Political Processes & Rhetoric – Page 62 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

“Playing Offense from the Center” Urged as a Step to Increase Civility in Governing

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:June 11, 2012
Post category:Marquette Law School Negotiation Political Processes & Rhetoric Public Speakers at Marquette

Keynoting the annual Restorative Justice Conference at Marquette University Law School on Friday, news commentator and author John Avlon called for those who want to see more civility and cooperation in government bodies to assert themselves.

“You have to play offense from the center,” said Avlon, a columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast and a frequent commentator on CNN. “Part of the problem with moderates is that they’re moderate.”

Avlon told a capacity audience in the Appellate Courtroom in Eckstein Hall that there is more that unites Americans than divides them, but some act like the opposite is true. He said people in both the Republican and Democratic parties need to take stronger stands against those who oppose working with people of differing views in reaching solutions to problems facing the nation.

“Principled compromise is the basis for a functioning democracy,” he said.

Avlon’s remarks were part of the day-long conference, “Restoring Faith in Government: Encouraging Civil Public Discourse,” which included discussions about the state of political campaign advertising, media coverage of politics and policy, and what, if anything, can be done about frequent expression of political hostility in comments on the Internet.

Wisconsin Recall Post-Mortem: Implications for Labor

Post author:Paul M. Secunda
Post published:June 6, 2012
Post category:Labor & Employment Law Political Processes & Rhetoric Public

Cross posted at Workplace Prof Blog.

As one of the few labor law professors here in the State of Wisconsin, and as a close election watcher, I think it is incumbent upon me to give my two cents on the meaning of the Walker recall election for the labor movement in Wisconsin and in the United States.

Although Governor Walker survived the recall with a 53%-46% margin, there are a number of points I wish to emphasize:

1) First and foremost, the Citizens United decision played a huge role. Walker raised some $31 million for the recall (much from out-of-state billionaires like the Koch Brothers) while Barrett raised only $4 million. Given the 8-1 disparity in spending, perhaps it is surprising that there was a not a bigger win for Walker. Also, these numbers belie the sometime allegation of conservatives that unions are raking in huge sums of cash through union dues. Citizens United primarily favors large corporate donors, plain and simple.

Tearing Down Fences

Post author:Edward A. Fallone
Post published:June 1, 2012
Post category:Election Law Legal History Political Processes & Rhetoric Public Wisconsin Law & Legal System

G.K. Chesterton, the English essayist and Catholic thinker, said the following:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.”

To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”

This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street. Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease. But the truth is that nobody has any business to destroy a social institution until he has really seen it as an historical institution. If he knows how it arose, and what purposes it was supposed to serve, he may really be able to say that they were bad purposes, or that they have since become bad purposes, or that they are purposes which are no longer served. But if he simply stares at the thing as a senseless monstrosity that has somehow sprung up in his path, it is he and not the traditionalist who is suffering from an illusion.

G.K. Chesterton, “The Drift From Domesticity,” in THE THING (1929).

It is long past time to stop tearing down fences in Wisconsin.