Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah sparked a backlash this week when made an undercurrent of the modern conservative movement and the driving ideology of the Republican Party explicit.

“We’re not a democracy,” Lee tweeted on Oct. 7.

Twitter’s not exactly known for the capacity to have in-depth discussions on political philosophy, but Lee hadn’t even come close to using up his 280 characters. After significant outrage stirred by his first tweet, Lee expanded on the idea the following day with a slightly longer message.

“Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and [prosperity] are,” he wrote. “We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.”Defend democracy. Click to invest in courageous progressive journalism today.

Again, it was a striking sentiment, and it inflamed critics who have accused the Lee and the GOP of systematically trying to disenfranchise constituencies they believe won’t vote for Republicans. But Lee didn’t back down. He went to the conservative outlet the Washington Examiner, which essentially transcribed his own defense of his claims with […]