Demagogue

MICHAEL SIGNER is Senior Policy Advisor at the Center for American Progress and Senior National Security Policy Fellow at the think tank Third Way. He was Senator John Edwards' foreign policy advisor on his presidential campaign. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas and he has been interviewed by The Washington Post, NPR, and MSNBC, among others. He lives in Arlington,Virginia.

• Acknowledgements Introduction: Freedom at the Brink PART I: THE CYCLE OF REGIMES The Founding Fathers' Nightmare Defining the Demagogue Democracy's Own Worst Enemy Cleon of Athens An Enemy of the People The Student Rebels A City Learns PART II: DEMAGOGUERY IN AMERICA George W. Bush: Demagogue? Watering the Tree of Liberty A Peculiar Institution 'King Mob' The Reign of Terror The Demagogue and the Devil America's Achilles Heel Americans Fight Back A Red-Baiter and an American Caesar PART III: THE MODERN STRUGGLE Ignoring Iraqis The Cycle Begins Again A Philosopher-King? The Neoconservative Pere et Fils Democratic Dominion The End of Complicity Seduction and Resolution PART IV: DEFYING THE DEMAGOGUE Constitutionalism The Errors of the Past Moving Forward Theory and Practice From Hubris to Strength CONCLUSION: AMERICA THE EXCEPTIONAL Notes Index

'This is an important book for the post-George W. Bush years. Signer's story about the fight to defend democracy from its own worst enemy is a rich and compelling treatment of one of our most urgent problems today. This should be essential reading for progressives looking for a way forward, admirers of America's history of internationalist leadership abroad and constitutional accomplishments at home, foreign policy scholars and students, and everyone interested in the story of freedom's struggle to survive in the world' - Senator John Edwards '...a thoughtful book, one that employs history, political theory, and foreign policy analysis to impressive effect, and one that makes a powerful case for the importance of an engaged citizenry's constitutional conscience in the fight against demagogic tyranny and excess.' -Terrorism and Political Violence