The same holds true for our political leaders: not everything we expect of them is required by law. The Constitution is the boss of all laws in the United States, but much of its strength is based on social norms and values that many of us wrongly assume rise to the level of rights of citizenship. But as mentioned before, the Constitution is, in fact, fragile—and porous. Many of these values must come from somewhere else—and also be enforced by society—if they are to continue to characterize the American way of life. There is no law establishing them, in other words, and no Constitution cop
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How Democracies Die
