Interesting and well written! If I may, I would like to share the perspectives of myself and the specter of the United States' Old Republic. Your post, in our view, does a good job of engaging with Common Good Constitutionalism but is possibly in tension with our understanding of decentralization, centralization, and the administrative state. In our opinion, your review of the critique of originalism and the potential revival of the classical legal tradition seems to miss some of the important implications of centralization inherent in an embrace of the administrative state as a construct for achieving the common good.
From our perspective, you rightly critique the administrative state for its undermining public deliberation and violating the classical legal principle that no one should be a judge in their own cause. But you seem to stop short of addressing how centralization itself often amplifies these problems. The Old Republic demonstrates that decentralization generates remarkable adaptability, cognitively superior governance structures, enablement of accountability, and by extension trust; these attributes are absent in most of Common Good Constitutionalism's proponents' centralized idea of governance, which seeks to place a great deal of power and decision-making into the hands of supposedly expert technocrats.
Your calling forth Coolidge’s critique of centralization maps onto with our view that the administrative state's inherent flaws flow from its overreach and detachment from localized and participatory governance structures. But you miss an opportunity to link this critique to the deeper flawed aspects of centralization, which the Common Good Constitutionalism's proponents' proposals would likely inadvertently perpetuate under the aegis of serving the common good via a very strong and centralized administrative state. And we would note that this centralization could possibly be considers at odds with those same proponents' advocacy of subsidiarity principle.
Thanks for the enjoyable read, I hope you have a lovely Sunday. --- Mike
You'll know that Steve and Lucretia have won John over when you see natural law creeping into his briefs. Perhaps Coolidge was the last staresman with a conception virtue. As with all human endeavors (we are all sinners), the common good administrative state would suffer from a lack of virtue. In this day and age, it would result in technological tyranny for our own benefit.
Brilliant, and a great example of why we need you, Steve Hayward, to persist in these long-form pieces that touch on political philosophy. All your work is first rate, but this one fills a huge gap, and may prove to be your most lasting contribution. Well worth the price of subscription.
Interesting and well written! If I may, I would like to share the perspectives of myself and the specter of the United States' Old Republic. Your post, in our view, does a good job of engaging with Common Good Constitutionalism but is possibly in tension with our understanding of decentralization, centralization, and the administrative state. In our opinion, your review of the critique of originalism and the potential revival of the classical legal tradition seems to miss some of the important implications of centralization inherent in an embrace of the administrative state as a construct for achieving the common good.
From our perspective, you rightly critique the administrative state for its undermining public deliberation and violating the classical legal principle that no one should be a judge in their own cause. But you seem to stop short of addressing how centralization itself often amplifies these problems. The Old Republic demonstrates that decentralization generates remarkable adaptability, cognitively superior governance structures, enablement of accountability, and by extension trust; these attributes are absent in most of Common Good Constitutionalism's proponents' centralized idea of governance, which seeks to place a great deal of power and decision-making into the hands of supposedly expert technocrats.
Your calling forth Coolidge’s critique of centralization maps onto with our view that the administrative state's inherent flaws flow from its overreach and detachment from localized and participatory governance structures. But you miss an opportunity to link this critique to the deeper flawed aspects of centralization, which the Common Good Constitutionalism's proponents' proposals would likely inadvertently perpetuate under the aegis of serving the common good via a very strong and centralized administrative state. And we would note that this centralization could possibly be considers at odds with those same proponents' advocacy of subsidiarity principle.
Thanks for the enjoyable read, I hope you have a lovely Sunday. --- Mike
You'll know that Steve and Lucretia have won John over when you see natural law creeping into his briefs. Perhaps Coolidge was the last staresman with a conception virtue. As with all human endeavors (we are all sinners), the common good administrative state would suffer from a lack of virtue. In this day and age, it would result in technological tyranny for our own benefit.
Brilliant, and a great example of why we need you, Steve Hayward, to persist in these long-form pieces that touch on political philosophy. All your work is first rate, but this one fills a huge gap, and may prove to be your most lasting contribution. Well worth the price of subscription.
Kent Guida
Houston