I started out this morning reading piece by Charles Lipson about "Impeachment and the Fight over the Deep State." On the day that Speaker Pelosi sends the Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate.
Does this mean that the party out of the presidency will be harrying presidents from here on in with impeachments? Maybe not, if Donald Trump gets a thumping reelection and the Dems lose the House.
Because if Trump thrives on the Pelosi impeachment the Deep State conventional wisdom for the next 20 years will be that impeachment is a mug's game.
Lipson's argument is that President Trump presents an existential threat to the administrative state of the 20th century that rules through the federal bureaucracy and the tradition that the courts get to fill in the details of legislation. Naturally, the Deep State doesn't like Trump.
But there is a bigger issue. It relates to the fundamental philosophy under any political system. That is to avoid civil war. The whole apparatus of elections, of separation of powers, of throwing the rascals out is so that the overwhelming majority of people are content enough with things as they are that they do not feel that a head of rebellion is required to defend themselves from a tyrannical government.
The problem with an administrative state is that it sets up a regime where the Gentry gets to monopolize the sinews of government, and not just by occupying all the positions of power by monopolizing the ideas that inspire government. What do ordinary Commoners want? Good question, Senator.
And moreover, given the modern complexity of government, it becomes almost impossible to reform the government. With hundreds of programs -- let alone the big ones like Social Security and Medicare -- where do you start? And now much reform can you do in a session of Congress, let alone a two-term presidency? And that is without considering the problem that, since the administrative state is necessarily of, by, and for the Educated Gentry class that has the credentials to occupy high administrative positions, the administrative state is blind to the lives and the concerns of lesser mortals, such as Commoners and Clients (or Victims).
Let us review the obvious agenda of the three layers of Curtis Yarvin in "The Clear Pill."
Gentry. Because we are educated and evolved we should be in charge of the country and direct its affairs in matters large and small.
Commoners. Leave us alone to live our lives, but make the trains run on time and be there when we need protection.
Clients. Life is rough and we expect our chieftain to protect us and take care of us.
You can see how the present regime is fine for Gentry and Clients, but not so good for Commoners, because the whole point of the Gentry administrative state is to be poking Commoners in the ribs for their moral edification and to cure them of their deplorability.
So that's why we got Trump.
The interesting thing, to me, about the administrative state of, by, and for the Gentry, is the way it needs to demonize the Commoners. OK, it's not interesting, it is inevitable. If government is force then all government requires an enemy to justify the use of force. QED.
But this is a lie. The whole point about the Commoners is that they are Commoners, neither rich nor educated nor eminent nor notable nor powerful. To make Commoners into vile racist sexist homophobes and white supremacists and haters is a monstrous injustice. Because Commoners aren't much engaged in politics, aren't thinking up new ways to do activism and save the planet. And they don't get up each morning with a new plan to beat up blacks, women, and gays. They aren't doing much at all except going to work and raising families. So when the Gentry makes war on the Commoners, mucking about in their modest businesses with demands they make cakes for gay weddings, or accusing them of being patriarchs, or of being vile racists, the Commoners ask "what's this all about? I was just ordering in pizza."
That's how we got Trump.
My advice to the administrative state and to the Gentry in general is: Cool It. No matter what happens we are going to be giving you chaps lots of jobs and power in the administrative state. And just because of your education and interest, you chaps have an influence on politics and culture way bigger than your numbers. And, need I add, you deserts.
But supervising the mundane details of Commoner life, from bathrooms to "hate" to recycling to tree regulation, is a bridge too far. It's going to force the Commoners to push back. Not because Commoners have better ideas than you Gentry but because there comes a point where the humiliation of being poked and prodded becomes intolerable.
See, this is what I think. I think you Gentry already have it pretty good. Because of the credentials you earn you get to live really safe working lives, often with tenure and with lavish pensions, and little impact from the business cycle. And you often get to feel that you Made a Difference. Commoners, on the other hand, are not so well protected. Their jobs are often at the mercy of the business cycle, they often work in jobs that are "employment at will," and have to start small businesses and the like if they want to live well. And, at the end of their lives the only way they Made a Difference is that they have grandchildren.
But there comes a point at which the Commoners say: I can't take it any more. And you Gentry types really don't want to provoke the Commoners to that point. Life's pretty good for Gentry. You really don't want to risk a Commoner rebellion.
See, if we had a Commoner rebellion it might, just accidentally, abolish the whole administrative state. Because I'd say that the administrative state doesn't do anything that couldn't be done at half the price by the private sector.
And what would you Gentry do then, poor things. Hey, you might have to get real jobs.
Does this mean that the party out of the presidency will be harrying presidents from here on in with impeachments? Maybe not, if Donald Trump gets a thumping reelection and the Dems lose the House.
Because if Trump thrives on the Pelosi impeachment the Deep State conventional wisdom for the next 20 years will be that impeachment is a mug's game.
Lipson's argument is that President Trump presents an existential threat to the administrative state of the 20th century that rules through the federal bureaucracy and the tradition that the courts get to fill in the details of legislation. Naturally, the Deep State doesn't like Trump.
They oppose Trump because he threatens their once-secure political world. He is abolishing long-standing regulations at an astonishing clip and appointing federal judges who, for the first time in decades, refuse to ratify far-reaching regulations and executive orders that are only loosely tethered to statutory laws.What a world if the norm were to be that federal judges got to put down laws that were too vague about the details! Why, the whole gentry class lives its life as wise and educated "fill in the details" experts.
This judicial challenge to “bureaucratic delegation” is being led by Neil Gorsuch at the Supreme Court and Neomi Rao at the Court of Appeals in D.C. They acknowledge that bureaucracies can fill in the “details” of laws, but only if the laws offer clear guidance. Liberals correctly say that enforcing this criterion retroactively would abolish the modern federal government. They know it is a tissue of regulations loosely based on underlying laws.Now, I argue in my Four Laws that the administrative state cannot work because it does not have the bandwidth to do it. The complexity of our society, or any society, means that courtiers in the king's court and bureaucrats in the administrative bureaucracy cannot know enough to instruct the whole nation on how to tie its shoe-laces.
But there is a bigger issue. It relates to the fundamental philosophy under any political system. That is to avoid civil war. The whole apparatus of elections, of separation of powers, of throwing the rascals out is so that the overwhelming majority of people are content enough with things as they are that they do not feel that a head of rebellion is required to defend themselves from a tyrannical government.
The problem with an administrative state is that it sets up a regime where the Gentry gets to monopolize the sinews of government, and not just by occupying all the positions of power by monopolizing the ideas that inspire government. What do ordinary Commoners want? Good question, Senator.
And moreover, given the modern complexity of government, it becomes almost impossible to reform the government. With hundreds of programs -- let alone the big ones like Social Security and Medicare -- where do you start? And now much reform can you do in a session of Congress, let alone a two-term presidency? And that is without considering the problem that, since the administrative state is necessarily of, by, and for the Educated Gentry class that has the credentials to occupy high administrative positions, the administrative state is blind to the lives and the concerns of lesser mortals, such as Commoners and Clients (or Victims).
Let us review the obvious agenda of the three layers of Curtis Yarvin in "The Clear Pill."
Gentry. Because we are educated and evolved we should be in charge of the country and direct its affairs in matters large and small.
Commoners. Leave us alone to live our lives, but make the trains run on time and be there when we need protection.
Clients. Life is rough and we expect our chieftain to protect us and take care of us.
You can see how the present regime is fine for Gentry and Clients, but not so good for Commoners, because the whole point of the Gentry administrative state is to be poking Commoners in the ribs for their moral edification and to cure them of their deplorability.
So that's why we got Trump.
The interesting thing, to me, about the administrative state of, by, and for the Gentry, is the way it needs to demonize the Commoners. OK, it's not interesting, it is inevitable. If government is force then all government requires an enemy to justify the use of force. QED.
But this is a lie. The whole point about the Commoners is that they are Commoners, neither rich nor educated nor eminent nor notable nor powerful. To make Commoners into vile racist sexist homophobes and white supremacists and haters is a monstrous injustice. Because Commoners aren't much engaged in politics, aren't thinking up new ways to do activism and save the planet. And they don't get up each morning with a new plan to beat up blacks, women, and gays. They aren't doing much at all except going to work and raising families. So when the Gentry makes war on the Commoners, mucking about in their modest businesses with demands they make cakes for gay weddings, or accusing them of being patriarchs, or of being vile racists, the Commoners ask "what's this all about? I was just ordering in pizza."
That's how we got Trump.
My advice to the administrative state and to the Gentry in general is: Cool It. No matter what happens we are going to be giving you chaps lots of jobs and power in the administrative state. And just because of your education and interest, you chaps have an influence on politics and culture way bigger than your numbers. And, need I add, you deserts.
But supervising the mundane details of Commoner life, from bathrooms to "hate" to recycling to tree regulation, is a bridge too far. It's going to force the Commoners to push back. Not because Commoners have better ideas than you Gentry but because there comes a point where the humiliation of being poked and prodded becomes intolerable.
See, this is what I think. I think you Gentry already have it pretty good. Because of the credentials you earn you get to live really safe working lives, often with tenure and with lavish pensions, and little impact from the business cycle. And you often get to feel that you Made a Difference. Commoners, on the other hand, are not so well protected. Their jobs are often at the mercy of the business cycle, they often work in jobs that are "employment at will," and have to start small businesses and the like if they want to live well. And, at the end of their lives the only way they Made a Difference is that they have grandchildren.
But there comes a point at which the Commoners say: I can't take it any more. And you Gentry types really don't want to provoke the Commoners to that point. Life's pretty good for Gentry. You really don't want to risk a Commoner rebellion.
See, if we had a Commoner rebellion it might, just accidentally, abolish the whole administrative state. Because I'd say that the administrative state doesn't do anything that couldn't be done at half the price by the private sector.
And what would you Gentry do then, poor things. Hey, you might have to get real jobs.
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