Our democracy is an evolving machine. The machine was built by a small group of people who were all men and looked the same. Over time the strength of American society is that it has grown and become more diverse and become very different. Our democracy has in an inefficient, episodic way been able to adjust and been able to at least account for some of that. But it hasn't done that in about a generation, and it's long time we do that.Jeremi SuriBecome a Patron!Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox.Order Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy by Jeremi SuriA full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com.Jeremi Suri is the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He cohosts the podcast This is Democracy with his son Zachary. His latest book is Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy.Key HighlightsIntroduction - 0:50Reconstruction and American Democracy - 3:21Contradictions in American Reconstruction - 15:25How Reconstruction Era Issues Shape Democracy Today - 23:25Democracy and Political Reform - 32:18Key LinksThis is Democracy a podcast from Jeremi and Zachary SuriFollow Jeremi Suri on Twitter @JeremiSuriDemocracy Paradox PodcastLynn Vavreck on the 2020 Election and the Challenge to American DemocracyCan America Preserve Democracy without Retreating from it? Robert C. Lieberman on the Four ThreatsMore Episodes from the PodcastMore InformationDemocracy GroupApes of the State created all MusicEmail the show at jkempf@democracyparadox.comFollow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast100 Books on DemocracyDemocracy Paradox is part of the Amazon Affiliates Program and earns commissions on items purchased from links to the Amazon website. All links are to recommended books discussed in the podcast or referenced in the blog.Support the show