Dear Michael,
Yes, the Civil Rights Act of l964. I have not read Pearlstine’s book on Goldwater but saw the extensive notice of it in The New Yorker, which tells me (now, us) things I didn’t know, though Goldwater and National Review faced the same problem in l964 when the bill was drawn up. We learn from the book that Goldwater agonized over how to vote, but we learn also that he asked advice of two people, a young attorney in Phoenix and a fledgling academic at Yale. The lawyer, William Rehnquist, advised that in his opinion, the act was unconstitutional. Robert Bork wrote a 75-page memorandum outlining his views. I imagine that the piece you refer to in the New Republic gave those views.
At National Review we opined against the bill for reasons I suppose are the same as those given by Rehnquist and Bork. What interests me at this point is your saying that it has been a “success.” I agree but wonder about the role that retrospective success plays in matters of this sort. Before I forget it, we should pause to note that that was the same act that Sen. Humphrey promised to eat if ever it were adduced as authority to deny to nonwhites a civil liberty.
I’d have voted against the bill, but if it were out there today, I’d vote for it, precisely for the reason you gave. I’d vote with trepidation, however, for the obvious reason that successful results cannot necessarily legitimize the means by which they were brought about. If civil war might have been avoided by other of means preserving the union and paving the way for minority rights, that would have been a good thing, right? My (probably unoriginal) definition of statesmanship is the avoidance of crisis. I was on the side of not permitting the Nazis to march in Skokie. That reflects not only my resistance to absolutizing rights (an issue, you earlier suggested, that comes up in connection with McCain-Feingold), but also that I don’t believe in the rights of others to plot the destruction of rights.
But this is a little dull, so perhaps it doesn’t matter that I really am running out of time. I saw the Oklahoma City explosion memorial and felt no qualm about the forthcoming end of Mr. McVeigh. Forgive the haste.
Ever,
B
