Symposium: A New Hope? An Interdisciplinary Reflection on the Constitution, Politics, and Polarization in Jack Balkin’s “The Cycles of Constitutional Time”

Politically, we are living in dark times. Political polarization has increased over the past forty years, reaching an extreme and causing real damage to our political system and to our interpersonal lives. Americans are experiencing more hostility and anger towards their neighbors, family members, and fellow citizens with opposing political views. Growing distrust in government and intense polarization causally contributed to the 2016 presidential election of a populist demagogue whose appeals to toxic prejudices, racial resentment, and baseless fears were designed to exacerbate political and civil division.

After he lost the 2020 election, a mob of his most ardent supporters attacked the United States Capitol harboring the delusional belief that the vote was somehow rigged and fraudulent.