The Constitution in Crisis: What Would the Founders Say?

Join Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, and Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and contributing editor at The Atlantic, for a national symposium with America’s thought leaders on what James Madison would make of American democracy today and how to resurrect Madison’s vision of a republic ruled by reason rather than passion. Lana Ulrich, senior director of content at the National Constitution Center, provides program introductions.

This program is presented as part of the Center's A Madisonian Constitution for All initiative and is presented in partnership with The Atlantic. This program is generously sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
 

Participants

• Panel 1: Madison, the Media, and the Mob
   
  • Jonah Goldberg is the editor in chief and co-founder of The Dispatch and host of The Remnant podcast. In addition to his work at The Dispatch, Goldberg holds the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty at the AmericanEnterprise Institute, where he is a fellow. He is also columnist for the Los Angeles Times, a Fox News contributor, and a contributing editor at National Review. Goldberg is the author of three New York Times best sellers, including Suicide of the West, The Tyranny of Clichés, and Liberal Fascism.
     
  • Michelle Goldberg  became an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times in 2017. Goldberg is a frequent commentator on radio and television, and has also written for publications such as The New Yorker, Newsweek, The Nation, The New Republic, and The Guardian. She is the author of three books, including Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism and The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World.
     
  • Jeffrey Goldberg is editor in chief of The Atlantic, where he was previously a national correspondent. A former Middle East and Washington correspondent for The New Yorker, Goldberg has corresponded for The New York Times Magazine and New York Magazine, written for The Forward, and was a Jerusalem Post columnist. He also serves as a member of the National Constitution Center’s Madisonian commission.
     
  • Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
     
• Lecture: Polarization in Congress
   
  • Daniel Stid is a director at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation where he leads the Madison Initiative that seeks to support the key values and institutions of U.S. democracy. Stid began his career as a political scientist teaching at Wabash College and served as a Congressional Fellow on the staff of the House Majority Leader. He is the author of The President as Statesman: Woodrow Wilson and the Constitution and serves as a member of the National Constitution Center’s Madisonian commission.
     
• Panel 2: The Senate and the Constitution
   
  • Chris Coons is a U.S. Senator for the state of Delaware. Within the United States Senate, Coons serves on multiple committees, including the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Ethics, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.  He also serves as member of the National Constitution Center’s Madisonian commission and as one of the Center’s Congressional Visiting Scholars. 
     
  • Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
     
• Lecture: Drowning in Digital Pollution         
   
  • Sam Gill is senior vice president and chief program officer at the Knight Foundation. In this role, he oversees all of Knight’s grantmaking programs—Community and National Initiatives, Journalism, and Arts. He also oversees Learning and Impact, Knight’s research and assessment program.
    
     
• Panel 3: What Would Madison Think of Democracy Today?
   
  • Larry Kramer is the president of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Under his leadership, the foundation has launched new efforts to respond to pressing and timely problems, such as challenges related to political polarization and cybersecurity. Before joining the foundation, Kramer served as Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law School, where he remains a lecturer in law.
     
  • Colleen Sheehan is professor of politics at Villanova University, director of the Ryan Center for Free Institutions and the Public Good, and has served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She is author of James Madison and the Spirit of Republican Self-Government and The Mind of James Madison. Sheehan serves as a member of the National Constitution Center’s Madisonian commission and is a contributing author for the Center’s “A Madisonian Constitution for All Essay Series.”
     
  • Greg Weiner is an assistant professor of political science and director of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Center at Assumption College. Weiner is the author of four books, including Madison’s Metronome: The Constitution, Majority Rule, and the Tempo of American Politics, and is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Weiner serves as a member of the National Constitution Center’s Madisonian commission and is a contributing author for the Center’s “A Madisonian Constitution for All Essay Series.”
     
  • Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.

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