progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital
Surprise, surprise, the NRO hacks are against congressional representation for the District. Talk about legal opinions that write themselves.
While there is more diversity in opposition at this Volokh Conspiracy thread, it’s clear that they don’t like the idea. Plus, they seem to think that if residents of the District don’t like it, they can move. Ignoring the fact that moving is a very disrupting life experience, particularly if you’ve lived here all your life, I think it’s odd that someone would say that if you want to participate in society you need to leave your community.
Below the Beltway exhibits what I’ll call business casual partisanship as opposed to naked partisanship: “Davis, the Democrats, and the District are all ignoring the Constitution and trying to use this legislation as a means to circumvent the Amendment process, where they know they could not succeed.”
BtB is probably right that an Amendment along the lines of the current bill wouldn’t succeed. Turning DC into a state isn’t going to happen either. Retrocession is unpopular with Maryland, so that’s off the table. In fact, nothing will work. It’s not in the cards. It’s the fait of the nation’s capital to lack representation in government.
Now, I tend to believe that last thing I said doesn’t make any sense. So I’m going to take a stand that may sound controversial. I really don’t care if the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. It’s probably as reasonable a solution as we can come up with. I’m proposing that we just look the other direction.
Allow me to explain. Ever so often there’s an episode of Law and Order where the Sam Waterston character has the evidence to put somebody away, but there’s some extenuating circumstance, like the guy’s going to die in six months, or he didn’t know the gun was loaded, or the person who was killed was a jerk. So he chooses not to persecute. Nobody, and I even include the NRO hacks when I say this, screams at the tv set: “But he broke the law. He must be punished.” No. Everyone shrugs their shoulders, and says: “Whatcha gonna do. Sometimes life is messy.”
Or, to put it slightly differently, I think there are degrees of constitutionality and unconstitutionality. For instance, I thought the Dread Scott decision was very unconstitutional. Even though we thought it was constitutional at the time. If there was a law requiring someone to recite the first 10 amendments to the Constitution before being allowed to vote, or the 10 Commandments if you live in Alabama, that would also be unconstitutional. But only a little bit.
I’m just saying that the merit of voter representation outweights the degree to which the Voting Rights Act may or may not be constitutional. Sometimes the disease really is worse than the cure.
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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.
95. Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum (I think that I think, therefore I think that I am.)
— Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
You can try Counter Culture coffees at: - Baked and Wired, 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, 202-333-2500; www.bakedandwired.com [Link]
In sum, we concluded that the evidence showed that Goodling violated both federal law and Department policy, and therefore committed misconduct... [Link]
The best way to make sense of this legal tangle is to mouse over the title of an individual scandal, which will highlight everyone implicated. [Link]
A 22-year-old bicyclist was struck by a garbage truck and killed just north of Dupont Circle today, authorities said. Police and fire vehicles converged on the scene at 20th and R streets NW, snarling Connecticut Avenue traffic during the morning rush. [Link]
We're asking you to put some of the money you plan to give Obama "in escrow" until he demonstrates progressive leadership on the issues we care about, like warrantless wiretapping. [Link]
The report notes that the administration has gone to “unprecedented lengths to control and suppress information about the human cost” of the wars. [Link]
"We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes," Hansen said during his appearance at the National Press Club. "The Arctic is the first tipping point and it's occurring exactly the way we said it would." [Link]
It appeared to confirm for the first time in an official examination many of the allegations from critics who charged that the Justice Department had become overly politicized during the Bush administration. [Link]
"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be ans [Link]
It gives me a terrible mental image of the whole country linking arms and goose-stepping in unison, with the politicians out in front doing a straight-armed salute. [Link]
BOULTON: There are those who would say look, lets take Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib, and rendition and all those things and to them that is the complete opposite of freedom. BUSH: Of course, if you want to slander America. [Link]
In a subsequent e-mail to the employee, Cargol described himself as “a rub-your-belly, grab-your-balls, give-you-a-hug, slap-your-back, pull-your-dick, squeeze-your-hand, cheek-your-face, and pat-your-thigh kind of guy.” [Link]
Democracy Now! Radio and TV News [Link]
Let's take a look at how the Los Angeles Times covered the new Senate Intelligence Committee report on the claims made as part of selling the Iraq war, and compare it to how the editorial page of the Washington Post, by which I mean Fred Hiatt, sees the e [Link]
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" an [Link]
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April 24th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Thanks for the link. Interesting argument.
You’ll find my response here.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:27 am
I’ve tried replying at the BtB site, but to no avail. There’s a thingy that keeps people who spell “fate” as “fait” from posting.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:39 am
There shouldn’t be any problem with commenting. I do have moderation turned on for people who haven’t commented before, but other than that you should be fine.