What Do Democrats Mean by ‘Democracy’?

A journal called Liberal Currents recently invited me to contribute to a scholarly symposium on what the editor, Adam Gurri, described as “how we can move to a new, stable democratic regime after Trump.” He was particularly interested in “what sort of accountability model should be pursued, especially if it has to be done on a partisan basis by a Democratic trifecta.” I disagreed with the premise of the symposium and declined. The idea of “restoring democracy” after Donald Trump is widespread on the left. When we realize what this means, it should prompt those loyal to our Constitution to...