Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding with Osita Nwanevu

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins talks with Osita Nwanevu, author of The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding, about the history, meaning, and future of American democracy. They discuss the distinction between republicanism and democracy, the compromises and contradictions of the American founding, and why the Constitution should be treated as a political document rather than an untouchable artifact. Nwanevu also examines the undemocratic features of contemporary political institutions, including the Senate, the Electoral College, and the filibuster, as well as the relationship between political and economic democracy. The conversation considers the role of unions and civil society in developing democratic capacities and the challenges facing workers in a changing economy.

Osita Nwanevu is the author of The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding (Random House, 2025). He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, a columnist at The Guardian, the Democratic Institutions fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, and Senior Advisor at the Aspen Institute's Philosophy & Society Initiative.

**This episode was recorded on July 13, 2026**

Show Notes:

• Osita Nwanevu’s Substack

• Osita Nwanevu, “Who Owns the Declaration of Independence?” (The New Republic, 2026)

• Nwanevu, “Care Workers Get a Seat at the Table” (In These Times, 2025)

• Nwanevu, “What Is Political Writing For?” (Columbia Journalism Review, 2021)

• Virtual Sentiments | Laura K. Field on the Making of the MAGA New Right

• Virtual Sentiments | Maria Pia Paganelli on 250 Years of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations

• Virtual Sentiments | Glory Liu on Adam Smith's America

• Liya Palagashvili, “Empowering American Workers” (The Mercatus Center, 2026)

• The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Federal Edition (New York and London, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904-5). Vol. 6.

• An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, edited with an Introduction, Notes, Marginal Summary and an Enlarged Index by Edwin Cannan (London: Methuen, 1904). Vol. 1.

• Gordon Tullock, “The Transitional Gains Trap” (Bell Journal of Economics, 1975)

• Stephen Ansolabehere, John M. de Figueiredo, and James M. Snyder Jr., “Why is There so Little Money in U.S. Politics?” (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2003)

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