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Saturday, November 16, 2019

Barr: ". . . so-called progressives treat politics as their religion . . Conservatives . . . are interested in preserving. . . the proper balance of freedom and order "

The title quote comes from the US Department of Justice website!  It's from a speech Attorney General William Barr delivered last night at the Federalist Society's 2019 National Lawyers Convention.  Here are three full paragraphs from that speech:

"In any age, the so-called progressives treat politics as their religion.  Their holy mission is to use the coercive power of the State to remake man and society in their own image, according to an abstract ideal of perfection.  Whatever means they use are therefore justified because, by definition, they are a virtuous people pursing a deific end.  They are willing to use any means necessary to gain momentary advantage in achieving their end, regardless of collateral consequences and the systemic implications.  They never ask whether the actions they take could be justified as a general rule of conduct, equally applicable to all sides. 
Conservatives, on the other hand, do not seek an earthly paradise.  We are interested in preserving over the long run the proper balance of freedom and order necessary for healthy development of natural civil society and individual human flourishing.  This means that we naturally test the propriety and wisdom of action under a “rule of law” standard.  The essence of this standard is to ask what the overall impact on society over the long run if the action we are taking, or principle we are applying, in a given circumstance was universalized – that is, would it be good for society over the long haul if this was done in all like circumstances?
For these reasons, conservatives tend to have more scruple over their political tactics and rarely feel that the ends justify the means.  And this is as it should be, but there is no getting around the fact that this puts conservatives at a disadvantage when facing progressive holy far, especially when doing so under the weight of a hyper-partisan media."

You notice how he's arguing that the liberals (I guess the Republicans now vilify 'progressives' as the Left has begun using that term to avoid the taint of the Republicans campaign to make 'liberal' into a dirty word) want to be God - 'holy mission;'  'remake man and society in their own image;'  'deific end.'  

The people I know who see themselves as progressives are interested in making the United States live up to the spirit of the Constitution, whose letter including slavery and other problematic realities.  They believe in justice, equality before the law, freedom, etc.  I'm not sure what Barr is thinking about when he says progressives want to remake man and perfect him.  (I personally would use human instead of man, but for this I'm using his words.)  Does he mean freeing slaves?  Ending segregation? Giving women the right to vote?  And recognizing that all humans, regardless of color, religion, gender, ability, etc. have equal rights under the law?  After all, Republicans have been working hard to 'perfect' humans by passing laws to prevent abortion and other practices they don't like.  

But I didn't post this to argue these points.  I think they are so ludicrous they don't need anyone to point out the problems.  But obviously if an educated man like Barr believes what he's written here, others do too.  So I did a little critique.  I could go on if anyone who sees this doesn't understand what I object to.

My purpose here is to point out the blatantly partisan tripe that Barr has posted on the Department of Justice website.  The attorney general of the US is supposed to enforce the law without bias.  But this speech raises great doubt whether he can actually do that.  I can't help but believe that under his idea of justice, progressives would be given less benefit of the doubt than would conservatives.  Because, he believes they are simply wrong.

Part of me thinks the whole attempt to suppress the actual beliefs of academics and journalists and judges in an effort to make them 'neutral' is a misguided cause.  It's better to know what they believe so we can judge whether they are able to act neutrally when they do research, report news, or pass judgment.   But the ability to put aside one's personal loyalties in one's professional capacity is not something everyone (many?) can do.  

But Barr's behavior regarding Trump suggests strongly that he can't do that - from the misleading summary of the Mueller Report to his defense of Trump over the Constitution and the people of the United States - suggests he can't.  And his comments in this speech are so ideological and so off the mark in both his characterization of liberals and conservatives as to raise question about his abilities to interpret the world.  Or his honesty.  

I should thank two Tweeters for point this out:  Shalev Roisman and Justin Levitt who I follow because he's an expert on voting and redistricting.

My natural instinct was to take a screenshot before they take his speech down.  But in this administration there is no shame.  And they probably see nothing wrong with this speech.  And they really don't care what the liberals think anyway.  They've got the US governments websites to plaster their ideology.  But I did take a screenshot (and of course they can be doctored too, but the forensics team will be able to see that this shot wasn't doctored - but that question should always be in your mind.



And I need to mention Anchorage got its first snow today.  We haven't even had traces.  But we got a good white cleansing today.



2 comments:

  1. Thanks for highlighting this. Barr's words here have long been a weapon to fight change: this fear of (un)intended consequences. I can agree with Mr Barr that I too fear some ideas in modern progressive thought, in its unblinking conviction it is good for all. However, as someone who knows & has felt the effects of Mr Barr’s stated conservative objectives, I fear his kind of ‘ordered liberty’ more than the triumph of ‘progressive ends’.

    He knows he represents the laws his department is organised to protect, yet he then talks of liberty as something conservative values best protect. He speaks of order as a proper complement to liberty. He decries progressive demands for change if it doesn't meet his test for a rightly ordered state. My problem with this position is that order & liberty are not the only qualities a good state must possess – that our more perfect union must also create a ‘level playing field’ for all its citizens.

    Progressive & conservative thought propose different solutions to this and it’s not Barr’s description of ‘being as gods’ that fired my activism and grew my progressive belief -- it was fighting for Alaska wilderness & LGBT equality. I’m not alone in fighting these battles for progress. After all, it wasn't being enemies of profit that birthed labour movements, it was working people forced to poverty. It most certainly wasn’t men ‘acting as gods’ that called men to object to armed military service: It was faithful witness not to kill.

    When Barr speaks of 'ordered liberty' as a good for nations, I can see both its merit and our need to find something better. I became progressive from necessity as I saw the culture & law I had been born to rejecting me and too many of my friends. Many conservatives found that same offer good for them -- the result being each side found grounds for its convictions.

    In the end, Mr Barr & I both replied to the world as we found it. We join battle in that difference.



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  2. Ordered liberty for nations? Turkey just launched a full assault on Kurds in Syria for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Brought to you by the moron in the kremlin annex that used to be known as the White House.

    Wingnuts pretty much spit on the constitution to pack the life time judicial seats with less than stellar, right wing ideologues. Why? According to Moscow Mitch, he wants the courts to legislate from the bench if and when Dems get control of the WH and all of Congress.

    On a lighter note, the embarrassingly red state of South Dakota broke with drumpf's falsehoods by unveiling their latest state slogan (and they actually paid money for this)

    https://i2.wp.com/dakotafreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Screen-Shot-2019-11-18-at-12.37.27.jpg

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