The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym “Publius” to promote ratification of the US Constitution.

In Federalist 10, James Madison argued that factionalism must be mitigated for democracy to thrive and cited the destabilizing effect of “the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.” John Adams referred to this populist threat as “the tyranny of the majority.”

America’s founding fathers were fervent believers in liberal democracy, up to a point. They were keenly aware that majorities can be easily manipulated by ambitious ideologues. The checks and balances that infuse the American republic were constructed to temper that risk.

Demagogues have been the parasites of democracy since ancient Athens. They exploit its fundamental weakness: when ultimate power is vested in the people, it is possible for the people to give that power to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator in society.

Historian Reinhard Luthin defined demagogue as a person skilled “in flattery and invectives; evasive in discussing the vital issues; promising everything to everybody; appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public; and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices.”

Historically, demagogues, once elected to office, have often unraveled constitutional limits on executive power and tried to convert democracies into dictatorships. They characteristically advocate forceful action to address a crisis while accusing moderate and thoughtful opponents of weakness or disloyalty. In Hungary, Viktor Orban has demonstrated that this playbook is still effective even in the heart of the European Union.

The American Republic was designed to respect popular opinion and majority rule while simultaneously applying guardrails to popular passions and prejudices. The failures of this system are certainly well documented. It acquiesced to chattel slavery. It initially enfranchised only an elite minority of white males.

But the genius of the American Constitution is its propensity to adapt over time, leaning consistently toward democracy and away from concentrations of power. Today our bicameral legislature, the geographic representation of the US Senate and the very existence of the Electoral College frustrate Progressives seeking radical change. But these mechanisms were specifically designed to prevent demagogues from subverting democracy and to mitigate the populist tendency toward overreach.

In his book We the Fallen People, historian Robert Tracy McKenzie writes that the Constitution holds two seemingly incompatible beliefs in tension: “first, that the majority must generally prevail; and second, that the majority is predisposed to seek personal advantage above the common good”.

One of the great mysteries of the 2020 election cycle is the presumption of a mandate by progressive Democrats despite their slim margin of control in Congress. Over the past year, Progressives have suffered significant setbacks at the national and local level that may signal an end to what seems to be an era of legislative overreach.

In Minneapolis, voters rejected a ballot measure to replace the city’s Police Department with an agency that would have focused less on law enforcement.

Seattle voters elected Ann Davidson as the city’s top prosecutor. Davidson recently quit the Democratic Party because she felt it had moved “so far left.” Her opponent wanted to abolish the police.

In New York, voters elected Eric Adams mayor, a Democrat who revels in defying liberal orthodoxy. As a candidate, Adams promised to crack down on crime. Since taking office, he has signaled his frustration with Covid restrictions.

A recall election in San Francisco recently ousted three members of the school board. The campaign centered on the board’s tendency to prioritize social justice initiatives over reopening schools.

While parents suffered through remote learning for a second year, the board proposed renaming 44 schools, so they no longer honor “reactionary” figures. Among the reactionaries were Paul Revere, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Senator Dianne Feinstein and John Muir. The board also tried to scrap merit-based admissions for its premiere STEM school with a random lottery.

Despite these defeats, many left-aligned pundits continue to call for the elimination of the Senate filibuster. This would enable enactment of the “Build Back Better” social spending bill and the nationalization of election standards under the “For The People Act” despite the razor thin majorities Democrats wield.

There is little doubt that the founding fathers jointly known as Publius would take a dim view of such factional antics.

As columnist David Brooks recently opined, maintaining a healthy democracy requires constant effort, much like farming. “For democracy to function you have to till and fertilize the soil, erect fences, pull up weeds, prune the early growth. The founders knew that democracy is not natural.”

In recent decades, institutions that earlier generations of Americans believed essential to molding a democratic citizenry have increasingly malfunctioned. Churches and the media have gone partisan. Civics education has withered. Neighborhood organizations have shrunk. Patriotic rituals are unfashionable.

In his book The Jungle Grows Back, Robert Kagan argues “We have lived so long inside the bubble of the liberal order that we can imagine no other kind of world. We think it is natural and normal, even inevitable.”

As Publius would tell us, liberal democracy is not inevitable. Not even in America.