No document, however brilliantly conceived, can resist people who view its constraints and its needs as needling inconveniences, rather than sacred boundaries and responsibilities. Constitutional democracy is high-maintenance. It only works if the people who are meant to care, actually care – and express their investment through active stewardship. Not just when it’s convenient, not just when their side wins or loses, not just when they feel like it, but always.
What the United States is witnessing now, what every democracy is facing in the middle of a global backslide, is the exposure of the constitutional system’s fundamental vulnerability: it cannot withstand the destructive pressure of a populace who have lost interest. Who have lost faith. Who no longer believe in the project itself. Who have simply stopped showing up.
Joan Westenberg
The Parchment Barrier (The Index)
Scott Boehmer 