tdaxp

The class that abolished a parliamentary republic to embrace direct democracy still has that form of government. There's a notable drop in participation, which is typical of classes that undergo such a constitutional shift. Students -- and I think I can generalize this to most human beings -- dislike participation and deliberation, and go out of their way to avoid it.

Nonetheless, after my suggestion the now leaderless class agreed to discuss the following potential amendment to the US Constitution:

(i) No person who, through religions doctrine, belief, or sympathy owes loyalty, fealty, or obedience to any foreign state or foreign network or any sort, shall serve as an Officer or Representative of the United States or of any State.

(ii) The Congress of the United States, and the Legislatures of the several States, shall have the power to enforce this law.

By the end of the initial discussion, the class was largely split between people who opposed the amendment outright and others who opposed "loopholes in it" (such as the implied persecution of the Catholic Church).

I then altered the assignment, so that students were told that this amendment was guaranteed to pass, but they had the power to alter it to make it less offensive. While still vocally opposed by a healthy minority, the following revision removed most of the opposition

(i) No person who, through religious doctrine, belief, or sympathy may impede the national or homeland security of the United States shall serve as an Officer of the United States or of any State.

(ii) The Congress of the United States, and the Legislatures of the several States, shall have the power to enforce this law.

What changed? (Additions in italics, subtractions struck-through):

(i) No person who, through religions doctrine, belief, or sympathy owes loyalty, fealty, or obedience to any foreign state or foreign network or any sort, may impede the national or homeland security of the United States shall serve as an Officer or Representative of the United States or of any State.

(ii) The Congress of the United States, and the Legislatures of the several States, shall have the power to enforce this law.

While the changes "narrowed" the amendment by moving away from foreign-control to actualy theats, the alterations "expanded" the amendment by including threats to homeland security, and not just national security. Two religious groups were openly discussed by the class: the Roman Catholic Church and the Ku Klux Klan. The RCC is apparently disestablished by the original amendment, while the Klan is apparently persecuted by the revised one.

Civil Rights Hiring Shifted in Bush Era," by Charlie Savage, Global Staff, 23 Jule 2006, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/07/23/civil_rights_hiring_shifted_in_bush_era/?page=full (from MyDD).

Whatever one may think of his weakened foreign policy, Bush's domestic cultural policy is still going strong. Indeed, as a cross-party, more or less globalist, consensus has been in charge of America's foreign policy since 1977, focusing on domestic cultural concerns may be the clearest place for Bush to leave his mark.

Bush realizes that the greatest threat to a society comes from its government, because only the government has the ability to crush civil societies by passing onerous laws (a process of replacing "horizontal controls" with "vertical controls"):

Robert Driscoll , a deputy assistant attorney general over the division from 2001 to 2003, said many of the longtime career civil rights attorneys wanted to bring big cases on behalf of racial groups based on statistical disparities in hiring, even without evidence of intentional discrimination. Conservatives, he said, prefer to focus on cases that protect individuals from government abuses of power.

The President is doing this in the context of the Justice Department's Civil Rights division. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft switched the hiring processes, insisting on greater democratic oversight of hiring. This has lessened the Leftist..

Hiring only lawyers from civil rights groups would ``set the table for a permanent left-wing career class," Driscoll said.

and Eastern Establishmentarian...

The academic credentials of the lawyers hired into the division also underwent a shift at this time, the documents show. Attorneys hired by the career hiring committees largely came from Eastern law schools with elite reputations, while a greater proportion of the political appointees' hires instead attended Southern and Midwestern law schools with conservative reputations.

structural discrimination in the department, rolling back two very dangerous ideologies.

I support President Bush for great actions such as this.

Mr. President, thank you.