In the fall of 2015, Sandy Levinson and I wrote an exchange about political dysfunction and constitutional reform for a symposium in Indiana Law Review, where we were the keynote speakers.
At that time, neither of us expected Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee. When that happened, we wrote an additional exchange in August 2016 applying our respective theories.
Then all hell broke loose: Trump won the Electoral College in November 2016. So we've written yet another chapter.
All of the installments are now available on SSRN in an extended essay, Democracy and Dysfunction: An Exchange.
In the latest installment, Sandy wonders whether we are in for secession and/or civil war. I discuss the rise and fall of republics, and how best to fight against a demagogue.
Because the Indiana Law Review would really like to publish the symposium issue soon, there will be no more installments to this article. But I'm sure our conversation will continue in other venues.