Although the U.S. Constitution has built-in restrictions that limit the power of majorities, the rise of the administrative state has compromised the potency of elections. As a consequence, the ultimate protection is not the veto power of the people wielded during normal elections but the constituent power possessed by the people. This constituent powerconstitutional populismadopted the Constitution, has amended it, and may be used today to challenge the rule of the technocrats.
The Constituent Power as a Remedy for the Administrative State
By William J. Watkins, Jr.
This
article
appeared in
the Summer 2021 issue of The Independent Review.
Other Independent Review articles by William J. Watkins, Jr. | ||
Fall 2021 | Chaining Down Leviathan: The American Dream of Self-Government, 17761865 | |
Spring 2021 | America on Trial: A Defense of the Founding | |
Fall 2020 | An Anti-Federalist Constitution: The Development of Dissent in the Ratification Debates | |
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