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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   26925 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 25, 2023

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  1. There have been all of two female African American senators in the history of the Senate. I don’t personally care, but that is a fact.
  2. I believe there are currently 6 Hispanic senators and 3 African American senators, so African Americans are underrepresented in the Senate, compared to Hispanics.
  3. The last time Gavin Newsom appointed a senator, to replace Kamala Harris, he appointed Alex Padilla, who is Hispanic.

This would be supremely unreasonable if applied to other groups like Jews

Of course, for decades there was a de facto "Jewish seat " on the Supreme Court.

I was looking at congress as a whole where the sample size is more reasonable.

Of course, for decades there was a de facto "Jewish seat " on the Supreme Court.

If we truly cared about representation matching the population then there wouldn’t be a Jew on the Supreme Court, let alone an informal reserved seat.

I was looking at congress as a whole

And if Congress was unicameral, that would be great. But it isn't.

If we truly cared about representation matching the population

I'm not sure who "we" is. Because I didn't say that. There is a big difference between 1) "It is fine if appointments are made in a manner such that all groups have at least some representation" and 2) "Every group should have representation which exactly matches their percentage of the population."

And if Congress was unicameral, that would be great. But it isn't.

If we don’t care at all about sample sizes then all committees and subsets of congress should also be representative.

I'm not sure who "we" is.

Quit the semantic games for just one second please. “We” is obviously anyone who claims to care about “representation”. The Democratic Party claims that the entire country should care about that.

There is a big difference between 1) "It is fine if appointments are made in a manner such that all groups have at least some representation" and 2) "Every group should have representation which exactly matches their percentage of the population."

There are lots of minorities that are completely unrepresented in various government bodies. Let’s take the SCOTUS for instance where the last seat was explicitly promised to go to a black woman (and did), despite blacks as a group already being fairly represented. Where is the representation for the Asian-Americans? For the Senegalese-Americans? For the Australian-Americans? To the Democratic Party, “representation” is merely a giveaway to groups most likely to vote Democrat.

If we don’t care at all about sample sizes

The point is about camerality (if that is a word), not sample size. The Senate has veto power over legislation. If I gave Wyoming 50 seats in the House but none in the Senate, should its residents not complain because, overall, they are overrepresented?

Quit the semantic games for just one second please. “We” is obviously anyone who claims to care about “representation”.

That's my point. How about addressing the points I make, rather than those you think someone else might make?

To the Democratic Party, “representation” is merely a giveaway to groups most likely to vote Democrat.

  1. Which goes all the way back to my initial point, which is that the reason the OP is fairly described as uncharitable is that it failed to acknowledge the possibility that there might be a legitimate reason for Newsom to appoint an African American woman to the seat.
  2. If your point is that politics is a factor that goes into Supreme Court appointments, congratulations for stating the obvious. There is a reason that Donald Trump and other Republicans go in front of evangelical groups to brag about the Dodd decision. And, no, Clarence Thomas was not the most qualified candidate when he was nominated. Nor was Sandra Day O'Connor when she was nominated.

The only reason for doling out political appointments based on race, sex, etc. is “racism/sexism/etcism is good, actually”.

I do find it hard to give any charity to that view, I will admit.

And some people think that the only reason to oppose abortion rights is to oppress women. Those people are also wrong. Perhaps you need to some reading on democratic theory, or on political legitimacy. You might find that there are, indeed, other reasons, even if you personally don't agree with them. Perhaps the writing of Lani Guinier re evangelical Christians might be a place to start.

It wouldn’t be so blatant if they didn’t pre-announce the race and sex of their appointees. Even just the plausible deniability of not doing that would improve the optics.

Immediately narrowing the universe of candidates based on race and sex is definitionally racist and sexist.

The “political legitimacy” of the racial spoils system of South Africa surely provides much comfort to its citizens.

It wouldn’t be so blatant if they didn’t pre-announce the race and sex of their appointees. Even just the plausible deniability of not doing that would improve the optics.

Why would one need plausible deniability for doing something that you think is sound policy?

Immediately narrowing the universe of candidates based on race and sex is definitionally racist and sexist.

No, it is definitionally discriminatory. That is not the same as racist/sexist. And sometimes both racial and gender discrimination are fine. There are lots of boys-only and girls-only schools out there, after all.

The “political legitimacy” of the racial spoils system of South Africa surely provides much comfort to its citizens.

Political legitimacy does not guarantee good policy, and it seems to me that South Africa has greater threats to the political legitimacy of its government than its "racial spoils system." And Taiwan, Belgium, New Zealand, Singapore and Croatia seem to be doing fine, despite having ethnic quotas in their legislatures. I note that South Africa does not seem to have such quotas. Perhaps it would be doing better if it did?

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