Gregg Nunziata podcast with the Reagan Caucus Action, “Defending Liberal Democracy”
Executive Director Gregg Nunziata recently spoke on the Reagan Caucus Action Podcast, “Defending Liberal Democracy,” urging young conservatives to strengthen and retain their faith in liberal democracy.
The members of the Society for the Rule of Law “are conservative lawyers who prioritize the defense of the rule of law, the constitution and American democracy above kind of policy and partisan fights.” Gregg is alarmed by the radicalism and jadedness of many young conservatives today. He increasingly hears young conservatives insist that “law is a meaningless edifice,” “that democracy is fundamentally corrupt,” and “that our institutions need to be burned down.” These attitudes reflect a “deep lack of appreciation for what our heritage is as Americans, what liberal democracy has accomplished for our country.” Such ideas encourage a back-and-forth of illiberal power grabs that occur at the expense of our democratic foundations. Gregg cautions that “it’s harder to build things than it is to destroy things” and that retaliation leads to a “natural downward spiral” where actors “overshoot whatever line you think the left would draw.”
The current overreach of executive power demonstrates what overshooting the line can look like. Gregg condemns the Venezuelan boat strikes, calling the reported “second strike” on survivors “some kind of war crime” and “state-sanctioned extrajudicial killing.” The presidential immunity ruling giving by the Supreme Court in Trump v. United States only aggravates the danger. He calls the immunity ruling “very wrongheaded and dangerous,” likening it to “the new Roe versus Wade,” and warns it will embolden presidents to cross the line even more, because lawyers can no longer credibly say, “this might open you up for prosecution after you leave office.” Rather than continue the cycle of overreach and retaliation, we must recommit to the core principles and norms that made our democracy possible in the first place. Gregg asserts that our legal and constitutional norms have significant inherent value for all citizens, and that leaders from across the political spectrum have a long-term stake in re-committing to these norms and the liberal democratic society which they uphold.
Watch the full conversation here.