In Danielle Allen’s op-ed at the Washington Post drawing an analogy between Cicero’s moment in Roman history and this moment this is her key paragraph:
The purpose of stable political institutions and constitutionalism is to concretize habits of calm deliberation and stately decision-making. Our political institutions are meant to temper the heats of factionalism and to counteract passion’s erratic impulses.
For that to be the case, the participants must honor the process more than they desire the product. That’s a tall order, particularly when you recognize that it requires legislators and executive alike to put the interests of the republic ahead of their own personal welfare. In other words, we shouldn’t expect it to happen.
We are coming to the end of eight years of lawless executive behavior graver than any in the post-war period. That’s not a partisan statement. It’s a statement of fact. The Obama Administration has been reversed by unanimous decisions of the Supreme Court more frequently than any presidential administration in nearly 100 years. Should we reasonably expect President Trump and the Republican Congress to honor the process more than the product? I don’t believe it. For one thing you’ve got to understand the process to follow it. Alexander cut the Gordian Knot rather than unravelling it.
Contrary to the belief of many Americans, presidents aren’t supposed to decide domestic policies. That’s the Congress’s job. The president’s job is to faithfully execute the law. Can we reasonably expect the incoming administration to do that?
We might be prudent to consider the sentences of Ms. Allen’s piece most relevant to our predicament:
Cicero’s goal was recovery of the Roman Republic. Our goal should be the achievement of an indivisible America with liberty and justice for all. He failed at his goal. We may still hope to succeed at ours.
That’s a noble aspiration. Do you believe we will succeed?
Cicero believed that the passions should be subordinated to reason.
Sentence first, trial later. How’s about we give Trump a week in office before we shoot him?
I’m as concerned about the Congress as I am about the president if not more so. We’ve had 50 years of Congress’s abrogating its authority and allowing the executive branch to assume it.
Am I worrying too soon?
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own”
Matthew 6:34
It’s a very big problem when the people of a nation founded on an idea stop believing in that idea. The problem is not government per se, the problem is voters. Voters get the government they deserve. 46% of them voted to defile the White House and make us ridiculous as a nation. How do you defend the country from Americans?
… How do you defend the country from Americans?
Hold your breath, pout, stomp your feet, call everybody racist, misogynist, homophobe, poopie-head, meanie, etc., or not let the door hit you in the a$$ as you move to New Zealand.
I only call racists, racists. I will continue to do so. So spare me the alt-right tough guy, ‘now-I-get-to-say-nigger’ act. Not impressed. It’s weak, cowardly, self-pitying and embarrassing in a grown man.
By the way, it looks like the man-baby is going to be giving me a tax cut in the low six figures between personal and corporate. Let me know when I can trickle down on you.
Not sure you have a good metric. Looks like a lot of these were cases of prosecutions being overturned. Seems unlikely that Obama was making the decision on each of those cases, and it could also be that people were just more willing to challenge. I mean, if you knew that Scalia was the intellectual leader, and Obama was very unpopular on the right, why not challenge? Seems to me that if you are going to call behavior lawless, it should actually be lawless. Rejecting the decisions of the courts would be lawless. Losing in court? Meh. (Add in the absolute numbers for effect. Obama had 44, his predecessors 30. Losing 2 more cases a year is lawless?) From my POV I think it is probably a good sign, and a sign that our legal system can work (sometimes) that people are willing and able to challenge government rulings, and that they are able to win.
Steve
Steve
All around it’s depressing. One major reason I don’t join either political party is because of the trend in partisanship to place ends above means. In that situation it’s inevitable that the institutions that make our democratic system possible will be eroded. Increasingly I don’t see a way back. With Trump’s election everything is trending worse, only with roles reversed. It’s truly sad how principle is only convenient when it’s convenient.
Michael’s right in one sense: Voters get what they deserve, but it’s not limited to Trump or his supporter – it’s political factionalism devouring the core of our democracy.
On the other hand,
“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”
David Hume
I’m not a Humian. He’s even more pessimistic than I am.
During Obama’ initial transition into the presidency he was given the benefit of the doubt, even though there were genuine fears regarding how he would govern too. For example, McConnell’s negative remarks came along 2 years into Obama’s presidency, not 2 weeks before his inauguration.
The current embittered comments, mud slinging is, IMO, doing nothing more than displaying hollow venting by those immersed in a loser mentality.
As for speculating what the incoming administration will do….I think they will take their lead from the Dems proceeding them. There will be lots of EOs. They will exercise, and possibly broaden the nuclear option to speedily advance their nominations – perhaps even the SCOTUS pick. Why not, as with each Dem administration the ante of power plays always seems to be upped. And, unlike Obama’s predecessor, GWB, they will have to cope with echoes of Obama nagging and criticizing every move they make or don’t make.
This time really is different.
Boo-hoo. Cry in your Wheaties or whatever, but if you want to meet a few real racists, come on down. Now, I ain’t stickin’ around while you try to school them on the error of their ways, and I doubt that the local law enforcement are going to be much help. (More than likely, they will be the same.) I would recommend an extra pair of underwear because real racists are scary mother f*ckers, and they hate race traitors more than minorities and various religions.
I will let you in on a little secret. Even the soft core racists do not think a white person should be scrubbing toilets or scraping gum off of floors. It is menial work, and it makes the race look bad.It is kinda hard being the master race when you are scrubbing the sub-human race’s shit. I would suggest that you spend a little time learning about racists.
What racists really desire are to be able to afford a house with no minorities around except to do the menial tasks. They really want a job where the only minorities are doing menial tasks or the dirty work. If racists could afford it, they would live in gated communities and cul-de-sacs, and they would keep the designer sheets on the bed instead of their head.
As to your tax reduction, there is no law that you cannot give it back. I will never see any of it one way or another. You and your progressive buddies are under some misconception that the worse off a person is, they are somehow better off with the rich paying higher taxes.
NEWSFLASH: Life at the bottom sucks, and you and your progressive buddies ain’t lettin’ anybody get any scraps from your overflowing table. If a minority person were so stupid as to take a stroll through one of your neighborhoods, they would be pissing blood for a week.
The ghettos, slums, and projects made possible by tax dollars are really not quite the pleasure palaces you seem to think they are. Just because your political enemies talk bad about them does not make them good. I realize that this is a difficult concept for you to grasp, but you can take a trip to Oakland to test out my thesis if you like.
If you want to do something, I would confiscate all your wealth over some fixed number indexed to inflation. The number might be $10 million, and I would confiscate 90% of what you leave to your children. You could make as much as you wanted, and you could spend as much as you like. If your assets went over $10 million, the government would take something.
As opposed to your political enemies who want to fight you over your proposals, I not only embrace them, but I also extend them. The $10 million might even be too high.
And, you can forget about taking it with you to New Zealand. US Dollars stay in the US.
As to racial epithets, i will leave that to you and your progressive buddies. I have seen how you all act when you are confronted with minorities and you are the minority. It is rather telling that somehow progressives cannot find MLK Boulevard, and when they move into black neighborhoods, they begin moving their black neighbors out.
Somehow, progressives always end up in the exact same places as the racists. That sure is mighty strange. To anybody else, it would be more than a coincidence, but to progressives, it is just bad luck.
As to the alt-right, I have no idea of who or what they are, but I suspect that they have as much knowledge of what it takes to be a good racist as you. If it is any comfort, they would probably get dragged behind the truck first. (That is not an idle statement. There are places where Deputy Asswipe or Sheriff Shithead has the exact same beliefs as the church shooter Dylan Fucktard, and they are going to investigate what you did to get yourself dragged behind the good ol’ boys truck.)
My guess is that the alt-right is powerless, and their ability to affect anybody’s life is limited at best. If they ever get that power, I suspect that they would have more to lose by being racists, but hard or soft core racist do tend to do things most would consider irrational.
Anyway, call anybody anything you like. It is worthless. Nobody cares but your progressive buddies. You all are a joke. Another little tidbit: I know you all find it hard to believe, but black people can actually do things without the great white saviours. I have seen a real live black person tie his shoes without any help from a white man or woman. Not a single progressive helped him. I wish I had a video camera to prove it to you all, but I guess you will have to just take the word of a deplorable.
If black people were able to become socially and economically equal to everybody else, progressives’ self-esteem would plummet. No white person is ever going to do anything for a black person that will be disadvantageous for that white person, his/her family, or friends.
“There will be lots of EOs. They will exercise, and possibly broaden the nuclear option to speedily advance their nominations – perhaps even the SCOTUS pick. ”
So do the Dems counter and try to break the record the GOP set on the number of filibusters? Do they try to hold up a SCOTUS nomination for 10 months like the GOP did?
Steve