Can democracy ever be sweet again?
A.J. Jacobs has a knack for mixing humor with history and deep insights about America, and he does it with an enthusiasm and optimism that’s infectious. His latest subject is the US Constitution in his new book is The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning.
As our latest guest, he shared stories from the year he spent trying to better understand the Constitution and the idea of originalism by living like he was in the founders’ time and exercising his rights as they were understood in 1789—from wearing a tricorn hat and carrying a musket around Manhattan to voluntarily quartering a soldier. And trying out the not-yet cruel and unusual punishment of being locked in a pillory.
Listen now:
A lot of things in the 18th century were worse. The uncomfortable clothing, the availability of clean water, the lack of air conditioning. The smell. But one thing Jacobs was happy to bring back is the idea that elections were once celebrated, saying “One of the aspects of the 18th century that I loved was for those privileged enough to vote, which I realize is a constrained part of society, but for those who were, it was this amazing, exciting new right that they could choose.
“Elections were not an annoying chore,” Jacobs said. “They were a festival. There was music, parades, there was lots of rum, rum punch, and there were cakes. Election cakes. So as part of this project, I revived the election cake and I got hundreds of people across the country to bake election cakes and bring them to their polls to celebrate democracy and remind ourselves: democracy is sweet.”
Jacobs is still all in on election cakes for the upcoming election. If you’re interested in joining the cake coalition, or learning more about this bestselling author and human guinea pig, check out his Substack, website, and The Election Cake Project Facebook group.
And if you’d like to read more about Jacobs’ Constitutional year, along with fascinating insights about the history of the Constitution from its drafting through today, check out The Year of Living Constitutionally, available now.
