Conservatives deride liberals for believing in a “living Constitution” that can be applied to contemporary issues with little regard for the Framers’ intentions. But conservatives, it is argued, are subjecting the document to such pinched interpretations as to starve the Constitution of its vitality in a modern world of heightened sensitivity to the transcendent principles of civil liberties. Add the campaign to undermine elections, and we have a nation at the crossroads where constitutional democracy meets the impulses of authoritarianism.

David K. Shipler is a Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author and Former Foreign Correspondent of The New York Times. He writes online at The Shipler Report (http://shiplerreport.blogspot.com)) and is the co-host of the podcast, Two Reporters (http://www.tworeporters.org/). His books include A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, The Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties, Rights at Risk: The Limits of Liberty in Modern America and his latest book, Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword.

Chevy Chase At Home is delighted to co-sponsor this program with Bethesda Metro Area Village and Bradley Hills Village.