{"id":54148,"date":"2019-07-28T16:34:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T20:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/?p=54148"},"modified":"2019-07-29T11:21:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T15:21:25","slug":"whose-job-is-it-to-undo-the-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/whose-job-is-it-to-undo-the-damage\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose Job Is It To Undo the Damage?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
James Madison, 4th President of the United States<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was James Madison who was the great champion of separation of powers, that is, an active and robust separation, so that each branch of government with its several well-defined assigned powers is itself always potent, equally so compared to the others, so the overall result is a state of active equipoise. Madison saw a danger in any form of the concentration of power (hence as well in the ceding of power from any holder of it, from one branch to another, or from the states to the federal government, and vice versa). In the same way, and as always, an effective, possibly triumphal, liberal thrust to the laws that guarantee our freedoms and our common weal must be tempered and equilibrated when those laws are made and debated before passage by an equally healthy conservative contemplation of every conceivable and foreseeable effect they would have, on the economy, on the general welfare, and on the projected values of our country to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

As much as he is considered an icon of the liberal underpinnings of our democracy, Madison is, as well, endorsed and heeded as an avatar of certain core conservative values as part of the framework of maintaining adequate governmental oversight and protections of basic rights for all citizens, without infringing on the liberty of any individual.[cf: Federalist, Number 51]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

American conservatives starting at a position of less than zero<\/h3>\n

I would say that conservatives have a harder task ahead of them than the liberals. It\u2019s harder because the status quo is the result of the forced expulsion of conservative values, principles, and philosophy as one of the major strains of thought shaping policy for the party currently in power.<\/p>\n

Nominally, it\u2019s the GOP, but in fact, the party is now the party of Trump, and as Peter Wehner says in The Atlantic today (link appears below), in a review of George Will\u2019s newest book and the embedded encomium to Will and his steadfast embrace of life-long principles, \u201cTrump knows almost nothing about conservatism, yet because of his political success, his fate is now intertwined with those of conservatism and of America\u2019s civic and political culture.\u201d Indeed, as Wehner also points out, Trump is a populist, and as Will defines it, populism is \u201cthe obverse of conservatism.\u201d Which is to endow populism with an undeserved dignity.<\/p>\n

It is in the ongoing act of preserving what conservatism interprets as the founding principles of our country that it\u2019s the conservatives\u2019 job, above all, to shepherd the thinking of all to a reconsideration of those principles. That is, it will be, if and when we find ourselves in the position of recovering in a post-Trump reality. It will be the job of all, and conservatives in particular (because of their self-mandate), to assess both the extent to which we have strayed that much further from them \u2013 because of the impact of so-called \u201cTrumpism\u201d on our ongoing sensibilities as a people \u2013 and a realistic estimate of how and in what altered form we can realistically expect to return to them.<\/p>\n

As is demonstrated virtually every day, in terms of meat-and-potatoes politics in our country, there is nothing anyone anywhere on the left can say or do that will alter the thinking (if thinking is the operative motivating power) of those who identify as Republicans at present. Conservatives, now in full retreat, will be the ones best suited to find the means to right a listing vessel. It\u2019s not a task I envy them.<\/p>\n

The questions will be, when Trump no longer can affect us in the immediate way that he does now, what the lasting, effectively the permanent, ways our character, our behavior, and our values as a nation have been altered, and to what extent we wish to try to return to some semblance of previous conditions and, simultaneously and alternatively, how we wish to chart a new course for ourselves as a nation.<\/p>\n

Liberals and progressives already have mapped out such a prospective course\u2014this is the mission behind the articulation of a Green New Deal and of a much broader socialist mandate for all in the form of universal programs for health care and education. They don\u2019t need assistance \u2013 despite the progressive-liberal belief that their vision and strategy has been stymied, if not, in fact, paralyzed. Rather, what will be necessary is what I am ill-disposed to call a corrective, so much as a countervailing, set of objectives and programs that seek similar results for the entirety of the population, but by other means, and through a different interpretation of the shape of political economy.<\/p>\n

The great dialog, the struggle, that characterizes the seemingly opposing economic philosophies of socialism vs. capitalism must be revived as a vital debate, rather than a contest of ill-defined shibboleths. At present, the prospects for a forceful argument for implementation of truly new initiatives are unclear, and at present lop-sided in perspective.\u00a0 <\/span>These not only will be, but must be not merely corrective, not merely ameliorative, not merely generative of more equitable universal conditions for all, and not merely belong entirely to the liberal-progressive forces that have been, if anything, revived and energized by the incumbency of Trump and his supporters. When and if he is gone, but especially if he is re-installed for the furtherance of his rudderless program of governance by whim we are at risk of finding ourselves eventually with no program and no real vision with any substance. With him, we will continue to see the deconstruction of long-established systems and programs that were the stable apparatus of government \u2013 however flawed, insufficient, unfair, and economically inefficient. Worse, even the vision of a greener future in every sense, as held out by certain liberal-progressive factions, will be extinguished, because the means of achievement in some unattainable future state of rehabilitation will also have been dismantled.<\/p>\n

Before we can assess the damage, so far uncontained, and certainly before we can assess the responsibility for how to recover, never mind undo it, we must, conservatives and other, mainly alternative countervailing, factions together seek the final abdication of his office, and not settle for a perpetual renunciation, an act that will outlive his tenure, however long, and doubtless will outlive him. An eternal invidious legacy.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/h4>\n

What Makes a Conservative<\/a><\/p>\n

The Federalist Papers, #51<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was James Madison who was the great champion of separation of powers, that is, an active and robust separation, […]<\/p>\n

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was James Madison who was the great champion of separation of powers, that is, an active and robust separation, […]","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ZrXL-e5m","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54235,"url":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/testing-the-depths-of-our-incredulity\/","url_meta":{"origin":54148,"position":0},"title":"Testing the Depths of Our Incredulity","author":"Howard","date":"2020 May 5","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s that meme again, a jocular George W. Bush. It does take me back, almost 20 years, with the strange effect of persuading me that my 50s just possibly might have been still occurring in the flush of my youth. I remember especially trying to explain what\u2019s what with American\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Miss me yet meme of GW Bush","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Miss-Me-Yet-2020-05-05_09-45-47.jpg?fit=1000%2C850&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Miss-Me-Yet-2020-05-05_09-45-47.jpg?fit=1000%2C850&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Miss-Me-Yet-2020-05-05_09-45-47.jpg?fit=1000%2C850&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Miss-Me-Yet-2020-05-05_09-45-47.jpg?fit=1000%2C850&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53928,"url":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/shorts-briefs-10-may-2019-deconstructing-facebook\/","url_meta":{"origin":54148,"position":1},"title":"Shorts & Briefs | 10 May 2019 | Deconstructing Facebook","author":"Howard","date":"2019 May 10","format":false,"excerpt":"I want to recommend for your current events reading today this rather long read, a New York Times opinion piece as part of their Privacy Project, intended for the Sunday Review by the co-founder of Facebook, Chris Hughes (so insinuated into the fledgling company, when it hadn\u2019t quite started to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Zuckerberg_Hughes_Harvard_2004_Rick_Friedman-jumbo-e1557490540632.jpg?fit=680%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Zuckerberg_Hughes_Harvard_2004_Rick_Friedman-jumbo-e1557490540632.jpg?fit=680%2C686&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Zuckerberg_Hughes_Harvard_2004_Rick_Friedman-jumbo-e1557490540632.jpg?fit=680%2C686&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":164,"url":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/shorts_and_briefs_2\/","url_meta":{"origin":54148,"position":2},"title":"Shorts & Briefs | 27 May 2016.2","author":"Howard","date":"2016 May 27","format":false,"excerpt":"Had I stuck to my original plans for college and med school, I would have nearly been the Doogie Houser of my generation. But it appears this man is of his\u2014turns out he's 33... I was surprised to see he has an MD (my defective expectations\u2014hence possibly a sign that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/original-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/original-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/original-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/original-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/original-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54137,"url":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/is-donald-trump-now-the-most-trusted-man-in-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":54148,"position":3},"title":"Is Donald Trump Now the Most Trusted Man In America?","author":"Howard","date":"2019 July 20","format":false,"excerpt":"Before I get into it, I know the meaning of trust has eroded over the past several decades. The particular admixture of credence, confidence, and faith we invest in certain individuals who earn it \u2013 at least among the public \u2013 has seen a decline, noted in the first world\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Events"","block_context":{"text":"Current Events","link":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/category\/current-events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Walter_Cronkite_1985-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Walter_Cronkite_1985-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Walter_Cronkite_1985-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Walter_Cronkite_1985-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55090,"url":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/trump-as-of-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":54148,"position":4},"title":"Trump as of Today","author":"Howard","date":"2024 October 6","format":false,"excerpt":"In the Times today, there\u2019s an analysis of possible signs of encroaching loss of cognitive ability in the former president. Essentially, the signs are a broadening and intensification of tendencies that have been there at least since the famous walk down the gold escalator that defined the identifying trope and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis","link":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/category\/analysis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":156,"url":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/austrian-far-right-candidate-norbert-hofer-narrowly-loses-presidential-vote\/","url_meta":{"origin":54148,"position":5},"title":"Austrian Far-Right Candidate Norbert Hofer Narrowly Loses Presidential Vote","author":"Howard","date":"2016 May 23","format":false,"excerpt":"How is it with a minuscule distance between total votes for political opponents, as often a plurality as a majority, the media make such a fuss about who won or lost\u2014when the story continues to be about the divide that must be joined and reconciled? How is it Donald Trump,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/24Austria-web2-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050%2C549&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/24Austria-web2-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050%2C549&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/24Austria-web2-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050%2C549&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/24Austria-web2-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050%2C549&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/24Austria-web2-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050%2C549&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.berthamagazine.com\/frontpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}