The Constitution is trash. It's not fit-for-purpose. Promising start with the Preamble; but the dog's breakfast when it comes to laying out the means to accomplish those lofty goals.
We should probably be skeptical of constitutionalism and I wouldn't blame anyone for saying it's a waste of time to think in terms of what a better one would like. Still, I'd be surprised if many haven't imagined how we could do better about having it all written out. Writing an alt-history or near-future novel, the author'd have to figure out where the break happens and how the transition from the society we live in now based on that white supremacist, oligarchic document to the this utopian fantasy would look. None of that here though.
This isn't something I'm going to package up and send to congressperson as a suggestion or anything; it's a different sort of exercise. My scrivener is filled with fragments of novels: character sketches, rough outlines, chapters of first drafts, and ideas that felt like something but never became anything. This is one of those fragments, a bit of world building for a text that's as unlikely to be produced as anything like this new constitution coming into being.
At the gym yesterday morning I saw on Fox News and CNN that Lindsey Graham had died. Good riddance. He was bloodthirsty monster and the Senate, not to mention the world generally, is a better place without him actively trying to get children murdered in it.
However, what I couldn't help but notice was that in the 10 minutes or so of coverage that I watched there was nothing about Mitch McConnell. Now, since yesterday morning a hilarious proof-of-life photo showing McConnell with that day's newspaper positioned under hand while his wife seemed to be helping him stay upright has been released. So the speculation that he had died back on June 14th has been addressed.
Still, it is insane to me that the media coverage of Lindsey Graham's death minimally danced around there being questions about Mitch McConnell. And that for all the talk of him taking calls and discussing Senate business with leadership and one MAGA troll from CNN none of their stories could be verified. They didn't release a video of him picking up a newspaper, reading, and turning to discuss the news with his wife or a staffer. Nope, a still photo of him with a prop newspaper positioned under his hand so it could be identified. For nearly a month the corporate media gave him a pass and did no reporting, except to note that there were questions. Useless.
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Beyond Folk Marxism: Mind, Metaphysics, and Spooky Materialism | Salva☭e
China Miéville’s prose is a specific kind of joy: dense, academic, fascinating, and incredibly enriching. But if you're not in the mood for it and -- like me -- need to be willing to do some look-ups while reading, I can see it being off-putting. No shame ... I found myself looking up tout court, au fond, au fait as I was reading -- not to mention the actual philosophical terms. (Could he have just used the word "simply" instead of tout court? Maybe. Probably? But some measure of richness and nuance would've been lost.)
So, if you aren't eager to read Miéville's prose to begin with, why read his essay and the responses to it at all? What are the stakes here? I'm not convinced they're as high as all involved seem to think, but I was intrigued enough to do the reading anyways.
The concluding paragraphs read:
[O]ne thing is undeniable. Once you’ve argued your way out of an ontologically materialist universe, of the many varieties of metaphysical idealism on offer, theism is probably not the most unlikely.
Of course, it also raises its own manifold problems, not least that of theodicy – evil. But of all Richard’s ‘alarming things’ perhaps the most so is that theism also, in fact, solves an awful lot of problems ...
are you going to figure if that's where all this is going, why bother? Because theism is a dead-end and no amount of poking at materialist, dualist, and idealist answers to questions about what consciousness even is are going lead us to appeal to the divine. Asserted undeniability of theism's greater than least unlikeliness notwithstanding.
My hot take: Miéville isn't trying to sneak spirituality or a "ghost in the machine" back into left-wing thought -- but I do think he's being a bit of a provocateur and deliberately inviting speculation that this feint towards theism is a precursor to a reactionary turn. What I haven't got a bead on is how that move advances his diagnosing of a profound theoretical failure that directly leads to deep political frustrations.
I was looking for Miéville while dismantling the watery weak emergence metaphor as sufficient basis for understanding consciousness to theorize some kind Weird Emergence strong enough give Marxists an actionable understanding of consciousness. Not a project I'm capable of taking on. Just a blogger here who took some 100s and 200s level philosophy classes decades ago. Fluss and Frim have an informed, thoughtful response that advances the discussion in ways I'm not equipped to, so I recommend taking in both sides of the exchange of ideas as well as Breht and Alyson's discussion on Rev Left / Red Menace. (Finding the youtube link for this post and letting it start playing, I realize what I called "my hot take," may actually have been implanted by Alyson in her prefatory remarks when I first listened and decided to check out the essay. Ah well, everything's a remix anyways.)
Pluralistic: The Nuremberg Caucus
The Nuremberg Caucus could vow to repurpose ICE's $75b budget to pursue Trump's crimes, from corruption to civil rights violations to labor violations to environmental violations. It could announce its intent to fully fund the FTC and DoJ Antitrust Division to undertake scrutiny of all mergers approved under Trump, and put corporations on notice that they should expect lengthy, probing inquiries into any mergers they undertake between now and the fall of Trumpism. Who knows, perhaps some shareholders will demand that management hold off on mergers in anticipation of this lookback scrutiny, and if not, perhaps they will sue executives after the FTC and DoJ go to work.
While they're at it, the Nuremberg Caucus could publish a plan to hire thousands of IRS agents (paid for by taxing billionaires and zeroing out ICE's budget) who will focus exclusively on the ultra-wealthy and especially any supernormal wealth gains coinciding with the second Trump presidency.
Money talks. ICE agents are signing up with the promise of $50k hiring bonuses and $60k in student debt cancellation. That's peanuts. The Nuremberg Caucus could announce a Crimestoppers-style program with $1m bounties for any ICE officer who a) is themselves innocent of any human rights violations, and; b) provides evidence leading to the conviction of another ICE officer for committing human rights violations.
Who will be the first elected Democrat to even acknowledge Mr. Doctorow's proposal?
