Brian Cook
@2ndadminstate.bsky.social
330 followers 170 following 1.3K posts
Tinkering with the Constitution has failed. The American commercial republic must be reconstructed. Professor Emeritus of Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech. Constitutionalism and administration, administrative ethics, environmental policy.
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2ndadminstate.bsky.social
Here is the essence of the American republic’s dilemma. Those with considerable wealth and control over productive assets do not necessarily need a regime of self-government to sustain their lifestyle and wealth-generating pursuits. But the republic needed them if was to prosper over time.
Reposted by Brian Cook
bcfinucane.bsky.social
I'll add that the President's "Standing Authorities" as commander in chief do not in fact authorize the violation of federal criminal laws—including those on murder.

To the contrary, Article II of the Constitution imposes a duty upon POTUS to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
Please add mass fire to the effects of detonation in or above urban areas. The initial thermal pulse ignites practically everything in a wider radius than the blast effects by creating its own local weather that feeds the fire.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
The US tried patronage, and then rejected it for so-called neutral competence, which still is the default normative basis. But experts aren't neutral. There are disciplinary biases, agency biases, and administration is inherently political. New thinking is required.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
When we have an opportunity to rebuild it, we will need a different normative basis than neutral competence. I've proposed several possibilities over the past 30 years, but the question is what normative foundation for the civil service will be most broadly acceptable politically. Not sure yet.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
To Protect and To Serve, I guess?
"Though tear gas was classified as a chemical weapon in 1993 and banned from use in international warfare, law enforcement officers are still allowed to use it on civilians in the United States."
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
maybe it is time for that new public to emerge from this crisis, and for "a fully inclusive polity [to form] a strong constitution of its own."
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
the reformation." I agree with your argument that a constitution is useless if one segment of the polity rejects the progress toward full inclusion and trashes the law and constitution in the process. We should enforce the constitution we have! But . . .
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
If you will permit me one last point, after rereading the last five pages, there is a slightly more hopeful message anchored in John Dewey's views, "that a public [will] form that [is] both strong enough to break with old forms and resilient enough to accommodate a more fully inclusive polity in
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
My skeletal summary doesn't do the book justice. You wouldn't find everything in it to your liking and that's okay. I also think what you are saying is kind of a version of where he is. Maybe.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
The Mayor of Casterbridge is Thomas Hardy’s best, with a final page revealing the life lessons and true strength of who proves to be the heroine.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
can no longer work. Everybody has retreated to the constitutional text. But the Constitution is not, cannot be, the solution to this problem. We are stuck at this crossroads so to speak, with only bad responses being advanced. He doesn't offer a way out.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
His main thesis is that as the US has moved toward expanding inclusion, it found ways to work around the constitutional obstacles to that. But those work arounds always had some groups still excluded from full constitutional protection. Now that we've gotten close to full inclusion, the old formula
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
My book proposing a big structural change still has validity but now I’m really starting to rethink it after reading Stephen Skowronek’s new book, The Adaptability Paradox. Finding agreement on ways to cooperate across structural divisions is key. The Constitution is not the solution to a puzzle.
Reposted by Brian Cook
rudalev.bsky.social
Indeed so. The only major effort was to repair the Electoral Count Act. Important - but reforms to the National Emergencies Act, the Civil Service Reform Act (to bar Schedule F), the Insurrection Act, etc., should not have been out of reach.
qjurecic.bsky.social
Congressional Dems and the Biden admin should have put more effort into passing post-Trump reforms. We need more aggressive reform than what was on offer then, but it could really have helped
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
Memo to folks hoping to put in place robust reforms after the fascist nightmare ends —
Please add this to your list of targets for real reform: www.americanbar.org/groups/publi...
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
Situation awareness is a really underappreciated responsibility, especially elusive in business it would appear.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
Despite its flaws, one of the very good things about the New Deal public philosophy was the expansion in who deserves public honors from individuals enriching themselves to public servants and collective endeavors. Now like so much else, we’ve retreated from much of that to our cultural detriment.
Reposted by Brian Cook
protectdemocracy.org
Action Alert: @joycewhitevance.bsky.social explains one thing you can do right now to help protect the right to vote. "[F]lood the zone with common sense about voting." https://protdem.org/473cz56

Don't forget our guide to what makes an effective public comment. https://protdem.org/44iTPiu
A Thing You Can Do Right Now To Help Protect The Right To Vote
The U.S.
joycevance.substack.com
Reposted by Brian Cook
avishaybsg.bsky.social
🧵 I'm excited to share that my article "Democratic Backsliding and the Limits of Civilian Control of the Military" has been accepted @thejop.bsky.social.

It answers the question "how ought militaries act when civilian leaders turn on democratic institutions?"

1/
#CivMilSky #PolTheory
Reposted by Brian Cook
donmoyn.bsky.social
New, from me:
Trump's 3 step plan to create a military omniforce
1. Purge - those deemed disloyal
2. Merge - different parts of law enforcement/military
3. Surge - impose the omniforce on Dem cities; instigate unrest; assert dominance; silence dissent
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...
Purge, Merge, and Surge
Trump is creating a omniforce of armed loyalists to establish his police state
donmoynihan.substack.com
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
courts are a significant source of counter force so far. Finally, some of us can work to preserve and protect the value of knowledge-based authority despite the devastation being wrought on the US civil service. If you want to fight, then pick up the weapon that best suits you and get to work.
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
initiating impeachment and removal. Maybe it's a broken mechanism, maybe not. Others can help protect the integrity of elections in their localities and states. Still others can work to put economic pressure on the regime. Yet others can help support those using the legal process. The lower federal
2ndadminstate.bsky.social
while we cannot be sure what the future will bring, we can set about now working to improve the chances of a better outcome despite the array or forces against it. We don't all have to do everything. Some can help ratchet up the pressure on a enfeebled Congress to start pushing back, and even