Jurismania (Finished)
Well, I finished the book I mentioned in a previous post, Jurismania, by Paul F. Campos. The biggest flaw of the book is that the author, though trying very hard to write for a popular audience, constantly devolves into obtuse academic-speak whenever he gets down to the heart of an issue. Countless sentences are choked to death on fish bones like “incommensurability”. I still need to look that one up.
Still, once I’d brought my reading up to a 36th grade level, I found the book was very insightful, and very disturbing.
The author pointed out that unlike most other cultures, American culture is wrapped up in its system of government. Our system of government is to us what cheese, wine, and laziness are to the French. (Ok, I added laziness. Je suis tres desole.)
If I had to condense the entire book (not really possible) into a single idea, it would be this:
Americans cling to the illusion that rational thinking can produce correct answers to questions involving values. It’s not to say that Truth or Right Answers don’t actually exist, but that people cannot reach agreement (ie., consensus) on these things through rational thought and discussion.
Instead of accepting this, we hold on to the illusion that the Law, via the decisions of judges who interpret it, can provide answers and decisions that are superior, and more rational, than those made by other people or institutions. The effect of this is that our legal system is ridiculously complicated, time-consuming, and expensive, and worse, that its tentacles reach into every part of life.
I think this delusion is one of the reasons we, as a society, have allowed the Judicial branch of our government to take upon itself the authority to make moral decisions for our country, decisions which should be made by our elected representatives. It comforts us to think that there is a small, elite group of highly-educated, highly-moral people, who are above the corruption of politics, who can make these difficult decisions rationally and rightly. But there is nothing that makes judges, even Supreme Court judges, more capable of making these decisions. They are still human.
We are, case by case, ruling by ruling, returning to the rule of kings, and doing it with smiles on our faces.