
Paul Rahe holds the Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in Western Heritage at Hillsdale College and is the author most recently of Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift. He discusses past republics, the administrative state, our place in history, and the 2012 election. Recorded live at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, MI. (50:30)

Paul Rahe discusses the danger a consolidation of government poses for the people of the United States, the psychological disposition that makes democratic peoples vulnerable to servile temptation, and the institutions that once in some measure shielded Americans from these propensities.