I think Bassin and Newland are living in some weird alternative universe where the Department of Justice behaves like some abstract Rawlsian entity, which it hasn't done in our lifetimes (here I know you know more than I do in this respect) and I think not before our lifetimes either. I'm sure there are people *at* Justice who think that way, but that is not the way that the DOJ functions writ large--questions of "national" (and more specific) interest have strongly shaped its actions continuously in the post-1945 era. But also this just seems another turn of the unbelievably flawed wheel of centrist liberalism's thinking about institutions, constitutions and procedures--that idea that they are some kind of apparatus or pre-computational algorithm that will take care of business objectively and independently of political will should be a completely laughable assertion at this point. Constitutions and laws and procedures and rules don't do anything if there isn't a will to use them--and the will to use them involves both conceptions of "national" or "social" interest and frankly some vision of political struggle and how to win it.
Good article: I appreciate it because I would not have read this in CA - interested in NY governor race and the Pennsylvania governor’s race; sure, politics are local but our fates are intertwined with every state
You bet they are, Nancy--I am working on providing more local coverage, so if there is a story I need to dig into in California, send it to me! I love doing the research.
I think Bassin and Newland are living in some weird alternative universe where the Department of Justice behaves like some abstract Rawlsian entity, which it hasn't done in our lifetimes (here I know you know more than I do in this respect) and I think not before our lifetimes either. I'm sure there are people *at* Justice who think that way, but that is not the way that the DOJ functions writ large--questions of "national" (and more specific) interest have strongly shaped its actions continuously in the post-1945 era. But also this just seems another turn of the unbelievably flawed wheel of centrist liberalism's thinking about institutions, constitutions and procedures--that idea that they are some kind of apparatus or pre-computational algorithm that will take care of business objectively and independently of political will should be a completely laughable assertion at this point. Constitutions and laws and procedures and rules don't do anything if there isn't a will to use them--and the will to use them involves both conceptions of "national" or "social" interest and frankly some vision of political struggle and how to win it.
Good article: I appreciate it because I would not have read this in CA - interested in NY governor race and the Pennsylvania governor’s race; sure, politics are local but our fates are intertwined with every state
You bet they are, Nancy--I am working on providing more local coverage, so if there is a story I need to dig into in California, send it to me! I love doing the research.
I will do that