Bad Law
Ten laws (and one amendment) that still do massive harm and should die.
Mechanisms
Airline failures as body blows, not Darwin wins
Market Darwinism hides the human wreckage of each 'efficient' exit — failure is socialized even when profit is not.
There is truth in that, of course, but what the market Darwinists always fail to mention is that each of these airline failures was a body blow to thousands and thousands of workers who lost their jobs.
Why it matters
Market Darwinism hides the human wreckage of each 'efficient' exit — failure is socialized even when profit is not.
Use when: Use when creative destruction talk skips the workers on the wreck.
Party shame mirrors abortion shame
Political support can reproduce the stigma it claims to fight — allies act embarrassed of the people they defend.
Just as society seeks to shame women who get abortions, so have the men running the Democratic Party largely acted as though they’re ashamed to support these women as well.
Why it matters
Political support can reproduce the stigma it claims to fight — allies act embarrassed of the people they defend.
Use when: Use when coalition behavior feels like moral quarantine.
Contradictions
Out of status — and somehow that explains the shot
Immigration status is smuggled in as causal for violence without a mechanism — narrative glue, not evidence.
Zárate was out of status at the time of the shooting, but not one person has been able to explain to me how or why that possibly mattered or made any difference in the tragic death of Kate Steinle.
Why it matters
Immigration status is smuggled in as causal for violence without a mechanism — narrative glue, not evidence.
Use when: Use when a status label is doing explanatory work it cannot earn.
Questions
Gamble your life on a white-run system
Due process is sold as fair procedure while the house demographics make the bet asymmetric.
How many of those people are poor and Black and eager to gamble their entire lives on getting a fair opportunity to make their case in a criminal justice system run by white folks?
Why it matters
Due process is sold as fair procedure while the house demographics make the bet asymmetric.
Use when: Use when 'just take it to trial' ignores who runs the courtroom.
Stand Your Ground when life is not in danger
Self-defense doctrine expands into felony-stop lethal force — the word 'defense' outruns the threat.
Did you notice that in Florida (as in most other Stand Your Ground states), you can use deadly force when your life is not in danger and to stop the commission of a felony or what you perceive to be a felony?
Why it matters
Self-defense doctrine expands into felony-stop lethal force — the word 'defense' outruns the threat.
Use when: Use when a statute is doing offense under a defense brand.