Energy in the Executive

Who better than Harvey Mansfield himself to give a synopsis of his book Taming the Prince as it relates to current events? Though a defender of an energetic executive, Mansfield steps back from that defense in this piece to display the philosophic roots of the debate between the strong executive and the rule of law. He also shows how the Constitution contains both sides of that debate or tension, and is, therefore, much more "alive" than Progressives, who assumed it was dead and wanted to breathe life into it (or thought judges should do so), ever realized. We have a Constitution that both supports the rule of law and somehow legalizes extra-legal energy in an attempt to give republicanism the stability it requires.