coincided with stunningly low student achievement on civics achievement tests" She laments that the nation's schools "œare failing to impart even basic civic knowledge to our students" Yet the successful adoption of the widereaching institutional reforms that Levinson and Balkin propose will require an enlightened and highly engaged electorate "“ which political thinkers from Aristotle to Jefferson to Dewey to Meiklejohn all posit constitutes an essential condition for creating and maintaining a wellfunctioning democratic polity In sum we must to renew our political community in tandem with our political institutions to secure effective and meaningful reforms

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