BECOMING MADISON IS A SEQUEL OF SORTS TO MY BOOK DEMAGOGUE: The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies. That book was about a bottom-up problem of democracies. Left to their own devices, democracies will often fall prey to the seductions of predatory mass leaders, demagogues, who will then become tyrannical. That “cycle of regimes,” as the ancient political philosophers deemed it, was replayed most horrendously in the last century in Weimar Germany, the hopeful but naive democracy that gave rise to the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler. But it has also occurred recently in Egypt and Iraq. The cycle can be arrested through a countervailing bottom-up force—through constitutionalism, a culture of civic values concentrated on controlling authority and strengthening self-governance.
Becoming Madison explores what makes a democracy healthy from a different angle—the top. To that end, my conversations with several longtime students of political leadership in America today were essential to this book, including Tom Perriello, Tim Kaine, Chuck Robb, Ron Klain, Dave McCurdy, Bob Dallek, A. E. Dick Howard, and Mike Klarman. Conversations with friends, including Tyson Belanger, Matt Dallek, Rachel Kleinfeld, Ganesh Sitaraman, Christopher Hamner, David Greenberg, and Marc Grinberg, were also especially helpful, as were my biweekly breakfasts with Andy Kaufman. The great Madison scholar Ralph Ketcham provided invaluable assistance on multiple drafts.
The Center for the Constitution at Montpelier hosted me on two long research stays. My thanks to the tremendous leadership and staff there for their very helpful guidance—Michael Quinn, Kat Imhoff, Doug Smith, Meg Kennedy, Sean O’Brien, Sterling Howell, Matt Reeves, and Tom Watson. Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs provided extensive research support. At the University of St. Andrews, Professor Barbara Crawford generously lent me a desk at the Strathmartine Center, where I learned more about John Witherspoon and the Scottish Enlightenment. At Virginia Tech, my colleagues, including Anne Khademian, Gerard Toal, and Patrick Roberts, were unfailingly supportive and also hosted a workshop for me in the spring of 2013. Professors Jim Ceaser and Paul Freedman were kind enough to invite me to teach a class called “Leadership, Statesmanship, and Democracy” at the University of Virginia’s Woodrow Wilson School of Politics. Gabriel Swift and his skilled staff at Princeton’s Rare Books Collection were incredibly helpful in unearthing several documents. Professors Jim Coan of the University of Virginia and Joseph Cooper of Marymount University provided very helpful analysis of Madison’s psychological condition. The Truman National Security Project provided not only many willing and enthusiastic readers, but a warm and encouraging community of like-minded friends.
Many friends and colleagues read part or all of various manuscripts and gave invaluable advice. They include Bob Signer, Marj Signer, Mike Gubser, Ric Mayer, Matt Spence, Dallas Dickinson, Micah Schwartzman, Steve Glickman, Justin Oberman, Jonathan Morgenstein, Amanda Mattingly, Jim Morin, Grant Neely, Meredith Wilson, J. J. Saulino, Tyson Barker, Denver Brunsman, Joe Costa, Zaid Zaid, Alex Rossmiller, Stacy Hope, Jon Davey, Alex Toma, Doug Campbell, Dave Solimini, Erik Woodhouse, Marc Sorel, Matt Seidman, and Daniel Moore.
As an undergraduate and graduate student, I was fortunate to learn at the elbow of several great thinkers about constitutionalism: Professors George Kateb and Stan Katz at Princeton, Mike Rogin at Berkeley, and Dick Howard at UVA. This book reflects all of their various approaches to political theory, applied.
My agent, Larry Weissman, and his partner and wife, Sascha Alper, had faith in this project and helped me make the tough calls necessary to bring it to fruition. My editor at PublicAffairs, John Mahaney, embraced the book from the beginning and was a stalwart friend throughout.
My love and gratitude to my family for their love, honesty, and support: Marj Signer, Bob Signer, Rebecca Signer Roche, Mira Signer, and Rachel Signer.
My greatest thanks go to my wife, Emily, who provided keen and thoughtful edits, endless encouragement, and bottomless love during the four years it took to complete this manuscript, as well as the greatest gift of all—the title.