The Opinions America's Next Story: Jill Lepore
20 snips
Oct 27, 2025 
Jill Lepore, a Harvard historian and bestselling author, dives into the art of amending the Constitution and the stagnation in American politics. She discusses how citizens have become passive, waiting for change instead of driving it. Lepore argues for local civic engagement to reclaim a hopeful national narrative and critiques the left's anti-Trump focus. She emphasizes the need for determination in long-term movements and evaluates essential reforms like abolishing the Electoral College and addressing campaign finance.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Progress As Moral Agency
- Narrowing progress to technological updates makes citizens objects rather than agents of change.
- Jill Lepore argues amendment is a moral act that restores people as subjects who make civic change.
Change Without Amendment
- Constitutional change has largely happened through courts and executive actions rather than amendments.
- Lepore warns conservative rhetoric often packages change as 'restoration' to sell its agenda as non-change.
Convention Theater And Moral Costs
- Lepore describes attending both 2016 conventions and finding Democrats' 'party of love' performance hypocritical and damaging.
- She argues painting opponents as satanic sacrifices moral center and ultimately loses the country.
