Institutions Challenged and Preserved
Originalism, the filibuster, post-liberalism, the family, and more
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Lots of links about institutions this issue: the courts, the Senate, the family, the press, and more.
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Hadley Arkes, Joshua Hammer, Matthew Peterson, and Garrett Snedeker pen a manifesto for The American Mind: “A Better Originalism.”
We propose a new consensus in its place—a bolder, more robust jurisprudence rooted in the principles and practices of American constitutionalism before the last century of liberalism began its attempt to remake America. We are now in the midst of a crisis of a tottering regime, and we call on judges to act accordingly: as statesmen anchored in enduring principles, with skills of prudent judgment, not as technocrats focused entirely on the text, with no attention to the underlying principles that give meaning to that text.
Washington is currently ramping up a war over the filibuster—and the institution of the Senate. Bill Scher says that the Biden White House is torn “between the bipartisan institutionalists and the partisan norm-busters.” Reminder via Politico: One of Biden’s most trusted advisors, Ted Kaufman, co-wrote the foreword to a book-length defense of the filibuster, Defending the Filibuster: The Soul of the Senate.
Charles CW Cooke argues that, in demanding higher levels of buy-in at the federal level, the filibuster reinforces federalism:
Under the American system of government, there is absolutely nothing that blocks populous states such as California and Texas from passing whatever laws they like at the state level. On the contrary: Those states have carte blanche within their borders and meet resistance only when they try to set national rules that affect everyone else. When critics of the filibuster propose that the Senate is “undemocratic” — and when they add that it is made even more so by the filibuster — what they really mean is that the federal system, which requires differing levels of buy-in at different levels of government, ought to be weakened.
Liberalism, Post and Classical….
Alex Kaschuta interviews Patrick Deneen on liberalism and the meaning of freedom.
Flashback to 2020: Phillip Blond’s ResPublica hosts a seminar on the “future of post-liberalism.”
David Corey, Kristen Deede Johnson, Sam Goldman, and William Cavanaugh weigh the merits of “classical liberalism.”
To celebrate the paperback release of The Decadent Society, Ross Douthat thinks about “post-liberal” theory and its possible effects on concrete policy-making.
Ben Woodfinden argues that at the core of conservatism should be the recognition of the social (and embedded) elements of human life:
Conservatism should begin with a recognition of our historical and social situatedness, and it should recognize that abstract talk of things like freedom make no sense in a vacuum. We live in the social world, this is where we learn how to be free and how to live well. It’s where we ultimately find meaning and purpose.
This is perhaps the foundational insight of anglo-conservatism, and while this doesn’t just directly translate into a list of policy proposals, it cannot be ignored. It also isn’t a bad thing to begin with an insight like this that isn’t just a policy prescription. Our policy prescriptions should not be unchanging and dogmatic, they should be flexible and contingent, growing out of first principles to address the challenges of the day.
If we’re conservatives it’s because we’re ultimately trying to conserve something. Alongside our political institutions, preserving and maintaining the health of these social institutions should be the most fundamental goal of serious conservatism. A focus on the social ought not be a mere supplementary component of conservatism. It should be at the core.
Arthur Bloom, Ryan Girdusky, and Curt Mills survey the political landscape of the GOP primaries for some Senate seats.
Michael Brendan Dougherty joins “The Realignment” to discuss populism’s future (a topic of a recent Henry Olsen column, too).
J.D. Vance argues that “it's not compassionate to create a crisis on both sides of our southern border.”
Via Niskanen, a discussion of the way that press coverage can heighten partisan conflict on the Hill.
Axios surveys some possible actions on antitrust and corporate reform in the new Congress.
Rubio backs unionization at an Amazon warehouse.
Jeff Asher reports on the skyrocketing number of murders in 2020.
New kid on the block: Jacob Siegel at Tablet has a new daily newsletter, “The Scroll.” Sign up here.
Speaking of….Siegel and Phil Klay host Geoff Shullenberger to talk Herbert Marcuse and Franz Kafka. #TwoHoursOfFun
Regarding institutions ruined or preserved: Claude Lorrain’s “Capriccio with Ruins of the Roman Forum.”