Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Participatory government

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was the guest on the NPR show On Point this evening. The invitation to the show came because Breyer's book Making Our Democracy Work; A Judge's View has just been published in paperback. The conversation (the recording is about 52 minutes) was about these basic ideas:

* There is a respect for and confidence in the institution (no one rioted after Bush v. Gore) and we need to maintain that respect and confidence.

* Yes, the Supremes sometimes get it wrong. The Dred Scott case is perhaps the worst example. Over time the bad ones get overruled.

* The values in the Constitution are timeless. The world we live in changes every five minutes. It is difficult to figure out how those values fit in the changing world.

* Democracy is a participatory government. We must participate. We must listen to the ideas of the other 308 million Americans and do our best to explain our ideas.

* The book was written to explain what the Supremes do. That should be taught in high school civics class (and was when I was a senior).

The website has transcripts of parts of the show. There is also an excerpt from the book.

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