Richard D. Parker, "Here The People Rule": A Constitutional Populist Manifesto, 27 Val. Univ. L. Rev. 531 (1993).
Abstract: Let me begin at the end. I want to give you some sense of where I'm going. Then, you'll begin to see where I'm coming from. I'm going to challenge three basic ideas-three connected orthodoxies-central to conventional discourse about constitutional law. They are: (1) The idea that we must define constitutional democracy as opposed to populist democracy: that constitutional constraints on public power in a democracy are meant to contain or tame the exertion of popular political energy rather than to nurture, galvanize, and release it. (2) The related idea that constitutional law is "higher" law, its substance and process superior to "ordinary" law and politics not just functionally, but (somehow) in essential quality as well. (3) The consequent idea that the main mission of modem constitutional law is to stand "above the battle" so as to protect "individuals" and "minorities" against the ruling "majority." I am going to urge, in fact, that constitutional law should be devoted as much-and even more-to promote majority rule as to limit it.