On Ari Melber's show last night Ken Dilanian* pointed out that Trump's framing for his blatant attempt to use the Department of Justice to go after his political opponents, one of the most blatant abuses of presidential power was consistent with one of the most dangerous of current fashions on law school faculties and even among sitting members of the Supreme Court (certainly Alito, almost certainly others), the unitary executive theory. The theory which so far as I can see has been cooked up in the elite Ivy class law schools is, essentially, one of absolute power of a president over every aspect of the executive branch of the government, apparently up to and including using the Department of Justice, The FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. without much if any inhibitions on his power. Several strengths of unitary executive have been theorized, all of them are essentially fascistic in nature, turning the American President into something like what Donald Trump, so far, has succeeded in it being.
The origins of current unitary executive theory, oddly enough, seem to come from lawyers, law school hacks and judicial servants of the rich and privileged, to dismantle the New Deal infrastructure or for Republican presidents to harness it for corporate fascist purposes. If you think that's overblown, go look at what the legal scholar critics say in opposition to it and what its proponents claim in its favor. You can, of course, find mealy-mouthed passages in which such proponents as you can find on law school faculties and among judges and justices to give plausible deniability to their fascistic intent but when you consider the entire range of their claims it is clear fascistic power on the part of Republicans is their goal.
I get a lot of snark for my criticism of the Ivy class, especially the product of those law schools which seem to have been granted a traditional monopoly on the Supreme Court but that is the well-manicured, well taylored, perfumed origin of this most American form of facism, the fascism which has a chance of being the law of the land because it is framed within the discourse around the United States Constitution. And that history is clear. I also get a lot of snark for my criticism of the a-historical dishonesty of "Hamilton" and for the cult of James Madison but those guys were major proponents who introduced the intellectual framework within which American fascism is not only possible, but asserted by Republicans from Reagan through George W. Bush to Trump. The Constitution contains a lot of extremely dangerous features, especially under the originalism which would bring us back to rule by propertied white men with the richest among them exercising the most power through the Senate and the appointments that flow through it. The document without the intervening centuries of alteration, through the rejection of inequality and other features of fascism is the greatest peril to American aspirations for equality and democracy that there is. Remember that the next time you hear someone in the stripe of Charles Fried going on about presidential power, what you will find under the false front is American fascism which, given the history of white supremacy here, could turn into American Nazism without more than an instigating event cooked up by American Nazis.
* I looked at my notes again, it wasn't Gene Rossi who said it, it was Ken Dilanian.
"I also get a lot of snark for my criticism of the a-historical dishonesty of "Hamilton"
ReplyDeleteBe strong, Sparky. Everybody knows that Lin-Manuel Miranda is directly responsible for the election of Trump, and good for you for courageously pointing that out.
What everyone who can read and think knows, you are mentally defective.
DeleteWhat Lin Manuel-Miranda is guilty of is presenting a slave-owner, husband of one of daughter of the largest slave-owning family in New York as a champion of equality when he was absolutely not. He wrote in favor of the enablement of slavery under the Constitution because northerners like him could make loads of money out of the products of slave labor. He also was in favor of what would be a dictatorial presidency, one of those who argued for it and whose arguments are used by com temporary fascists like Charles Fried and Alito to support the unitary executive theory of Constitutional interpretation, something which would, if allowed, bring us to overt fascism and which would be used to destroy, in effect, the entire 20th century progress against inequality and much of that from the 19th and perhaps even back into the late 18th century.
People who read and who read what I wrote would know that's what I said, not blaming the rap and dance man for electing Trump. People who read would also know you're a douche bag.
1. Q: What's the difference between Sparky and Lin-Manuel Miranda? A: Lin-Manuel Miranda is a genuinely talented creative artist.
ReplyDelete2. "Com temporary." Is that like Con Edison?
3. Douchebag is one word.
You forgot 4. I know what I'm talking about, LMM only knows what he read in one hagiographic bio written by a hack.
DeleteI told you before, Stupy, if I ever have the money to afford an editor you're the last on my list of those to call. I'd find some boring, tedious, unpretentious 9th grade public school teacher who had mastered grammar, not a "genuinely talented creative artist".
The music in "Hamilton" is Broadway style lime-light shit.
Oh, yeah, and LMM didn't even depend on as much fact as he got from that crap bio because even that much of the truth didn't work in a Broadway melodrama as well. Broadway musicals are an even worse way to tell history than straight plays and movies, and there are few things worse at doing history than those.
Delete"The music in "Hamilton" is Broadway style lime-light shit. :
ReplyDeleteForgetting the fact that there isn't the slightest chance that you've ever heard any of the HAMILTON music, what the fuck does 'Broadway style lime-light shit' even mean? Seriously, does anybody know what language that criticism is supposed to be in? Does it mean music that sounds like limes? Or some kind of theatre lighting reference? Please help poor Sparky, somebody.
"Forgetting the fact that there isn't the slightest chance that you've ever heard any of the HAMILTON music"
ReplyDeleteImagine that, Stupy doesn't realize that something like it is inevitably posted all over Youtube in a jillion pirated recordings. Just how stupid are you Stupy?
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hamilton+soundtrack
Broadway: 1. a street in New York City, famous for its theaters, restaurants, and bright lights.
2. the theater district located on or near this street, especially as the center of the professional or commercial theater in the U.S.
style:1. a particular kind, sort, or type, as with reference to form, appearance, or character:
2. a particular, distinctive, or characteristic mode of action or manner of acting:
2. limelight:the center of public attention, interest, observation, or notoriety:
shit: 1. What Simels head contains instead of brains.
2. What Eschaton Blog has turned into due to his presence.
You've never heard a note of the HAMILTON music. You're a transparent liar, and nobody believes you aren't for a moment.
ReplyDeleteSorry, shithead.
Simps, I know it comes as a shock to you that yesterday's hot ticket on B-way becomes almost immediately known to the wide world, instead of the linty navel of the navel-gazing NYC residents but that's the way of the world. It's the way of Broadway musicals, too, Stupy, because without the tourist traffic they'd probably close a lot faster.
DeleteI heard more than a note of it, I think I'd heard a lot of its notes years before the thing was written.
BTW -- limelight is one word.
ReplyDeleteYou'll never know if I do that to annoy you or not. Did I say it wasn't?
DeleteAsshole is one word, and it's so you.