ABSTRACT
The case against fundamental reform of the American political system begins with an instinct, both widely and deeply felt in the American political culture. The Constitution establishes a political system that has worked remarkably well through two turbulent centuries. Americans are a lively, sometimes boisterous people. Careful research has shown that presidents have repeatedly, throughout American history, applied military force against the nation’s enemies without declarations of war or any other explicit legislative authorization. Few black thinkers and political leaders go even as far as Justice Marshall in their criticism of the American political system. An old aphorism holds that a merciful God protects children, drunkards, and the United States of America. Rossiter went on to warn that there needed to be firm safeguards, lest a nation begin to resort routinely to the facilities of “dictatorship.”
