accountabilitybloke

Limits of Judicial Activism I: The Spillover Effect of the US Supreme Court decision [Repost from CLMR, UNSW] (http://goo.gl/9k2T3)

The US debate over health care — and specifically about the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) — is truly a “local” issue. For those of us who believe US policy machinations ought to be a global concern, it would be shocking to learn that many folks in the rest of the world find the tumult over ACA a reminder of just how quaint and strange the American political system really is.

Obviously the same cannot be said for policy decisions (or non-decisions) related to economic matters that have clear global implications, e.g. financial regulation, transnational environmental policies, etc. Thus, the ACA-focused litigation that came to a head in Thursday’s Supreme Court decision might seem like an interesting sideshow. And the fact is, were it just about US health care policy, the case might just be of passing interest to international observers. But there is more to what occurred than non-Americans might think — both politically and (more important) constitutionally.

Politically, there is the possibility that the health care issue might become the THE focal point of the upcoming election — not only the contest for the White House, but also the races involving all of the US House and 1/3rd of the US Senate. The most obvious theme has already been struck when Mitt Romney took the podium and declared “repeal and replace” as his mantra (at least for now). Clearly, for those in the global community concerned about who will sit in the White House as the US’s “chief diplomat”. But there is also the matter of that tricky part of the ACA that was not given full backing by the Court: mandatory state participation in the Medicaid mechanism that was as important to implementation as the “individual mandate.” The foundation of this part of the ruling goes back to the principle that states (as sovereign entities in a federal system) cannot be forced to become agents of the federal government. They can be given incentives (through grants, etc.) to adopt and adapt to national laws, but they cannot be coerced — or for that matter “taxed” — into cooperation. In the decision, Roberts is very explicit about how to resolve this — convert the state mandate provision into a grant-giving provision. Simple enough, except for the fact that such a change would require a change in the ACA — a change that is likely to become a very heated political issue over the coming months.

And then there are the constitutional implications of the decision. By explicitly rejecting the rationale that the ACA individual mandate was justified under the Commerce Clause, the Roberts decision may have opened the floodgates to all sorts of challenges to US economic policies, especially in the regulatory arena. If such challenges emerge and are successful, the result may be a slow de-nationalization of American economic policy, which in turn can lead to a diminished role for the US in some sensitive sectors of the global economy.  Deregulation has been bad enough, but imagine what can happen when the central government’s authority over banks and other financial services are challenged and turned over to the states.

The ruling also sent a message to federal policymakers that taxing and “extraction” policies are more likely to pass constitutional muster than the assertion of national jurisdiction through regulatory policies and means. It boggles the imagination to consider all the different ways taxation can be used to pursue national policy objectives. Under due process standards, current law offers firms subject to regulation the ability to shape and challenge specific rules and rulings. But as long as it applied fairly and equitably, taxes do not allow for for the exercise of influence via bargaining, cajoling, etc.

The closest analogy is the “luxury tax” mechanisms used in major sports leagues to control the spending of teams. You can spend lots of money to buy the best players for your team, but at a certain point the tax kicks in at such progressively higher rates that only the foolhardy would invest more. Now, consider how this might be used in lieu of regulatory oversight for banks and other financial services companies. Want to make sure banks are not too big to fail? Impose a “luxury tax” mechanism. Want to stop excessive executive compensation? Use taxes. Of course, these tax-based mechanisms are already on the books in many jurisdictions, but at present it is one of several policy options. The Roberts decision in the ACA case may have cast doubt on the constitutional alternatives to taxation approaches.

For those of us in the States who are quite pleased with today’s decision as it related to health care (I happen to live in Massachusetts, the only jurisdiction with and ACA-like system already in place), the implications of the decision is quite positive. But those who view it from the outside as another bit of odd political Americana should not take the ruling too lightly. It just might have global impacts in the long run.

June 29th, 2012 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments

Pop culture punditry and the “science” of politics: A comment on Stevens’ OpEd

Jacqueline Stevens most certainly stirred up things a bit in the political science community with her OpEd in the New York Times today (Sunday, 6/24/12), and it was refreshing to see someone make explicit what many in the field already knew — as a discipline we are poor at predictions and even worse at prescriptions. In those two respects we are no better or worse (well, perhaps a bit better) than the pundits who engage in political predictions and prescriptions on a 24/7 basis.

Personally, I find the calls from journalists seeking my “expert opinion” on some matter related to my teaching or research extremely annoying, primarily because they are often doing little more than fishing for a quote that will support the pre-formed thesis of their article. In response I typically launch into an explanation of how complicated the political world is, and how they ought to step back and reexamine the situation. You can imagine such insight is unwelcome, particularly if they are under deadline….

But in fact, that is what we political scientists do best — we step back and try to understand the political world and develop the theories and models and methodologies that can help all of us “make sense” of that complicated universe. Stevens’ simplistic view of the discipline is just that — simplistic; stating that “accurate political predictions” are “the field’s benchmark for what counts as science” perhaps says more about her own circumstances than about the field. It amounts to a myopic caricature that reflects reaction rather than thought. Had she given some thought to her critique, she might have noted how diverse and rich the field is — and how it really can AND HAS contributed to the sciences of the social.

Case in point is the little acknowledged fact that there have been two Nobel prizes in economics awarded to political scientists who were in fact often funded by the NSF and other sources who do not take the concept of “science” lightly. What these two individuals (Herbert Simon in 1976 and Elinor Ostrom in 2009) had in common was a commitment to challenging conventional wisdom used by the “predictors” in economics and related fields — and in the process they developed alternative approaches to human behavior that have altered our thinking about social life in general.

For Simon, his views on the limits of human rationality not only reoriented economics, but led to significant changes in how we think about organized life in general. (And while he was at it, along the way he and Allan Newell founded the field of artificial intelligence). As for Elinor Ostrom, by insisting that theoretical assumptions underpinning policy options be put to the test empirically, she was able to break through the government-or-market debate and foster a greater appreciation of the human capacity to develop alternative governing arrangements.

The major point is that neither Simon nor Ostrom were predictors or prescribers; rather, they were political scientists who took the “science” part of their job seriously. The support they received from NSF and related funders was justifiable as investments in the science of human behavior. It is too bad that so many — Professor Stevens obviously among them — fail to appreciate the difference between pop culture punditry and what really takes place in those parts of our discipline where science trumps “expertise”.

June 24th, 2012 Posted by mjd | American Political Science Association, Herbert Simon, New York Times, political science | no comments

The Oxford Project: A Political Scientist Responds (Repost from UNSW CLMR site: http://bit.ly/J8hkcp)

The Oxford Project and False Trichotomies

Those of us engaged in thinking about the (ongoing) global financial crisis (GFC) are an “enlightened” bunch — daughters and sons of an Enlightenment who won’t rest until the cause of every problem is uncovered and workable solutions that deal with those causes are found. But we are also an impatient people, often too willing to accept simple explanations that will allow us to “get on with it” by developing equally simple solutions.

Of course, any academic analyst worthy of the designation will acknowledge the complexities involved in determining why something like the GFC occurred and would (when talking among themselves) raise questions about the simplistic policy responses being seriously considered. Our problem is that we are prone to be too responsive to the public clamor for answers, and thus fall into the trap set by those who want all discussions of policy problems and solutions reduced to easy explanations and quick policy solutions.

If you step back and examine the general policy debate that has entrapped us, you can see at least two false dichotomies. On the one hand is the choice between regulation and markets — as if there was nothing in between. The cause is either too much regulation or not enough, with too much (or too little) reliance on markets as the mirror view of cause and solution. On the other hand has been the choice between blaming the GFC on systemic factors or pointing the finger at individual misfeasance or malfeasance. As the pressure to don our “expert” punditry hats increases, we begin to talk as if these two simplistic and fallacious dichotomies ring true — and worse yet, we begin to believe them to be true and abandon our objectivity for advocacy. “Speaking truth to power” is part of our job — but we ought to make certain it is the truth we find credible rather than the truth policymakers want to hear.

Which brings me to the focus of the Oxford Project — a well meaning effort to refocus attention on the “micro-foundations” of the financial markets with the explicit theme that issues underlying the GFC are matters related to “trust.” The brilliance of this agenda is that it bridges and combines the regulation/markets and systemic/individual discourses by highlighting a pivotal aspect of both. Enhancing the trustworthiness of financial market decisions and decision makers clearly reduces (but does not eliminate) the need for regulation, and creating professional (moral) communities promotes ethicality and thus offsets some systemic pressures the can prove dysfunctional.

What has drawn the attention of those who have responded to the initial post on the Project by David Vines has been its call for the reintroduction of professional and ethical standards. However, the central question of the Project as expressed by Professor Vines seems to preempt further exploration of those micro-foundation by asking “what framework of moral obligations could and should be imposed on employees within financial institutions. What should the resulting ‘integrity system’ of professional obligation look like?” Without knowing the data generated in support of the implied contention that the problem is reducible to a question of trustworthiness, I can only assume there is more than anecdotal evidence to back it. If not, we have a logically begged question, and we have moved from false dichotomies to a false trichotomy (regulation, market and trust) that might draw us even further into the distraction of policy debates shaped as much by partisanship and ideologies as by the credible understanding of the problems policies should be addressing.

The case for the Oxford Project does have strong philosophical roots, and specifically in the work of no less a figure than Adam Smith — not the Smith of economic legend, but the ethicist author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) who made the case for the foundational role of trust in 1759 with the declaration that a “Moral Being is an Accountable Being.” And as anyone who has read TMS knows, Smith made a concerted effort to analyze both the nature and limitations of trusting relationships. He knew, for example, that trust built on accountability was critical to social life, but he also knew that extending that trust beyond the local community was possible but ultimately tenuous. Trust, like all other factors of human behavior and interaction, is as complicated as it is critical, and attempting to use it as a foundation for public policy is a risky business. Designing policies that seek to “impose” trust through so-called “integrity systems” would likely have the Smith of TMS extremely anxious, if not frustrated — an error that ignores our natural empathy and inclinations.

In lieu of designing and imposing integrity systems, perhaps we should devote more attention to broadening our understanding the nature and dynamics those “micro-foundations” and delve even deeper into the social milieu of financial markets. Focusing on professionalism and ethical solutions is worthwhile but might prove too narrow as a solution. What we are likely to need is a mixed approach to designing policies for dealing with (and most importantly, preventing) future GFCs — some regulatory, some managerial, some ethical, etc.. Markets and moral communities don’t just emerge — they are constituted by the trusting and accountable relationships which underlie current practices. Thus, while we often speak of reform, what we are really advocating is “reconstituting” ongoing relationships. We need to know more about those relationships before we take a stand on solutions.

May 18th, 2012 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments

The False Promise of Regulatory Reform (Repost from http://bit.ly/zbqmEE)

[My colleague Justin O'Brien recently launched a new portal for his Centre for Law and Regulation at the University of New South Wales. He invited me to post some thoughts about corporate accountability and regulatory reform -- and I delivered a two part analysis. Here is the second part -- the original is found at http://bit.ly/zbqmEE]

I have argued thus far that much of the global policymaking rhetoric emerging in response to the 2008 financial market collapse has been based on the two simple narratives that stress the role of corporate accountability as both cause and cure. Together these comprise the “policy theory” that underlies current government responses to the crisis.

Students of public policy are taught that the policymaking process is a messy business involving a clash of interests engaged in bargaining and compromises. But in many cases — especially those related to particular events or crises — policymaking also involves explicit or implied theories of cause and possible cures. The implied policy theory reflected in responses to the financial crisis triggered by the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers has been relatively clear: the economic turmoil resulted from deregulation and the subsequent lack of responsible behavior on the part of the banking community and especially major investment houses. It followed that what was needed was a reconstruction and reinvigoration of a stronger regulatory regime with the intent of strengthening corporate accountability in the financial industry and throughout the corporate world.

In an ideal world, theories are grounded in facts and constantly put to the test; in the world of policymaking they are often based on pure speculation and supported primarily by an unwarranted but strong belief in the theory and its veracity. The problem is that in policymaking such strong beliefs often trump efforts to weigh the evidence against a dominant theory or in support of alternative policy approaches.

At this juncture I have no intent to argue against the causal (explanatory) part of this policy theory, other than to note that most analyses indicate that the issues underlying the events of 2008 and the Great Recession that followed were more systemic than the theory implies. Deregulation and the lack of corporate accountability certainly factor into any explanation, but there is little evidence to back the argument that a future recurrence of the crisis will be prevented if we rebuild the regulatory regimes that began to dissipate from the late 1970s onwards. If that is the only major response, then we have certainly learned little of value from the economic collapse.

At the same time, I do not intend to argue against the cure part of the theory, for certainly any coherent policy response must take into account the need for greater corporate accountability in the future. The issue is whether regulatory regimes — new or reconstructed — are the only or appropriate policy responses to the need for a greater sense of corporate responsibility for the actions they take. There are alternative approaches that can be seriously considered.

Before outlining the alternatives, however, let’s revisit the issue of corporate accountability to place it in historical perspective. The issue itself is a creature of the “managerial revolution” that took root in the early 20th century. It  became a major cause for concern as corporate decisions and control passed from ownership to the emerging technocracy within the more successful enterprises. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the problems of accountability were primarily within corporations. They were typically resolved through policies based on such concepts as fiduciary responsibilities and other legalistic instruments that made mangers accountable to shareholders. In the public sector, similar concerns were being raised as governments turned increasingly to quangos and other forms of autonomous public enterprises. It was in this context that corporate accountability first emerged as a public policy issue in the form of how to make those public authorities and crown corporations more responsive to the public interest.

But it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that the public impact of private sector corporate decisions became increasingly evident and calls for greater corporate accountability found a place on the political agenda of most advanced economic systems. Because many of the issues being raised involved specific areas of corporate behavior (e.g., auto safety, the environment), regulatory solutions seemed most relevant. But there were those, like John Kenneth Galbraith, who were warning that the rise of corporate power and influence in the “new industrial state” called for more than just regulatory solutions. On this reading corporate accountability was a more systemic challenge. It required policies that went beyond merely making and enforcing rules. (Ironically, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial market collapse, those who turned to Galbraith’s writings ignored his warnings about the new industrial state and focused instead on his classic analysis of the 1929 stock market crash.)

What emerges from this brief overview is the idea that we need a multifaceted approach to the issue of corporate accountability, one that reflects the scope and range of the problems we are attempting to resolve. There is no doubt a place for (re)regulation where we are dealing with specific arenas of corporate behavior where malfeasance (criminal acts) or market indifference (externalities of corporate decisions on the environment and public health and safety) are possible or likely without government intervention. But such regulatory approaches are not designed to handle the broader, macroeconomic threats posed by irresponsible corporate decisions and behavior.

One such approach is the option of creating more responsible behavior through a “managed” economy in which corporations become part of an overall governance scheme that attempts to hold them accountable for their role in the general economy. Such a managed approach is often associated with now discredited (but at one time widely advocated) national economic planning policies. Nevertheless, in more subtle forms (e.g., industrial policies, economic development policies) the approach remains a viable and active means for inducing corporations to take the public impact of their decisions into consideration.

Another approach — one more often implied than explicitly advocated — is to alter the parameters and rules of the environment in with corporations operate. It involves reconstituting (or fiddling around with the design of) what organization theorists call the “task environment” of corporate enterprises. Underlying this approach is the assumption that accountability does not have to be created, but rather changed. “Moral beings are accountable beings,” wrote Adam Smith in 1759; it is in our social nature to be accountable, both as individuals and as organizations. Under this “constitutive” strategy, it is a matter of reshaping and redirecting the accountableness that already exists — to develop policies that foster and nurture a more desirable (i.e., moral?) sense of corporate accountability. We see this approach implied in the work of public choice theorists as well as in the work of the growing cadre of behavioral economists who seek to “nudge” rather than regulate or manage. On a practical level, we see it in the US with the development of B-corporation charters in a growing number of states that alters the fiduciary relationships required under traditional corporate law. Done mostly under the radar of mass media news coverage, this new charter allows B-charter firms the freedom to modify their operating norms away from the bottom line in order to explicitly serve more than shareholder interests.

Sadly, simple narratives and simplistic policy theories often carry the day when it comes to reform. Perhaps with a bit more public reflection and debate that can be changed. In the case of corporate accountability it is not too late.

March 12th, 2012 Posted by mjd | accountability, accountabilitybloke, accountable governance, corporate accountability | no comments

Finding the Cure for Corporate Accountability (Repost from http://bit.ly/xp0WOS)

[My colleague Justin O'Brien recently launched a new portal for his Centre for Law and Regulation at the University of New South Wales. He invited me to post some thoughts about corporate accountability and regulatory reform -- and I delivered a two part analysis. Here is the first part -- the original is found at http://bit.ly/xp0WOS]

March 12th, 2012 Posted by mjd | accountability, accountabilitybloke, regulatory reform | no comments

Need for Obama campaign to “mobilize bias”

In the past I have been rather coy about my partisan leanings among students, and perhaps there are some outside family and friends who wonder about my politics. But with the exception of a year or two flirtation as a young Barry Goldwater supporter in college (hey, I was only a freshman), I have followed the family tradition of being a Democrat through and through. I probably would have been more open about all that were it not for a serious case of cynicism about politics that came from the assassinations of the 1960s (I was VERY active in the RFK campaign in 1968) and the norms of studying political science in graduate school (objectivity, and all that…). By the time I started teaching, my modus operandi was to take either side of an issue (usually the one opposite whomever I was speaking with) and to avoid any sense of being partisan.

Thirty plus years later, however, I found myself openly (although not outrageously) supporting and giving money to the Obama campaign in 2008, and grumble as I might about what I perceived to be the performance of the White House over the past three years, I remain an Obama supporter (although now I give my money locally, to Elizabeth Warren; more on that later).

I bring this up because I am getting increasingly frustrated at what I regard as the lack of concern in the Obama campaign for what can only be termed “political energy”, and the continued ineptitude of the White House as exemplified by the recent flare-up over the coverage of contraceptives in the health care plan. It isn’t so much the substantive issue that is bothering me (any reasoned analysis makes it clear that such a policy is needed and more than justifiable), but rather the inability of the campaign — Obama included — to take advantage of the situation.  Right as they may be, the Obama folks are letting the GOP (as usual) set the rhetorical agenda. This approach proved a disaster in the 2010 election — by the time some of the Democratic Party leadership figured that out, it was much too late.

I get the sense that we are seeing a possible repeat of 2010, except now we are talking about the complacency of an organized presidential campaign as it sits back and waits for the inevitable outcome of the GOP to be assured. Yes, they are very proactive in raising funds and putting together the machinery required for a national campaign that must reach out to the grassroots. Heaven knows, hardly a day goes by that we don’t get some sort of email from the national campaign, the national Party, the state party, etc.  But there is something missing — which brings me to the point of this post…. But there is something critical missing.

We speak of political campaigns as if the key to success is “organization” — and there can be little doubt that unless you have the capacity to literally organize at all levels of the campaign, from the precinct to the convention, from the raising of funs to getting out the vote, you are less likely to have a decent chance at winning. In that regard, I don’t think we have ever seen anything like the Obama effort in 2008; and even now they are constantly building that campaign infrastructure into a major and massive operation. It is as if they took the community action and machine politics ops from Chicago and put them into effect nationwide. (Some people see that as a negative — but in American politics that is definitely a positive if the goal is, as it should be, to win elective office.)

But there is another dimension to political campaigning that is being ignored at this time, and that is the energizing factor that is best captured by a phrase used decades ago by political scientist E. E. Schattschneider: the mobilization of bias. There are certain terms and phrases that capture a phenomenon that is otherwise difficult to explain, but the mobilization of bias has always struck me as the second key necessary to win over and generate commitment on the part of the electorate. Perhaps it doesn’t get used much because the word “bias” sends the wrong message — and perhaps it is best to think of it as the mobilization of political energy and commitment. Whatever word you use to describe it, the mobilization of bias is what Harry Truman did as he whistle stopped his way to reelection in 1948 — even without a strong organization behind him. It was, I believe, what Obama really achieved (intentionally or not) in 2008 — and it is what they seem to be missing right now, or at least seem to care little about at the moment.

The GOP gets it — and that was their secret in 2010 as the Tea Party stalwarts put most of their effort into mobilizing bias. Were it not for that effort (greatly aided by Fox, Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh and company), the Tea Party types would just be a bunch of angry John Birch types holding meetings and putting out newsletters. The fact is, whatever traditional election-focused work emerged from the Tea Partyites developed out of a sense of immediate (and short-lived) rage that was central to getting out the vote, and once the victory was theirs and as time passed it became evident that whatever organization they had developed would dissipate. Rage and indication have short lifespans.  In the long term the benefit goes to the organized — but the cost of ignoring or delaying bias mobilization in an election can prove costly.

We first witnessed the GOP advantage in effectively mobilizing bias with the Scott Brown election here in Massachusetts. It was clear to all of us that there was really no grass roots campaign behind Brown, just a strong political energy that came together at just the right time. The Dems had the organization, but it was essentially passive and complacent for too long — counting on a sure bet, they failed to turn out the voters. In my town of Beverly, Democratic officials report that 1200 registered Democratic voters failed to vote that election, and it was noticeable at the polling places as well. As is the tradition in these parts, as you approach the polling place you are greeted with many of your friends and neighbors standing along the sidewalk with placards of support for their candidate waving hello. In that special election there were a dozen or so folks — but I do not recall any for Martha Coakley, Brown’s Democratic opponent. The sure bet turned into a disaster.

The bottom line is that if the Obama campaign waits too long to engage in bias mobilization and focuses strictly on organizing and funding, they might wake up next November as well organized and well funded losers. The need to be proactive in their advocacy of policies that seem controversial — they need to anticipate and preemptively deal with every vulnerability the GOP might seize on, not by withdrawing or compromising (unless there is a better option), but by providing a full throated defense that grabs the rhetorical agenda of the moment and runs with it. Without their ability to dominate the conversation — that is, to capture and mobilize the political bias of the moment — the GOP has little to stand on. This is, in a way, an extension of the very successful “war room” approach of the Clinton campaign in 1992, but in this case they should not just hang about waiting for the attacks….

If there is a current model to follow, by the way, it is the Warren for Senate campaign. There is a first class organizing and funding effort going on down to the precinct level, and but it is fascinating to watch is how Warren has taken to the task of  energizing folks by directly through forceful presentations that anticipated — and in part helped spur on — the Occupy movement. She is spending lots of time now “introducing herself” to Massachusetts voters in an effort to undermine the “Harvard professor/elitist” attack, but the heart of the campaign remains that viral video where she takes stands in defense of the consumer protection policies she helped shape. She is setting a tone for the campaign, but more importantly she has mobilized that dormant energy required to beat Scott. And just as the Obama folks picked up on Deval Patrick’s 2006 campaign themes for the 2008 run, they seem to have latched on to Warren’s approach. That is all well and good, but it is time to do more of that now — sooner rather than later….

February 13th, 2012 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments

NYTimes worthy? The annoying #Branca “discovery” story.

In re: Joshua Prager, “For Branca, an asterisk Of a Different Kind,” NYT, 8-15-11

This article, given front page status in the Monday Sports section of the New York Times, is both interesting and annoying. The annoying part is easy to articulate: not only because such stories are not unique (e.g., Madeleine Albright), but they are not surprising given the generation and era the subjects are drawn from. Whether part of the “children surviving the Holocaust” narrative or the “new immigrant creating a new identity” narrative, the decision of an increasingly secular Jewish diaspora during a period of intense anti-Semitism cannot be regarded as some shocking revelation that warrants above the fold coverage — even if in the sports section.

What is interesting and deserves attention is the way in which the article is presented, reflecting a sense that this “discovery” of Branca’s Jewish roots should somehow make a difference to him or to baseball (or to the world in general). Branca’s wife probably had it right by being somewhat dismissive of importance of the news that she had been “married to a Jew” all these years. Even Branca seems to take the position that this is all very interesting, but except for the renewed attention to his very minor role in a very minor part of American “popular culture” history, of what import is this news to him personally? Would it have made any difference if he had known he was Jewish, or that a Jew had given up the famous home run to Thomson?

As to its importance to the Jewish community, here we find some insight into a phenomenon of the 1950s and 1960s involving the Jewish community’s (secular and otherwise) desire to highlight the contributions those of Jewish descent had made to American society.  For me this effort reached its absurd (and hilarious) height with the lyrics to 1966 song, “Would you believe it?” that was part of a comedy album by Bob Booker (lyricist in this instance) and George Foster (“When you’re in love, the whole world is Jewish”):

I’ve had a lot of thrills in my life
Three kids, a gorgeous wife
(Such looks)
I’m thrilled about my car: a Riviera
My sister Sarah
And John O’Hara’s books
But the thrill of thrills that gave my heart a clout
Was the thrilling night when I thrillingly found out

Steve McQueen is Jewish would you believe it?
He’s just like you and I, couldn’t you almost die?
And Cary Grant is Jewish could you conceive it?
Such a living doll in a prayer shawl
Marlon Brando’s Jewish, Pat O’Brien and Richard Conte
Not to mention that lovely couple, Harry and Bela Fonte

Frank Sinatra’s Jewish would you believe it?
Sean Connery and Lyndon Johnson too
As a matter of fact the whole world is Jewish
Since I fell in love with you
Rosie McGonegal!
Since I fell in love with you

What might have been so important to the Jewish community of the 1950s and 1960s has faded as late baby boomers and their kids have shifted attention inward and focused on the personal nature of Jewish identity rather than community pride. Prager’s article on Branca would have been appropriately highlighted during the 1960s, perhaps; but for now it serves little purpose, except as a reminder of the “alien” character of Jewishness in the US and the distance we as a nation have travelled culturally over the past half century. Had he pursued those aspects of the story, it would have been worthy of its place in the Times.

But I do have to admit that, as an early baby boomer, I now have a little tune playing in my head (“Kevin Youklis is Jewish, would you believe it?”)….

August 15th, 2011 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments

Benefiting from “shares” in the New England fishing and farming communities

Until recently, my culinary thoughts about fish have been limited to the price and size of cans of tuna and anchovies, as well as the occasional salmon (in its various forms). Unless I was at Legal Seafoods or some similar restaurant (or happened to pay attention to the seafood assortment at Whole Foods on our occasional visit there), I have rarely faced a list of fresh fish options to contemplate.

That has all changed over the past month as we’ve become part of what is fast becoming a New England “foodie” movement: the Gloucester-based Cape Ann Fresh Catch Community (CAFC). The brief description at the website gives you the facts (see also coverage on WGBH), but the value of this endeavor is in the tasting. I have already noted my growing interest in the subject of fisheries management (see last post), but suddenly I am interested in the various types of fish that are landing on our dinner plates on Thursday evenings.

Which brings me to a bit of reflection….

I am not one to think a good deal about childhood memories — growing up in a Brooklyn working class tenement  during the 1950s was interesting, I guess, but few things stand out except for the fact that it was not anywhere near the suburbanite “Leave It To Beaver” or “Father Knows Best” ideal that the media fed us at the time. One thing I do recall was the regimen of the weekly dinner menu — on certain nights you ate certain types of meals. One night was chicken, one was beef, one was some Eastern European concoction of my grandmother’s choice (that I now appreciate more than ever), etc.  I do recall quite clearly that for some reason Thursday nights was “dairy night,” which typically included canned tuna or salmon. Other than that, I do not recall any night being devoted to fish, although I have always associated weekend mornings eating “whitefish” and having lox with cream cheese and bagels.

But back to our “new” Thursday night tradition and the CAFC story….

The CAFC scheme for my town (Beverly MA) involves signing up for a “season” of fresh catch deliveries on Thursday afternoons at a specific location. Between 4 and 6 PM, my wife and daughter (we share a weekly 2 pound “Fillet share” with her) pick up whatever has been determined to be the weekly fresh catch (an email comes out a day or so before with specifics and suggested recipes), and by seven in the evening it is on our dinner plates (thanks to Randi’s new found genius with on-the-spot cooking) typically in some awesome form.

We have now completed three weeks of the summer schedule, and thus far the menu has been striped bass, Atlantic pollock (an “alternative” to the overfished cod and haddock), and redfish (either an ocean perch or — less likely — a red snapper that is sometimes found off the southern New England coast). (Wikipedia does come in handy when you know absolutely nothing about what you are eating!)

Making Thursday dinners even more interesting is that spouse and daughter have also purchased “shares” in a community supported farm on the North Shore – and during the growing season they make regular Thursday afternoon treks to the Long Hill Farms CSA to gather up whatever greens and vegetables are ready for the table.

With all this, and despite the winters, is it any wonder folks fall in love with New England….

August 13th, 2011 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments

Reflecting on fisheries, public administration and “The Great Gulf”

Doing some summer side reading, and at moment it is about the management of New England fisheries — particularly in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. In addition to location, my interest comes from two “accidental” sources: a superb segment of a superb series of CBC programs on How to Think About Science first aired in 2009; and the work of a student enrolled in one of my courses who happened to be affiliated with a UNH program focusing on fisheries management (actually part of a larger consortium)..

I recently came across a comment online (cannot recall exactly where) that if you want to understand the problems and prospects of the New England fisheries, you need to read three books: Junger’s The Perfect Storm, Kurlansky’s Cod, and (the basis of this post) David Dobbs’ The Great Gulf.

The basic theme of Dobbs’ work is reflected in the book’s subtitle: “Fishermen, Scientists, and the Struggle to Revive the World’s Greatest Fishery”. For me the fisheries management “struggle” is a fascinating (if offbeat) case study of the tensions inherent in “governance”, and therefore a classic example of issues facing contemporary public policy making and public administration. From a PA perspective, the tensions manifest themselves in the history of the US Bureau of Fisheries — an agency that we ought to be studying in greater detail. At the outset (Part I, which is where I am now in my casual reading of the book), Dobbs focuses on the work of one individual, Henry Bryant Bigelow, who seemed to have bridged the gap between the fishermen and scientists for decades. One of his central contributions was to link up two fields of study (oceanography and the study of fisheries) which were surprisingly indifferent to each other despite their obvious connection. Oceanograhy, Dobbs explains, was the study of oceans without a concern for fishes or fisheries — and vice versa.

Besides the inherently interesting story of this mypoic behavior related to the New England fisheries, I found the pre-Bigelow situation of the two fields comparable, perhaps, to the divisions that have characterized the relationship between PA theorists and practitioners. Bigelow, as the founding director of Woods Hole Labs, did not end the tension (the rest of Dobbs’ book attempts to provide an observer’s view of the ongoing “struggle”), but he did attempt to construct an institutional bridge between the two. Which got me thinking about the  role played by some major organizations (e.g., ASPA, NAPA) in the PA field….

August 11th, 2011 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke | no comments

Are debt ceiling acts inherently unconstitutional?

Initially I thought the idea absurd, but have now come around to the view that, under the Constitution, there is no need for a debt ceiling bill. In fact, I’d go further: any debt ceiling bill is in fact unconstitutional — and thus all this debate is much ado about nothing.

The argument is relatively simple and based on a basic Constitutional premise: nothing can be done by the US federal government unless it is authorized by legislation. In fact, authorization obligates government officials to take actions required by congressional mandate, including spending those dollars appropriated by Congress to carry out the authorized actions.

Whatever debt the US government has, in other words, is a result of congressionally authorized expenditures. Period.

The same general premise applies to any actions taken by US government officials (i.e., the much demeaned bureaucracy): there can be no action, whether involving expenditures or no, without authorization.

With one major exception: government officials can (and MUST) act in accord with provisions of the Constitution. The Constitution trumps Congress! If Congress was to require actions on the part of government officials contrary to provisions of the Constitution, they can either refuse to do so or take the actions and leave it up to the Court to make a determination in regard to the constitutionality of the authorization.

These are the basic lessons of American constitutional history.

With that in mind, the very notion of a debt ceiling law is questionable — and one wonders whether this act is really nothing more than an unnecessary symbolic gesture that has somehow become institutionalized.

A very conservative reading of the relevant provision of the 14th Amendment (Section 4: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned…”) establishes the authority of Treasury to pay any and all bills incurred by authorized public officials in carrying out congressionally authorized activities. In the jargon of constitutional law, it establishes a “plenary power” in the Treasury that cannot be trumped — not even by Congress.

While put into the 14th Amendment in order to deal with controversies surrounding debts incurred during the Civil War (a second clause effectively prohibited the payment of any debt incurred by the Confederacy), its importance and meaning was really established when the Supreme Court upheld the emergency actions taken by FDR and Congress during the early days of the New Deal.

In short, there is no need for a simple debt ceiling act — and there probably never was.

Of course, there is a fly in the ointment. The 5th section of the 14th Amendment can be used to justify and support the constitutionality of the debt ceiling acts. It gives Congress the “power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of the article.” In a sense, debt ceiling acts can be regarded as constitutional under this section, but the devil would be in the details.

If a debt ceiling act is to be seen as meaningful as an enforcement mechanism under Section 5, it is really as an act of indirect congressional appropriation that supports a plenary power already authorized by the Constitution. Unless the act includes specific provisions that de-authorize programs or explicitly cut appropriations already authorized by Congress (which is what the current debate is over), the Treasury remains obligated to pay the debts of the US — even it is lacks the blessing of a debt ceiling act.

So, where does that leave us?

The current debate in Washington is not over raising the debt ceiling per se — but rather over attaching provisions to it that would in fact alter the obligations of the US Treasury to pay the bills it has been authorized to pay. But if no debt ceiling act is passed as a result of stalemate over these hotly debated provisions, there is nothing stopping Treasury from fulfilling its Constitutional obligations and to incur further debt in pursuit of maintaining the “validity” of American obligations .

The bottom line is that, in its usual form, the debt ceiling act is mere symbolism and nothing more. In fact, one can imagine that the constitutionality of the gesture itself can be challenged as unconstitutional since, by its very nature, it raises “questions” about the “validity of the public debt of the United States”….

July 23rd, 2011 Posted by mjd | accountabilitybloke, debt ceiling act, Obama, US Constitution, US politics | no comments