Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast.

This is a sample of our recent bonus episode, usually only available to members.

These episodes are comprised of our crew of researchers, Amanda and myself, all getting together for a roundtable discussion on topics that we find interesting.

So here's a few minutes for free so you can know what all the fuss is about.

Today we are going to find out definitively, probably, whether American democracy is going to survive.

Warning, we're going to start with the bad news.

Will there be good news after that?

Better stay tuned to find out.

We're going back in time, and it turns out people have been pretty down on the chances of American democracy, like, since the beginning. So I had not heard of this before.

Turns out Ben Franklin had some interesting thoughts while giving his full-throated endorsement

of the Constitution that they had all just written.

And so that's where we're starting today.

Ben Franklin says, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such, because I think a general government necessary for us.

And there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered.

And believe farther that this is likely to be well

administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done

before it, when people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government being incapable of any other.

Boy, that does not make the inspiring highlight reel of American history.

No, we don't like to talk about that.

No.

He goes on to point out that, like, look, writing the Constitution is hard because a lot of you people are

assholes and dumb and wrong about things. And when you get a bunch of people together,

...