The Roots of Our Partisan Divide

The Roots of Our Partisan Divide

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/roots-partisan-divide/

Excerpt: First, it has a moral element, almost a metaphysical element, that is usually more typical of theocracies than of secular republics. As we’ve discussed, civil rights law gave bureaucrats and judges emergency powers to override the normal constitutional order, bypassing democracy. But the key question is: Under what conditions is the government authorized to activate these emergency powers? It is a question that has been much studied by political thinkers in Europe. Usually when European governments of the past bypassed their constitutions by declaring emergencies, it was on the grounds of a military threat or a threat to public order. But in America, as our way of governing has evolved since 1964, emergencies are declared on a moral basis: people are suffering; their newly discovered rights are being denied. America can’t wait anymore for the ordinary democratic process to take its course. A moral ground for invoking emergencies sounds more humane than a military one. It is not. That is because, in order to justify its special powers, the government must create a class of officially designated malefactors. With the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the justification of this strong medicine was that there was a collection of Southern politicians who were so wily and devious, and a collection of Southern sheriffs so ruthless and depraved, that one could not, and was not morally obliged to, fight fair with them. That pattern has perpetuated itself, even as the focus of civil rights has moved to American institutions less obviously objectionable than segregation. [This is an absolutely brilliant essay that actually succeeds in identifying the source of our current partisan divide. If I’d thought about this for 50 years I wouldn’t have seen this simple–to the point of being sel-evident–truth. Imprimis is a ten-times-yearly publication of Hillsdale College. It is available by FREE subscription. I’ve been receiving it by mail since the early 1980s, but I’m sure most people would want it via the internet–which means you’ll have it a few weeks before I get it. I added emphasis. Ron P.]