Terry Newell is currently director of his own firm, Leadership for a Responsible Society. His work focuses on values-based leadership, ethics, and decision making. A former Air Force officer, Terry also previously served as Director of the Horace Mann Learning Center, the training arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute. Terry is co-editor and author of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work (CQ Press, 2011). He also wrote Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government (Loftlands Press 2015).
All in Constitution
Whatever political party controls the White House or Congress demands acceptance of their right to govern and acquiescence to their policies. The view that the Constitution gives the majority party a mandate is not quite correct.
Freedom is not an end in itself. The Constitution treats it as a means to an end. James Madison reminds us that “justice is the end of society.”
Recent years have witnessed many calls for more direct democracy, but its passions threaten to break free from reason and compromise. The Constitution was wary of democracy. We should understand why - and use appropriate safeguards.
