from Kevin Williamson at National Review, Revolution by Shenanigan:

The American constitutional order is a blend of democratic and undemocratic institutions, a result of the compromises that were necessary to create one nation out of 13 very different colonies, with different economic and political interests, different cultures, different religious habits — the genuine diversity of 18th-century American life. We have a federal system in which the states and U.S. government exercise a kind of dual sovereignty, with the states remaining powers in their own right rather than mere administrative subdivisions of the national state. The status of the states is reflected in the Senate, where each state enjoys equal representation regardless of population, and in institutions such as the Electoral College. Other antidemocratic measures in our constitutional order include judicial review and, most important, the Bill of Rights, which are constraints on the powers of temporary democratic majorities.

When he wasn’t monkeying around with the filibuster, Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid, now retired, had his eye on the Bill of Rights. When the Supreme Court said for the umpteenth time that Congress cannot impose censorship on political critics, even if it calls that censorship “campaign finance reform,” Reid led an effort — supported by every single Democrat in the Senate — to repeal the First Amendment. Of course, he didn’t say that’s what he was doing, but a First Amendment that doesn’t protect political speech from government control is not a First Amendment.

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