The Constitution vs. Authoritarianism

The Constitution vs. Authoritarianism

From American History Hotline by iHeartPodcasts

April 1, 2026 · 28 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the balance of democracy and authoritarianism through the lens of the U.S. Constitution and features an interview with Jeffrey Rosen.

It can be scary to learn how much our democracy relies on norms and convention when the rule of law is put to the test. But, at least our Founding Fathers had an excellent understanding of authoritarianism when they drafted the U.S. Constitution. Are the guardrails they created enough to prevent a dictator, though?  Bob calls up Jeffrey Rosen (former President and CEO of the National Constitution Center) to answer this question.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Bob

Guest: Jeffrey Rosen

Topics covered

  • democracy
  • authoritarianism
  • U.S. Constitution
  • Founding Fathers
  • rule of law

Keywords

  • democracy
  • authoritarianism
  • Constitution
  • Founding Fathers
  • rule of law
  • Jeffrey Rosen

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Constitution Center

Books & works: U.S. Constitution

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