May 10, 2020
OUR PAULINE KAEL:
Who Killed Consensus? (KEVIN D. WILLIAMSON, May 10, 2020, National Review)
Without consensus, there is no consent -- that's almost a redundancy: The two words come from the same Latin root meaning "agree," but each has its own special role in the political lexicon. We speak of "consensus" as a generally agreed-upon fact or set of facts, often with the qualifier "expert" or the mock-qualifier "elite," but we consent to a course of action, a regime, or a state, which can deploy force legitimately only with "the consent of the governed." That's Liberal Democracy 101.When you lose the ability to forge consensus, you begin to forfeit consent, and effective governance becomes difficult if not impossible -- as we are seeing right now in the coronavirus response.
Mr. Williamson is unfortunate enough to work in a milieu that is particularly infested with those few who oppose the American consensus. That does not mean there isn't one, Americans more worried about reopening too quickly than not opening quickly enough, survey says (Rebecca Morin, 5/08/20, USA TODAY)
Nearly three out of four Americans -- 71% -- say they are more concerned by the government lifting social distancing restrictions too quickly, according to a survey from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project. That's more than double the 29% who say they are worried restrictions are not being lifted quickly enough.
Of course, his publication is even further afoul of the American consensus on other questions: 9 in 10 of us want DACA recipients to stay; Obamacare is 60-40; gun controls measures, from assault weapons bans to licensing are supported by anywhere from 60 to 80% of Americans; the transition to solar and other renewables is wildly popular; free trade has never been more popular; only a quarter of Americans support Donald's family separations; etc.
The fact is, the governed consent to things the Right opposes and opposes the stuff the Right wants. Consensus is alive; Trumpism is dead.
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 10, 2020 7:17 AM