Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Outrage That Is Not Contrived

Beginning, I think, with this Josh Marshall post, the left blogosphere has been buzzing about Senator John Cornyn's musings on whether or not judicial activism is the root cause of the recent spate of courthouse violence. Now, as Josh says, with everybody getting outraged, outraged, over everything these days, the punditry's white noise makes it difficult to distinguish cases that mean nothing from cases that are really worth getting worked up about.

However, contrary to what some liberal bloggers are saying, the answer is not to pressure Cornyn into resigning. I say this because of a general conviction against the "he must resign" impulse, at least when it comes to elected officials (in terms of private citizens disgracing themselves, that is sometimes the only available recourse). Resignation is, simply, a cop out. By resigning, Cornyn shields himself from the public opprobrium he so richly deserves. And by so doing, in a final outrage, he would transform himself from national embarrassment into martyr of the right's ongoing effort to overcome liberal PC oppression. (Appearances to the contrary, the right is still officially opposed to political correctness.) That cannot be allowed to happen. The just outcome would be for Cornyn to be run out of office by his constituents. Failing that, there would be something inversely just about his constituents imposing another term for him on themselves. Unless he has committed a crime, democratic principle insists that he can only be forced to leave office via democratic processes. And yes, he should be hounded mercilessly about these remarks every day until he is no longer a senator.

1 Comments:

At 7:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Democratic principle states that liberty is good.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

Vitals
  • E-mail me: Dan Koffler
  • My YDN Column: Smashing Idols
  • The Reasonsphere
  • Hit & Run
  • Matt Welch
  • Julian Sanchez
  • Jesse Walker
  • Virginia Postrel
  • Tim Cavanaugh
  • Ringers
  • Andrew Sullivan
  • Josh Marshall
  • Crooked Timber
  • Matthew Yglesias
  • Kevin Drum
  • John Cole
  • Leiter Reports
  • Pharyngula
  • Gregory Djerjian
  • Atrios
  • Mickey Kaus
  • Jim Henley
  • Radley Balko
  • TNR's Plank
  • Balkinization
  • Glenn Greenwald
  • Thomas Knapp
  • Justin Logan
  • Laura Rozen
  • Mark Kleiman
  • Print Culture
  • Arthur Silber
  • Tom Tomorrow
  • James Wolcott
  • OxBlog
  • Eric Muller
  • Majikthise
  • Pandagon
  • The American Scene
  • Daniel Drezner
  • Will Wilkinson
  • The Volokh Conspiracy
  • Intel Dump
  • Prequels
  • Johan Ugander
  • Dan Munz
  • Josh Eidelson
  • Future Less Vivid
  • Sequels
  • (not)Delino Deshields
  • Actual God
  • Hidden Hand
  • I am justice
  • Death/Media Incarnate
  • (not)Marquis Grissom
  • Yanqui At Cambridge
  • Beneficent Allah
  • Mr. Wrongway
  • The Hippolytic
  • Discourse Decision
  • Tight Toy Night
  • Mulatto Jesus
  • Sago Boulevard
  • Immortalized Stillicide
  • Nick's Corner
  • Dead Trees
  • Reason
  • Dissent
  • The New Republic
  • The New Yorker
  • The Atlantic Monthly
  • The American Prospect
  • Arts & Letters Daily
  • The Economist
  • The Nation
  • Yale Daily News
  • Virtual Reality
  • Wikipedia
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Symbolic Logic into HTML
  • Slate
  • Salon
  • The Huffington Post
  • Crooks and Liars
  • The Smoking Gun
  • The Smoking Gun: Bill O'Reilly
  • Romenesko
  • The Christopher Hitchens Web
  • Draft Russ
  • Rotten.com's Library
  • Urban Dictionary
  • Homestar Runner
  • Planet Rugby
  • Flex Online
  • Card Player Magazine
  • Gawker & Such
  • News
  • Politics
  • Gambling
  • Gossip (NY edition)
  • Gossip (LA edition)
  • Cool Shit
  • Cars
  • Video Games
  • Photoshop Fun &c.
  • Travel
  • MacGuyver Yourself
  • Porn
  • Prepare For The Worst
  • Bull Moose Blog
  • The Corner
  • Instapundit
  • Reel Blogs
  • BathTubYoga
  • More TK
  • R.I.P.
  • Jamie Kirchick
  • That Girl