A Straussian Take on Mansfield

Take it away, Mark Kleiman. I had no idea we were both Harvey's students. Another smart take here. Energy in the executive is important; its independence from the other branches is important; its limited extra-legal role in times of extreme emergency are not to be gainsaid. But when the prince is completely incompetent, when he decrees that the emergency is indefinite and permanent, and when he systematically and proudly ignores the laws he is duty-bound to enforce, executive energy can actually destroy a republic rather than save it.