They are trying to bind democracy so that we the people cannot address whole swathes of issues that have been important over the course of the 20th century - public health, social security, workplace safety, parental leave - all these things they see as threats. They want a government that is minimal, a government that enforces the rule of law, ensures national defense, and provides for social order. More than that, they find illegitimate.

Historian Nancy MacLean examines the libertarian right's revolutionary plan for America - from an ideological capture of think tanks and the Republican party, to its blueprints for a society stripped of social programs and remaining democratic influence over capital - and explains why we're in the middle of that plan, and how we could see its devastating endgame in a constitutional convention.

Nancy is author of the book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America from Viking Books.