Philip Klinkner's Warning: Democracy Doesn't Defend Itself

"Is American democracy more fragile than we realize?" This question anchors Guy Kawasaki's riveting conversation with Philip Klinkner, professor of government at Hamilton College. Throughout this eye-opening episode, Klinkner dissects the current challenges facing our constitutional system, comparing today's expansion of executive power with historical precedents during the Civil War and Great Depression. What makes our current moment unique, he argues, is the absence of comparable national emergencies to justify such dramatic governmental shifts. Klinkner examines how supposedly fixed constitutional guardrails often exist merely as norms that can rapidly erode, places American challenges within the global context of democratic...