LILY RESLINK
Staff Writer
In looking at the U.S. from its founding to today, Melody Barnes, founding executive director of the University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, sees “popular sovereignty to the rule of law” as things that absolutely must work together.
At 10:45 a.m. today in the Amphitheater, Barnes will deliver a lecture tracing moments in U.S. history that emphasize the relationship between self-government and the rule of law.
Barnes said “self-government” and “consent of the governed” are at the heart of U.S. values. At the same time, she said she sees “the rule of law” as misconceived or unconsidered in conversations of liberty or freedom.
“It’s necessary to freedom. It’s necessary to liberty. It’s necessary to the nuts and bolts of the way that we live our life,” Barnes said.
Barnes said she intends for her lecture to ignite thoughts about citizens’ civic responsibility on all the days between elections.
“The despotism and the tyranny that we were fighting against 250 years ago can manifest in lots of different forms, and even through democracy, if, in fact, we don’t adhere to the rule of law as a way to channel power and to make manifest the authority that comes through our elections and through self-government,” she said.
Barnes has held roles including assistant to the president and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council during former President Barack Obama’s administration.
In 2024, Barnes was an inaugural recipient of the Chautauqua Perry Fellowship in Democracy, and she delivered a morning lecture during the same season.
Barnes described how her interest in political and social issues began young. Born during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Barnes said formative experiences for her include witnessing critical moments in American democracy and fluctuating trust in the government — things she said she has “thought about and examined and reflected on” as both a citizen and a public servant.
