"Tracing the ways in which Congress has changed and adapted over two centuries to remain close and responsive to the people, the author addresses the question of whether some form of direct democracy will supplant representative, deliberative government in the United States.

He sets the stage by covering key moments in our democratic history, from the constitutional convention and debate over the Bill of Rights, through debates over slavery petitions and war referendums in the First and Second World Wars - serious questions of democratic process that arose at critical moments in U.S. history."--BOOK JACKET.