ABSTRACT
Kahn analyzes polarized politics in America as a splitting of rule by the people and the rule of law. The American civil religion combines the distinct ideas of popular sovereignty and the rule of law. On one side, people look at American laws and no longer recognize their own authorship. On the other side, people focus less on authorship and more on injustice. Each side feels that it stands for something that goes to the very heart of what it means to be an American. Because America has always defined itself as a nation of self-government without interference or direction from outside through law, it doesn’t notice the tension between “self-government” and “law.” “We the people” has carried a deep and rich claim on citizens, supporting generations and foundations of sacrifice. The polarization of the American electorate has been attributed to racism, sexism, greed, resentment, and other social pathologies. It has also been attributed to globalization, automation, urbanization, and other economic and structural changes. At stake are the imagined meaning and identity of citizenship and the nature of political order. Kahn concludes by asking how rule of law, as the expression of popular sovereignty, can be reclaimed.
