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How Politics Work, Biden Pardon Edition
Dec. 4th, 2024 04:00 pmTwo articles I want to agree with and post here so I can find them later.
1) On Hunter Biden, and the unspoken value system that our media and political elites seek to defend. Two money quotes:
"Our political and media elites have made it clear through their actions that they value the appearance of order and propriety over anything else."
-and
"had Kamala Harris been elected President, Hunter Biden would not have been pardoned.
The appearance of propriety matters to the extent that it helps you to govern. It matters to the extent that it helps maintain public faith in the rule of law. If the Democratic Party was still in power, or if the incoming Republican administration was still bound by norms and precedents, then Biden-the-institutionalist would have been dissuaded from taking this step."
2) Huxley's Electorate. Not so much a money quote here as an idea that I am in strong agreement with. Specifically, democracy is a good system of government only in that it "produces a legitimate avenue for social dissent." You don't have to grab your gun - you can grab a ballot. As I said at a con once, societies with a permanent underclass don't last very long - just ask the French or Russian aristocracy. Of course, since they ended up dead, you'll need a Ouija board to do so.
1) On Hunter Biden, and the unspoken value system that our media and political elites seek to defend. Two money quotes:
"Our political and media elites have made it clear through their actions that they value the appearance of order and propriety over anything else."
-and
"had Kamala Harris been elected President, Hunter Biden would not have been pardoned.
The appearance of propriety matters to the extent that it helps you to govern. It matters to the extent that it helps maintain public faith in the rule of law. If the Democratic Party was still in power, or if the incoming Republican administration was still bound by norms and precedents, then Biden-the-institutionalist would have been dissuaded from taking this step."
2) Huxley's Electorate. Not so much a money quote here as an idea that I am in strong agreement with. Specifically, democracy is a good system of government only in that it "produces a legitimate avenue for social dissent." You don't have to grab your gun - you can grab a ballot. As I said at a con once, societies with a permanent underclass don't last very long - just ask the French or Russian aristocracy. Of course, since they ended up dead, you'll need a Ouija board to do so.
