Revisiting first principles.
 | By Jyoti Thottam Deputy Op-Ed Editor |
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In 1803, about 25 years after the start of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson nearly doubled the size of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase. “It was a brash and profoundly ironic vision,” writes Pekka Hämäläinen in “Lakota America,” a sweeping look at the evolution of Indigenous power in American history. “Jefferson, a republican purist who loathed the idea of a robust federal government, had launched a massive projection of state power into the North American West.” |
That tension — between the founding ideal of liberty and the irresistible impulse of any state to assert itself — has never been fully resolved. Americans want clean air, clean water and safe food — public goods that are protected by laws and enforced by government agencies — but they also want to be left alone, to do as they please on their own property and make choices about their own lives (including whether or not to wear a mask), without the government getting too powerful. This contradiction lies at the heart of the hostility directed in recent years toward “the administrative state,” a favorite bogeyman of Steve Bannon, the former adviser to President Trump. |
In their essay published this morning, the legal scholars Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule argue that instead of trying to dismantle the administrative state or preserve the status quo, America should instead revise the concept of “rule of law” to include a moral dimension that can serve as a check against overreach. “This points to a way forward for the law, and a way to settle and regulate the intense conflicts over the administrative state,” they write. |
Sometimes, the most thought-provoking work we do in Opinion is to give our readers a chance to revisit first principles. Running headlong into a new world without doing so, as Jefferson did, can lead to generations of conflict. |
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The Evolving Electorate: The Gen Z and Millennial Vote |
Can young voters get excited about the election if they aren’t excited about the candidates? Which issues really motivate them? Today, Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m. ET, join deputy politics editor Rachel Dry as she explores strategies for combating voter apathy with comedian Ilana Glazer; Vic Barrett, a young climate activist; and Tara McGowan, chief executive of ACRONYM, a progressive nonprofit. R.S.V.P. here. |
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