Hmmm.....I've always agreed with the view that political arguments naturally turn to larger principles, and that's good even if the "real" motive is self-interest; having to express oneself in larger principles produces better arguments, better politics.
It's not that it removes self-interest from politics entirely - nor should it. But it means that politics isn't only self-interest. If you can't come up with a plausible argument, then that will tend to hurt your cause. Not destroy, of course, but tend to hurt.
It's healthier for everyone, the argument goes, if when we step into the public sphere we have to at least pretend that we are arguing the public good. It's a healthy hypocrisy, helping us achieve the benefits of mutual negotiation and engagement.
In part because we wind up believing the lofty principles that we use to argue for what is "really" just self-interest. Not that self-interest is bad, but having to argue this way is how self-interest and the general good can coincide in democratic decision-making.
But alas the problem shown in the statehood and several other current debates is that the Republican side is so weak in democratic terms that the larger principles they wind up reaching for are anti-democratic principles, and so...
...the natural and normally healthy transition in politics from arguing self-interest to arguing general principles winds up with Republicans talking themselves into opposing democracy.

This is what's known as a Very Bad Thing. And I have no solution for it.

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More from @jbview

31 Jan
The very worst thing about this is that as far as I can tell the demand for more than WS/LCS has always been small - and the current round(s) of postseason expansion are only viable because of TV market oddities involving the network sports channels and, soon, streamers.
Just saying...if it was just that people really wanted 3 or 4 or 5 tiers of playoffs, and I didn't? I couldn't blame MLB for exploiting that. Tough luck for me, but such is life. But that's not what's going on!
If Fox wants another round so they can use it to leverage FS2 onto a few more systems? That's money MLB should leave on the table because it's risking the long-term product for a quick payday.
Read 4 tweets
7 Jan
ER I called for immediate impeachment and removal. (Plus @dandrezner @kdtenpas @TimOBrien @marcambinder etc.) bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

But just to add to that a bit...
I think this is a rare situation in which impeachment even knowing removal is unlikely/impossible would still be appropriate.

I've argued in the past that partisan impeachments have a number of drawbacks. But in this situation, most of those drawbacks would be null or limited.
e.g. impeachment has public opinion problems because instead of priming on an improper act, it focuses on removing the president - and normally that tends to push people who voted for the president to rally to him. But with no election coming, that's not so important. Meanwhile
Read 8 tweets
10 Nov 20
Excellent thread and good description, but I have some conceptual issues.
If Republican politicians are following incentives to be on party-aligned TV and other party-aligned media; to raise money from party donors; and to win primaries - that's a story about a *strong* party, with politicians in service, we might say, to Hannity and donors.
It is also, alas, a highly dysfunctional party because it doesn't place winning elections and governing as top priorities. But that doesn't mean it's weak.
Read 6 tweets
3 Jun 20
Read the whole thread, but this is the key: Trump doesn't know how to get exec branch personnel to do what he wants. He's bad at what Neustadt called "persuasion." And it builds on itself - he's easily rolled, which creates the reputation that he's easily rolled. More...
Truman was wrong about Ike; Ike knew better than to just say "Do this! Do that!" and expect anything to happen, because he knew very well how political and bureaucratic authority worked. Trump is the one who really thinks that it works by saying "Do this! Do that!" It doesn't.
So for one thing: Like Nixon when he failed at persuasion, Trump tries to get around it by, in effect, cheating against the system (and therefore against the law and the constitution). Which is very dangerous to the system, and also dangerous to Trump.
Read 5 tweets
22 Sep 19
218 to call the current formal impeachment inquiry an even more formal impeachment inquiry? Yeah, but what's the point?

218 to approve articles? Maybe. But if all they have is 218, it gets maybe 45 in the Senate. And then what?
I do think it's correct that moving ahead with impeachment would make impeachment more popular with people who don't like Trump but currently oppose impeachment.
But there's no reason to believe impeachment per se will make Trump less popular. Didn't work in 1998-1999. Didn't work in 1974.
Read 9 tweets
25 May 19
This is a serious question about future presidents and deserves some thought. @YAppelbaum @fordm

Assume we're talking about a party-line vote (plus Amash) in the House, followed by a straight party vote or worse in the Senate. That's what it looks like now. (1/ )
@YAppelbaum @fordm Could hearings and investigation change that? Perhaps! But irrelevant, since those should happen with or without an impeachment context.* I think it's unlikely that the actual drafting and debate over articles of impeachment would change minds.
@YAppelbaum @fordm *Yes, there are arguments that impeachment hearings would be different. That wasn't the case in 1973-1974; I'm not convinced that it would be different now.

So let's stipulate a party-line impeachment and acquittal, which is I think what the advocates are in fact stipulating.
Read 12 tweets

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