A series of short musings
Executive privilege
The Bush administration recently announced that Congress has no power to force a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges in the prosecutor firings cases, since the president has declared that testimony or documents related to that are protected from release by executive privilege. A person in the Bush administration was quoted saying, "It has long been understood that, in circumstances like these, the constitutional prerogatives of the president would make it a futile and purely political act for Congress to refer contempt citations to U.S. attorneys."
I disagree.
To me, this is a pretty broad interpretation of executive privilege, one that can easily be abused now and in the future. Plus, I am not sure that the "constitutional prerogatives of the president" include ducking investigation into what could be a pretty legitimate, and serious, case. I'm pretty sure the "prerogative" given to the president in the Constituion does not include anything, in word or spirit, along the lines of "you (and your undefined privilege) trump all."
In fact, and here's where this seminar comes into play, John Locke argues that it is the legislative that dominates and all others are subordinate to it. The PEOPLE can change, alter or abolish the legislative, but as long as government exists, it remains the dominant force. Given that much of our foundation comes from Mr. Locke, this is something worth considering.
The Anti-Federalists believed that power needed to be blocked up because, if it was not, it would flow, like water, wherever it wanted until it met an impediment. They were talking about this more in the context of the need for a bill of rights, but, again, I think it is a thought worth considering.
Not in my name
I have taught the very basic philosophy of Thomas Hobbes to my students for as long as I have been teaching, but I have never had a very solid understanding of his theories. The basic gist is that Hobbes believed that without government, life would be every man against every man. And not only that it would, but that we would have a right to whatever we needed (need being defined only by the individual) and to get it by any means necessary. Since this is no way to live, Hobbes argued that men would agree to give up some of their powers (NOT their rights) to live in a community where there was more guarantee of peace and stability - the formation of a social contract. And even though he believes man to be a nasty, brutish creature, Hobbes is truly committed to peace and a better life. Hence the social compact mentioned above.
In laying out the foundation of this social compact, Hobbes talks of the people as authors of the community's Laws (based on fundamental rights) and the government as actors of those intentions. Therefore, following Hobbes' argument, whatever the government does is done in the name of the people. It is then the government's responsibility to re-present the people accurately.
I don't even have commentary for this. Just let it sit with you for awhile.
The BIG question
What does it mean to live well with other people in a society?
My professor posed this as the big question all political theorists grapple with and he suggested that, as a society, it is the one we should be grappling with as well. Think about how the world might be different if this was the fundamental idea around which our education system was based. I know we say we exist to teach students how to be a part of the community, but do we really explore what that means in any depth? I don't think so, although I don't fault teachers and schools for that really. There is only so much you can do, really, when trying to get the test scores up, meet the standards, make them college/job ready, etc, etc, ad nauseum. I'm not sure how much I can do with this in my own classroom, but I know that, at the very least, this will be the big question I have in my room from day one and I will try, as much as I can to refer back to it. Because, for me, when it comes right down to it, this is the most important knowledge my students can gain.
Wrap-up
We are well past the midway point of this seminar and I cannot even express in words how much I have learned. Not only about the material, but about myself - as a colleague, a friend, a learner, etc. This is truly an experience I will never forget. That being said, I am ready for next week to be done. I am ready to be done reading academic texts for a minute and, more than that, I am ready to be home.
Happy Friday, everyone!
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