Even a president intent on redemocratizing our state will find it to be hard work. The growing power of the executive is a deeper problem than the combination of national security threats and abuses of power can explain. It is a process that began in the 1980s and goes beyond party politics—it is part of the structural evolution of the liberal state. The big question is how a president intent on redemocratizing our state will use today’s greater power of the executive.

Much has been said since 2001 about the erosion of our liberal democracy. Among the leading causes usually mentioned are the Patriot Act, particularly its use by the Bush-Cheney administration to strengthen executive power, and our deeply flawed electoral system. Both are indeed critical factors feeding the democracy deficit.

But there is a third cause, one that has received far less attention and has been obscured by the declaration of a national security emergency. It is the fact that the devel...

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