It’s risky to write about process. Substance is much more gripping. In a murder investigation, it’s more interesting to discover the perp was Col. Mustard, with a candlestick, in the library, than to learn that evidence against the military gent is inadmissible because he wasn’t read his Miranda rights.
So I venture into this letter with trepidation, for my purpose is to touch on the idea that democracy is not about “what” but “how” — process not substance. What makes America democratic is not that we have elections — so did Saddam Hussein’s Iraq — but that voters’ free choice is honored and power is placed, as prescribed by the Constitution, in the hands of the victors. Elected officials make laws, which are then applied equally to everyone.
