Friday, January 10, 2003

Clear Writing, Clear Thinking The Raven posed an excellent and uncharacteristically long piece on standards and language that stimulated me to think about the deeper implications for our democracy. My reply is as follows: I'm a firm believer that imprecision of thought and imprecision of expression are intimately connected, and either can be the cause of the other. Since language has rules of syntax, meaning and grammar, it's easier to impose order on the form of expression and hope that this clarity translates to a more reasonable pattern of thought, rather than vice versa. Especially in today's political climate, where language is an important (perhaps the most important) weapon in a serious struggle over resources and influence, it is essential to preserve whatever standards are available to govern our rhetoric, so that those with a stake in the outcome can properly understand what is at issue. In earlier times, students were educated in rhetoric and logic - not just so they could formulate arguments, but also so that they could immediately perceive inconsistencies in the positions of others. A clear-thinking citizenry is good proof against repeating historical errors. A democracy sees that as a virtue. An incipient plutocracy, on the other hand, has a vested interest in propagating not only the ignorance of the masses, but also a crippling of basic critical faculties. 2:29:34 PM    Emphasize This! [] I Swear, I Declare William Raspberry wrote a thoughtful column on Monday wondering how the Administration has not only successfully circumnavigated logic, but also the clear language of the Constitution, in its headlong rush toward aggression in Iraq. Sure enough, it says right there in Article 1, Section 8, that only Congress has the power to declare war, and, War Powers Act notwithstanding, it may not legally delegate that power to the President as it seems to have done in this case. Nor is the United States either entitled or obliged to participate in an undeclared war solely through the agency of the United Nations. I'm sure conservatives would agree even more strongly on that point than anti-war liberals if the President's name happened to be Clinton. All of this proves that, despite our cherished myths, we are a country of people, not laws. The clear language of the Constitution is a dead letter if there is no will to abide by it. What, after all, is the possible remedy? Would the Supreme Court declare a war in Iraq unconstitutional and order the troops home? Even if there were the votes on the Court to render such a decision, how on earth would it be enforced if combat were taking place? Every American is taught to regard the Constitution as transcendent above the politics of the moment - that the rights and liberties ensured therein proceed to us from nature by some mystical process, and are inviolate. They're not. And as soon as we stop caring enough to insist on them, they can be taken from us by people with little regard for right or reason. In the first act of Shakespeare's King Henry V, the young monarch, despite nearly absolute power, feels compelled to ask his councellors who are urging him to war with France, "May I, with right and conscience, make this claim?" The ambitious Archbishop of Canterbury replies, "The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!" The sin upon us all if we at least require our dread sovereign, determined to make war in our name, right and conscience be damned, to ask the consent of our elected body, as he is required to do under our Constitution. 10:06:22 AM    Emphasize This! [] Light Rayne Lately Philosopher, political polemicist, thinker about science and force of nature Rayne has assumed another aspect the last few days: poet of domesticity. Her closely-observed essays on the mid-day moms at McDonalds, exurban wildlife and birds of prey nesting in the backyard are all finely-wraught pieces of prose worthy of actual publication somewhere. Anyone scared off by her more tempestuous moments should be sure to give a look to these most excellent blogging efforts. 9:15:16 AM    Emphasize This! []

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