Madison's Sorrow, Today's War on the Founders and America's Liberal Ideal

The story of America is the struggle between our liberal ideal and illiberal resistance. Donald Trump catalyzed a reactionary revolution by tapping into the dark, shadowy side of American democracy that embraces exclusion and inequality. Madison’s Sorrow shows that throughout American history these alarming impulses have come to the forefront of our culture—during the Civil War, the era of the Robber Barons, and the Civil Rights Movement—but have now come to fruition in the presidency of Donald Trump.

Clearly, conservatives have lost their party. And without conservatives debating liberals in an intellectual, respectful manner to address the nation’s problems, Madisonian democracy breaks down.

In the tradition of Tomas Paine’s Rights of Man and Arthur Schlesinger’s The Vital Center , Madison’s Sorrow offers a searing critique of the radical right and a passionate defense of the founders’ liberal ideal.