Consent of the governed

In this episode of 'The Constitution Study' on the America Out Loud Podcast Network, host Paul Engel delivers a passionate critique of the erosion of republican governance in the United States, arguing that the country is increasingly resembling an oligarchy. He examines recent controversies around gerrymandering, particularly in Texas and Virginia, where state redistricting maps have been challenged in courts for racial and political bias. Engel highlights the Supreme Court's 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Calus, which ruled that creating a second majority-Black district violated the Voting Rights Act’s prohibition on racial gerrymandering, while simultaneously upholding Texas’s politically gerrymandered map. He argues that both actions reflect the deep entrenchment of partisan power in electoral processes. Engel also discusses two landmark cases involving civil liberties: the New Jersey attempt to subpoena donor information from a women’s resource center, which the Supreme Court ruled was a First Amendment violation, and the Department of Justice’s failed effort to obtain unredacted voter registration data from Arizona, which was dismissed as an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. He ties these issues to a broader theme: the need for citizens to reclaim constitutional literacy and civic engagement to resist governmental overreach and restore true representative democracy. The episode concludes with a call to action, promoting the 'Patriots Program' as a pathway for serious citizens to become constitutional experts and active defenders of liberty.