Saturday, January 22, 2022

Political Seance

We're in an arena of metaphysical law now. 'Federalists' aim and mean to claim access to the immutable truth of our founding documents, the law in its platonic essence, when the whole point is to rely on an educated citizenry, political players of good faith and will, and jurists of clear conscience invested in and committed to the wellbeing of the broadest possible swath of the people of the nation. 

But, in practice, they use the high ground of moral authority to which they have laid claim, depending on an interpretation they assert not to be an interpretation at all but adherence to authority, to do whatever they want. This smells like a scam, originalism corresponding to and occupying the same mental space among them as literalism among the bible-thumpers. They are claiming revelation. 

It affords them the high ground to wreak havoc, and their literalism presents as a smokescreen to obscure the real wrenching originality of their jurisprudence, which is legislating from the bench as an article of faith and tribal submission. The spirit of the law is not just lost. It is trampled and destroyed. They fight against all the things I mention above, education, decency and an unbiased investment.

They don't care. 

They start with authoritarianism as a given and go from there. Authoritarians have to want to win. They believe that strongly in competition, excluding cooperation, but what is the law but a set of standards? Rules. And, I would say, these are not to be interpreted by biased characters, ouija board sleuths or at seances where they supposedly conjure up and commune with the ghosts of the founding fathers. 

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