Seizing the high ground
Carlin, David R. Jr.
Democratic party in 1992 would normally be to put one of its own in the White House," he says, "but these are not normal times .... Let us use 1992 to articulate the cold challenges and the real...
...From the point of view of George Bush and his conservative friends in the Republican party, this liberal neo-particularism is a fine thing...
...while the liberals, betraying their tradition, have transformed themselves into particularists, favoring special treatment for special groups...
...nor is it a scheme for granting "group rights...
...424: Commonweal...
...Yeah, right...
...Once upon a time this was a silly conservative clich6 ("Men are rational, women intuitive"), which eventually got laughed out of court...
...His interest in the presidency is fueled by his disgust at the lack of leadership shown by Bush on the domestic front...
...So what's the big deal...
...All other essays will be returned to their authors after January 1. COIIgNONW~LllkL 15 Dutch Street New York, New York 10038 in liberal dress/trousers...
...His emphasis is on strengthening America at home--on domestic programs...
...it talks with a straight face...
...they say Bush is playing demagogue...
...But there is more to the story than this...
...Contemporary liberalism is passing through something of an identity crisis...
...These liberals deny they have turned their backs on universalistic values...
...But now it is back THE GRAYMOOR PRIZE The Friars of the Atonement announce the second annual Graymoor Prize, to be awarded to the best essay on any aspect of ecumenical or interreligious affairs...
...That is, it insisted that persons possessed their fundamental rights by virtue of being human, not by virtue of membership in some particular group or category...
...As the president tells the story, he is on the side of Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, Marcus Aurelius, and various other angels who believe that all humans are created equal and that it is therefore wrong to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, etc...
...and wilt thou not say, Dear city of Zeus...
...they found it hard to renounce particularism...
...Rockefeller's intense feelings about the neglect of America's children, about health care, and other issues stems, he says, from his experience as a VISTA volunteer in the state he now represents--West Virginia...
...And the rest of them, even the sober and chaste, are tainted by such unseemly conduct on the part of their comrades...
...Sometimes (taking the cue from Carol Gilligan's book of the early 1980s, In a Different Voice) the message is that women and men are fundamentally different in the way their minds work...
...The illusion that such a culture exists, presiding over all lesser cultures the way Zeus presided over the lesser gods on Olympus, is due, they tell us, to the prejudice of Eurocentrism, a white man's bias that justifies Western political hegemony in a world that is largely nonwhite...
...By so doing, he is trying to seize the universalistic high ground, at the same time portraying his opponents, the liberals, as particularists...
...It was the faith of the Enlightenment, but its ultimate source was the humanism of classical antiquity, especially as formulated in Stoicism...
...The prize-winning essay will be published in COMMONWEAL'S January 17, 1992 issue...
...They reject the notion that there is a hierarchy of cultures, that some are closer to heaven than others...
...There is always a chance...
...Many even go so far as to accuse him of stooping to a level no prominent national figure has descended to since the heyday of George Wallace: the level at which one stirs up racial animosity for the sake of political gain...
...For the longest time American conservatives were only half-hearted in their acceptance of universal values...
...When one asks what the difference is between the new intuitionism and the old, one is told that the old was a gimmick for keeping women in an inferior social and domestic position, while the new is quite different: it is a way of elevating women to a position of equality...
...But hold the phone...
...The winning essay will receive a prize of $1,000 and will be published in COMMONWEAL...
...they dug in their heels, they dragged their feet...
...Thus it was wrong to discriminate for or against someone on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, or sex...
...Deadline: October 1, 1991...
...It is merely a procedural device, a legalistic tool, for protecting individual rights...
...For the Stoic, universalistic loyalties took precedence over particularistic loyalties...
...This liberal idea, that "all men are created equal," has an ancient pedigree...
...In the battle over the 1991 Civil Rights Act, George Bush is attempting to turn the tables on the liberals by calling the Democratic version that passed the U.S...
...Paul Tsongas's views were shaped by his experience in the Peace Corps...
...Part of the answer, of course, is that ! many companies and government agencies subject to affirmative-action law have in fact tended to adopt something close to a quota system...
...Got it...
...Let us use 1992 to articulate the cold challenges and the real threats to America...
...the single city of God transcended the many cities of men...
...The candidate, whoever he is, must hit the ground running in a series of primaries beginning only months from now...
...If Rockefeller would dare the race, as Tsongas has done, might Democrats not have the perfect sacrificial ticket--RockefellerTsongas or Tsongas-Rockefeller...
...Hmmm, maybe the president has a point...
...As columnist Mary McGrory puts it, he strikes many Democrats as the perfect sacrificial lamb for '92...
...Above all they reject, decidedly and vehemently, the idea that there is some supreme culture at the top of a pyramid, an ultimate humanism...
...He plans to make speeches around the country later this year to shape a Democratic agenda...
...Interestingly enough, Mario Cuomo, who does not seem to be of a mind to be a sacrificial candidate, includes Tsongas on his list of those who have the physical presence and the intelligence to be an attractive candidate...
...While not a very imaginative way of handling personnel issues, it is the surest way to keep the federal watchdog from nipping at your heels...
...The awardwinning submission, which may take the form of a scholarly or critical essay or a personal narrative, should appeal to the interests of the general educated reader...
...Let us rally our nation to...
...Why does the pres12 July 1991:423 ident pretend not to understand...
...Don't be silly, George...
...But they were fighting a losing cause...
...At the moment the noisiest neo-particularists are not found in the feminist section of the movement but in the"multiculturalist" wing...
...This essay will become the property of the Graymoor Ecumenical Institute...
...His efforts, like those of Tsongas, will be a service...
...Only human, however, he reminds us that he was discounted at the beginning of other campaigns, campaigns that he won...
...The prize is intended to encourage and support new ecumenical and interreligious ideas and perspectives...
...It is a way of removing a very heavy burden of proof from the individual who might suffer discrimination, instead placing a relatively light burden of proof on the employer who might discriminate...
...This new-fangled particularism manifests itself in a number of ways...
...While most liberals have remained more or less faithful to their tradition's universalistic principles, a substantial minority have become what may be called neo-particularists...
...SEIZING THE HIGH GROUND QUOTAS, BUSH & THE DEMOCRATS ime was when American liberalism--a tradition that goes back at least to Thomas Jefferson, if not to Roger Williams--stood unambiguously for universalistic values...
...ask the liberals...
...Let us create a mandate, a mandate that will allow purposeful and effective govemance...
...It took liberalism approximately two centuries to convert America fully to universalistic values, to lead us out of the land of particularistic bondage...
...Funny the way things turn out...
...address these issues...
...Whatever the program or mandate, however, the reality is stark...
...It seeks the repairing of the American social fabric so that we are spiritually one community...
...It positions America as the critical parmer in achieving world peace, but based upon the principles of true burden sharing...
...Everyone knows that liberals, whatever their faults, are the last people in the world to tolerate quotas...
...So no matter what affirmative action may be, it can't possibly be quotas...
...Of course the liberals in Congress cry "foul" at this...
...for the world decided, in one case after another, that differential treatment on the basis of race, religion, sex, and other non-merit criteria was wrong--and inefficient...
...And now that the great victory is won, how do liberals celebrate...
...Some of them celebrate by returning to the fleshpots of Egypt...
...The editors reserve the right not to award the prize...
...This is the mandate he envisions: "It requires the reemergence of America as the world's preeminent economic power...
...OF SEVERAL MINDS David R. Carlin, Jr...
...These two things make the candidacy of another lesser-known candidate, Jay Rockefeller, an appealing prospect...
...it plays into their hands and it justifies their raising the alarm about quotas...
...Instead the reaction is, "Quotas...
...Announcement of Prize: December 15, 1991...
...It demands that, once and for all, we achieve energy sufficiency...
...Inscribing "cultural diversity" on their banner, they insist that all cultures are basically equal and therefore entitled to equal recognition and protection...
...It calls upon America to lead the fight for world environmental equilibrium...
...If liberalism were faithful to its universalistic tradition, the public would react to the president's cry of alarm, saying "Quotas...
...The creation of a mandate or program is vital for the Democrats...
...They say their affirmative action proposal is not a plan for quotas...
...In pursuit of that mandate, Tsongas is willing to be, as he now appears to be, a sacrificial candidate...
...Original and unpublished essays of approximately 2500-4000 words should be submitted to the editors of COMMONWEAL who will make the final decision following consultation with a panel of experts...
...and we are no longer allowed to laugh...
...In the words of Marcus Aurelius, addressing himself: "The poet says, Dear city of Cecrops...
...House a "quota bill...
...He must be invulnerable to a Willie-Hortonesque attack already shaping up in White House-Congress encounters...
...Like Tsongas but more mundanely partisan, he believes that "the Democrats need ideas that are not Republican ideas...
Vol. 118 • July 1991 • No. 13
