Yuval Levin: 'American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again '

“I think there's a tendency to think that the assorted frustrations of our politics are evidence that the Constitution has failed us. And I think it's worth our time to try to ask ourselves whether it might be the case that we have failed the Constitution, that is, that our practice of politics has become so disconnected from the framework of the American Constitution—which separates and divides powers, which gives certain responsibilities to Congress and certain to the presidency and certain others to the courts.

That way of thinking about how our politics should work actually offers a lot of promise for overcoming the kind of division we have by driving people who disagree with each other into processes of negotiation and accommodation.

We now try various kinds of end runs around that system. We run to court, we empower the president rather than letting Congress do its work, and we overwhelm our federalist system and try to nationalize all the big questions. I think all of those kinds of end runs end up dividing us.

And if we ask ourselves, how could we be less divided? The answer is we should look to the Constitution and try to learn about how to better govern ourselves.”

- Yuval Levin

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW:

Mentioned in the interview:

- Can the Constitution Reconcile America?

-American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again