Can a document unify a nation? Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise Institute and author of American Covenant argues that the Constitution unified the United States at the founding of the country and that understanding the Constitution can help bring the country together today. Listen as Levin speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how the Constitution not only took into account fractious politics, but also ensured that polarization would lead to a stronger democracy. Topics include the inherent limitations placed on the majority and how that affects policy formation, the vital if misunderstood advantages of the electoral college, and why, despite all the warnings to the contrary, this is far from a dangerous moment in American political history.
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Today is May 16, 2024, and my guest is political thinker and author Yuval Levin.
He is the director of social, cultural and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry chair in Public Policy.
He's the founder and editor of national affairs, senior editor at the New Atlantis, contributing editor at National Review, and a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times.
This is Yuval's fourth appearance on Econ Talk.
He was last year, in March of 2020, discussing his book, a time to build.
Our topic for today is his newest book, American how the Constitution unified our nation and could again.
Yuval, welcome back to Econ Talk.
Thanks so much for having me.
Russ.
What are you trying to achieve with this book?
It's a very ambitious book about, at a very, I'd say, sophisticated level of thinking about the role of the Constitution in the founding of the United States and then the role it could play today.
What are you trying to achieve?
Well, you know, this book is a reintroduction to the Constitution for americans who know it, and a lot of Americans.
You know, if you follow the news, we feel like we hear about the Constitution all the time.