{"product_id":"we-the-people-vol-1-foundations","title":"We the People  Vol. 1: Foundations","description":"\u003cp\u003eBruce Ackerman offers a sweeping reinterpretation of our nations constitutional experience and its promise for the future. Integrating themes from American history  political science  and philosophy  We the People confronts the past  present  and future of popular sovereignty in America. Only this distinguished scholar could present such an insightful view of the role of the Supreme Court. Rejecting arguments of judicial activists  proceduralists  and neoconservatives  Ackerman proposes a new model of judicial interpretation that would synthesize the constitutional contributions of many generations into a coherent whole. The author ranges from examining the origins of the dualist tradition in the Federalist Papers to reflecting upon recent  historic constitutional decisions. The latest revolutions in civil rights  and the right to privacy  are integrated into the fabric of constitutionalism. Todays Constitution can best be seen as the product of three great exercises in popular sovereignty  led by the Founding Federalists in the 1780s  the Reconstruction Republicans in the 1860s  and the New Deal Democrats in the 1930s. Ackerman examines the roles played during each of these periods by the Congress  the Presidency  and the Supreme Court. He shows that Americans have built a distinctive type of constitutional democracy  unlike any prevailing in Europe. It is a dualist democracy  characterized by its continuing effort to distinguish between two kinds of politics: normal politics  in which organized interest groups try to influence democratically elected representatives; and constitutional politics  in which the mass of citizens mobilize to debate matters of fundamental principle. Although American history is dominated by normal politics  our tradition places a higher value on mobilized efforts to gain the consent of the people to new governing principles.In a dualist democracy  the rare triumphs of constitutional politics determine the course of normal politics.More than a decade in the making  and the first of three volumes  this compelling book speaks to all who seek to renew and redefine our civic commitments in the decades ahead.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44952019599413,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674948408","price":47.92,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674948402.jpg?v=1770148707","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/we-the-people-vol-1-foundations","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}