Correspondence
Correspondence COURTLY CONSERVATIVES WHY MUST WILLIAM KRISTOL and Jeffrey Bell slander "economic conservatives" in their article "Against Judicial Supremacy" (Dec. 4)? Most of the folks I've read...
...Honest political debate does not require that we pretend people aren't who they are...
...The outcome of this dogfight will set the tone for the GOP's approach to "rebuilding the military"—a familiar refrain from the recent presidential campaign...
...Bob stump (Ariz...
...I would like to think that political discourse can proceed from legitimately different values, governed by a mutual regard for logic...
...You may also fax letters: (202) 293-4901 or e-mail: Editor@Weeklystandard.com...
...The Florida legislature should take the stance that the people have spoken and that the result was uncertain...
...i submit that we are watching our first outcome-based election...
...GREG RANSOM Aliso Viejo, CA I ENJOYED WILLIAM KRISTOL and Jeffrey Bell's "Against Judicial Supremacy," particularly given Al Gore's early conviction that he won the election...
...it is wholly appropriate that the legislature chooses the electors in the event of a draw...
...Curt Weldon (Pa...
...Duncan Hunter (Calif...
...An insight common to all of these folks is the one Hayek most fully articulated in his landmark The Road to Serfdom: A free, civil, and just society is one in which the actions of the rulers are restrained within the bounds of the inherited institutions of law, and cannot be one in which the arbitrary discretion of men in power is allowed to run riot...
...If so, what is the source of that power...
...4), my initial reaction to the accompanying electoral map was that areas of Bush support have the highest growth rates in the country...
...These people decide how to vote according to whim or fancied self-interest, either of which can be guided by the manipulation of language, which these voters seem to have neither the will nor the ability to analyze...
...Floyd spence's (s.C...
...Her article should be required reading for every citizen who wants to vote...
...DOUG JORDAN Washington, DC DAVID TELL'S EDITORIAL "The War over Gore" begins with a lengthy lament over the tendency for political debate to be regarded simply as one party opposing another without reference to the substantive merit of the arguments...
...in Bob But-terworth's case, I have simply followed that convention...
...Like the dog that didn't bark in sherlock Holmes mysteries, no mention is made of the clinton budgets with $200 billion deficits as far as the eye could see—deficits that were not permitted by the Republicans (and conservative Democrats...
...While most citizens do not have a background in statistics, they can certainly understand that either campaign might "win" depending on which votes are or are not allowed, or depending on how ballots are interpreted...
...Gore's assertion that the election was not a draw acknowledges that the legislative branch acting to break the tie— as authorized by law—could have been an academically sensible road to a final outcome...
...For instance, do they believe that Marbury v. Madison was decided correctly and that the federal courts should indeed have the authority to determine whether an action of the legislative or executive branch violates the constitution...
...This, in fact, was the "only argument" I used against Butter-worth...
...Later in the editorial, Tell criticizes the position taken in court by Florida attorney general Bob Butterworth, but the only "argument" against Butter-worth's position is that he was "Florida chairman of the Gore campaign...
...But what she describes needs a name...
...The list of individuals participating in public debate under the influence of Hayek (or working on the shoulders of Hayek) is almost limitless, including Thomas Sowell, Robert Bork, George Will, Rush Limbaugh, and William Buckley...
...it's not the whole story...
...JERRY SWEERS Lexington, KY THE GOP IS FLYING HIGH AFTER READING Fred Barnes's "Call It the Flyover Party" (Dec...
...The struggle for the House Armed services Committee has become particularly fierce with the end of Rep...
...three terms...
...ARMED SERVICES COMBAT MATTHEW REES'S STORY on congressional committee chairmanships left out one of the most interesting and important battles ("The other Post-Election Struggle," Dec...
...JAY HOPMAN Cameron Park, CA IN "AGAINST JUDICIAL SUPREMACY," William Kristol and Jeffrey Bell once again raise the conservative battle cry against "activist" courts...
...Lowenstein charges . . . had he not mischaracter-ized what I've written...
...i think, however, that most Americans would be very uncomfortable with the notion of unbridled legislative and executive power...
...i fear that the authors' viewpoint is directed more at their political adversaries and at results that are disagreeable to them than at elucidating an institutional role for the judicial branch...
...JIM CAHALAN Georgetown, SC WAR PARTIES NEARLY EVERY LINE of David Tell's "The War over Gore" resonated with me (Dec...
...I'm surprised Prof...
...Lowenstein missed it...
...DANIEL H. LOWENSTEIN Professor UCLA Law School Los Angeles, CA DAVID TELL RESPONDS: It is a convention of modern journalism to alert readers that some referenced individual is an interested party in whatever controversy is under discussion...
...In the interests of comity, I would acknowledge that conservatives have not been blameless when it comes to principled consistency...
...They quote approvingly from Gov...
...one of the most outspoken critics of the Clinton administration's defense policies, has waged a vigorous public campaign to jump the seniority ladder for the chairmanship...
...DAVID R. WILSON Seattle, WA INTO THE MYSTIQUE JAMES K. GLASSMAN'S REVIEW of Bob Woodward's book on Alan Greenspan echoes Woodward in downplaying the role of the Republican Congress in restraining government spending, creating a surplus, and allowing the Fed to use monetary policy to keep the economy on a growth path ("The Greenspan Mystique," Dec...
...On that score, I would be forced to confess the hypocrisy Prof...
...in fact, when the margin of error in an election exceeds the margin of victory by an order of magnitude, the election is a draw...
...What I spent several paragraphs criticizing, instead, was the attorney general's misleading advice to the court about the length of time necessary to complete manual recounts in his state's largest counties...
...Through 50 years of public education, and with the cooperation of a sympathetic media, the Democrats have managed to produce a voter base that believes feelings are knowledge, opinions are truth, and all sincerely held opinions are equal...
...Butterworth's role in the Gore campaign tells us exactly nothing about the quality of his presentation to the Florida supreme Court, and I nowhere suggested otherwise...
...But at least they care about it, and that is a distinction that serves us well, and one we should nurture...
...It does require, it seems to me, that no man's position be dismissed exclusively by reference to his identity and associations...
...the chairman of the House veterans Affairs Committee, is next in line in seniority after Spence and wants the job...
...Letters will be edited for length and clarity and must include the writer's name, address, and phone number...
...Worst of all, in Tallahassee, the Florida Supreme Court tries to figure out how it can apply the standard of fairness to feelings and emotions, while ignoring it in the areas of law, truth, and justice...
...who is ahead of Weldon in seniority but is backing stump, said he should get the nod if the Republican Conference does not tap Stump...
...Bush ignores it completely, while Kristol and Bell hint that there may be an appropriate role for the judicial system other than punishing felons, but don't offer any guidance as to how the judiciary should rightfully interact with the legislature and the executive...
...it is not specifically enumerated in the constitution, and thus a consistent strict-constructionist view would seem to lead one to the conclusion that the courts have no such authority...
...JOHN ROBINSON Managing Editor Defense Daily Arlington, VA • • • THE WEEKLY STANDARD welcomes letters to the editor...
...He writes that "the justice of a man's particular case has everything to do with what exactly he says and does about it," not with his ideology or political party...
...If ever that ideal existed, it has been scarce of late, and David Tell makes an eloquent appeal for its restoration...
...Most of the folks I've read attacking the lawlessness of the courts are economic conservatives—many of whom acquired much of their understanding of the significance of the rule of law from none other than the economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek (perhaps the most important writer on the rule of law in the last 100 years...
...If that occurs, Republicans would benefit...
...if these folks aren't among the "economic conservatives," one wonders who the "economic conservatives" might be...
...MORTON LURIE Raleigh, NC TRUTH, JUSTICE, ETC...
...Liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, that's inconsistent...
...Three members have a shot at the job...
...All letters should be addressed: Correspondence Editor THE WEEKLY STANDARD 1150 17th St., NW, Suite 505 Washington, DC 20036...
...Woodward and Glassman give us only the Clinton/Greenspan version of monetary history...
...Bush's statement that "writing laws is the duty of the legislature, administering laws is the duty of the executive branch...
...It is not clear whether the growth index listed with the map measures population growth, or economic, but the red counties on the map clearly include regions such as the South Carolina coast and upcountry that are among the fastest growing areas in America, both in population and wealth, and it appears at first glance that this is true around the country as well...
...NOEMIE EMERY, with her usual clarity and grace, says all that needs to be said in "First principles in Florida" (Dec...
...What Bush, Kristol, and Bell fail to articulate is a role for the judicial branch...
...Given that, and assuming that the population and economic trends of the recent past continue through the next four, eight, or twelve years, we can expect the population and wealth of the red counties to increase, while those of the Gore counties will decrease...
Vol. 6 • December 2000 • No. 15
