Experience‑Rooted Constitutionalism

Democratic legitimacy and durability come less from abstract, inevitable theories of popular sovereignty and more from constitutions and practices built on historical experience and institutional design. Maine’s reading of the U.S. Constitution shows that prudential institutional arrangements can stabilize popular government where abstract doctrines fail. — Argues that modern democratic reform debates should prioritize practical institutional design and historical learning over ideological faith in democracy’s inevitability.