The United States of Extremism
Bruce Ackerman, professor of American constitutional law at Yale Law School and author of the Decline and Fall of the American Republic, walks Newsweek through some of the structural quirks of the election process that could make the Oval Office ground zero for and American dictator.

--What American institutions leave the country vulnerable to an extremist individual taking over?--
There are two constitutional structures - the primary system and the politicization of the legal arbiters of executive power - that have both evolved between teh Nixon era and today that makes an extremist president more likely. From 1832, when the first party conventions really get off the ground, through 1968 there was a strong tendency for party bosses in both parties to dominate the selection of candidates. After 1972, we have a new system where primaries dominate. Some voters vote for the person who has the best chance in November. But others come to the polls to make a statement. So we have a structure that permits - but does not require - two extremists, relative to the population. We've been pretty lucky not to have had extremists make it to the presidency. But this structure endures, and now we have had canddiates such as Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders who appeal to the right and left wing activists of their respective parties.