[nicollo]

The year 1912 is seen by historians as a great moment in the creation of modern America. It was, they say, when popular government became truly popular with the birth of the direct primary and the advancement of the various forms of democracy of the direct election of Senators, the initiative, the referendum, and the recall, and so on.

I have, rather, seen that year as a moment when America might have gone astray of its Founding, abandoning it for a pure and dangerous democracy, and lost itself entirely in it. While adopting some of the extremes of majority rule, more importantly, America rejected its worst extremes. For my take on it, see this .pdf file (warning: 300kb, 60 pages):

Constitution's Bodyguard

Truly, things might have been far worse than they are today.

[philman_36]

Still a good read.