{"id":27817,"date":"2012-05-08T16:33:58","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T22:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/08\/unlearned-lessons-from-history-still-some-more.html"},"modified":"2012-05-08T16:33:58","modified_gmt":"2012-05-08T22:33:58","slug":"unlearned-lessons-from-history-still-some-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/08\/unlearned-lessons-from-history-still-some-more.html","title":{"rendered":"Unlearned lessons from history (still, some more)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Precedent is a sucky thing. And we've been setting really sucky national security and international activity and civil rights precedents for the last eleven years, across GOP and Democratic administrations and majorities alike.<\/p>\n

" If you\u2019re faced with this question \u2014 should President X have the power to impose Punishment Y on Bad Person Z? \u2014 and you answer in the affirmative based on your adoration for or trust in current President X, or your belief in the wisdom and justness of Punishment Y in the specific proposed case, or your acute scorn for Bad Person Z, you\u2019re actually doing much more than ratifying this power in a single instance, even if that\u2019s the limit of your intention. Whether desired or not, you\u2019re affirming \u2014 and entrenching \u2014 the legitimacy of the principle itself, ensuring that this power will be exploited in ways you can\u2019t control. When enshrined without checks, the endorsed punishment power will inevitably \u2014 necessarily \u2014 endure, and even grow, beyond the reign of the leader you trust to future leaders you don\u2019t, and will be applied against not only those you believe are deserving of it but those you know are not."<\/i><\/p>\n

Or, as LBJ put it: "You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered."<\/i><\/p>\n

I made the argument back on these things when it was Bush, and that the GOP would rue all the precedents they were setting and legislation they were supporting. How would they feel when it was (hypothetically) Hillary in the White House.<\/p>\n

The same is true for the Dems and Obama. Even if (a big if) you support his actions, do you want the next president to be able to do the same sort of things?<\/p>\n

\n

Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA vital (and unlearned) lesson from Julius Caesar<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen a band of Roman traitors was uncovered, he urged they not be killed due to the precedent it would set\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Google+:<\/strong> View post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Precedent is a sucky thing. And we've been setting really sucky national security and international activity and civil rights precedents for the last eleven years, across GOP and Democratic administrations and majorities alike. " If you\u2019re faced with this question \u2014 should President X have the power to impose Punishment Y on Bad Person Z? … Continue reading “Unlearned lessons from history (still, some more)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":131196,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/03\/denver-has-sucky-mobile-coverage.html","url_meta":{"origin":27817,"position":0},"title":"Denver has sucky mobile coverage","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Aug-16 7:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"In fact, it appears to be last in the nation in the most populous 125 cities. Which, for a metro area that thinks of itself as high-tech and a communications hub, is pretty incredible. Or disappointing.It would be nice to think that the carriers would respond to a report like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8297,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/12\/22\/off_in_faerie_3.html","url_meta":{"origin":27817,"position":1},"title":"Off in Faerie","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 22-Dec-05 11:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"Flight was just fine (in terms of it being more or less on time, sucky otherwise, it being overly crowded, quite warm, with desultory service and the usual excessive wait...","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/travel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1191,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/02\/yet_another_com.html","url_meta":{"origin":27817,"position":2},"title":"Yet another company benefit down the tubes","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 2-Oct-01 10:15am","format":false,"excerpt":"I have no idea why, but our corporate Internet access is majorly sucky. The latency (I suspect) is so bad, that pages time-out left and right. I was on the...","rel":"","context":"In "Job Jollies"","block_context":{"text":"Job Jollies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/job-jollies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2290,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/07\/16\/sucky_stuff.html","url_meta":{"origin":27817,"position":3},"title":"Sucky stuff","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 16-Jul-02 11:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"Someone I know got invited to resign today. Someone I've known since I came to my job here in Denver. Someone I've worked alongside, had over to the house with...","rel":"","context":"In "Job Jollies"","block_context":{"text":"Job Jollies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/job-jollies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16218,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/11\/18\/tweets-from-2009-11-18.html","url_meta":{"origin":27817,"position":4},"title":"Tweets from 2009-11-18","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Nov-09 12:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow. I'm never really much for taking vendor cold calls, but right now you're lucky I don't crawl through the line and cut you ear-to-ear. # Okay, so a sucky day can in fact be improved by having Cold Stone ice cream served in the conference room. #","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49079,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/26\/pretty-pictures-from-the-2014-natgeo-photo-contest.html","url_meta":{"origin":27817,"position":5},"title":"Pretty Pictures from the 2014 NatGeo Photo Contest","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 26-Dec-14 5:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Some gorgeous stuff.The original material is here -- http:\/\/photography.nationalgeographic.com\/photography\/photo-contest\/2014\/ -- but the interface there is kind of sucky. On the other hand, it does offer an option to download the pictures as wallpaper. Winners of the 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest National Geographic Magazine just announce the winners of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}