Summary: The Kavanaugh hearings are lawfare at work, using our social norms and systems against us. Most recognize that this is a circus, but can neither explain why nor see a way out.
“What is left of the integrity of law and the responsibility of lawyers if legal provisions are turned into strategic tools to fight an enemy?”
— From “The Curious Career of Lawfare” by Wouter G. Werner in the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, issue 1 of 2010.
Lawfare (domestic use): The tactic of using – or misusing – law as a substitute for traditional political means to achieve an operational objective.
In Of War and Law
“Kennedy uses the notion of lawfare to address some fundamental concerns regarding the role of law in {political} affairs. The first concern is that a widely shared strategic attitude toward …law may eventually undermine the normative force of law. Specifically, if all parties concerned believe that legal arguments are produced merely to gain …political advantage, the integrity of law is at stake. Debates on the legality or illegality of behaviour then turn into a dialogue of the deaf …..as we use the discourse more, we believe it less – at least when spoken by others.”
Lawfare is a powerful tool, against which nobody has developed a defense.
This is the politics of America today, as seen in the Kavanaugh hearings. Over two centuries, justices of the Supreme Court have seized vast and ill-defined powers. Lifetime tenure with almost no de facto accountability makes them the undemocratic core of our current political regime (details here). A no-limits struggle for control of it is logical and inevitable.
An unlimited number of bien pensant liberal women willing to tell lurid stories of sexual assault, always a hot button in America (as many lynched African-Americans found). They testify in Cinderella mode (not warrior woman mode, I don’t need help from anyone).
Intense cross-examination is seen as unfair. “Survivors” of sexual assault cry watching their testimony. Liberals believe anything other than uncritical acceptance is evil. Even the best of the Left have joined the lawfare campaign against Kavanaugh. Extreme language is the order of the day.
Inquisitorial patriarchal gerontocracy needs to be wiped from the face of the earth.
— Chase Madar (@ChaseMadar) September 27, 2018
A massive body of research proves that people – even police and attorneys – cannot reliably evaluate the truth or falsity of testimony. Yet this simple truth is ignored by everybody, including journalists. It ruins the narrative. So we get an audition, graded as performance art.
I cannot respect people who were impressed by Kavanaugh’s surly and blubbering mess of a denial. Be you rich, poor, or middle class, if you lap that up you’re a dumb hick eager to lick the master’s riding boots.
— Chase Madar (@ChaseMadar) September 28, 2018
For the narrative to succeed you must not remember that false rape accusations by women are common. And that lies are an effective tool for political activists (when people no longer in Hell or care about honor).
Democratic Senators entered thousands of letters expressing tribal support for Ford into the record, as if that was evidence. Senator Feinstein invited actress Alyssa Milano to the hearing, as if she had any relevant expertise. The result was a circus, but not a fun circus.
This is lawfare. Democrats use the format of the hearings to create a morality play projecting a powerful emotional message. In modern America, social mechanisms of logic and law are easily manipulated – even overwhelmed. As a result, the government’s legitimacy erodes (also a goal of the far-right, since both Left and Right have turned against us).
This is another sign of the senescence of our political regime. We can no longer adapt to new challenges. People turn our own systems against us and we respond with befuddlement. Our future looks dark if we cannot do better.
Posts about the Kavanaugh hearing
- The Kavanaugh hearings’ warning: the Court is so powerful that extreme measures are appropriate to take control of it.
- Hidden knowledge: false rape accusations by women are common.
- Lies are a useful and appropriate tool to use for political conflicts.
- The Kavanaugh hearings: lawfare used against us.
- The heart of the Kavanaugh hearing is our false confidence in our ability to tell lies from truth.
For More Information
Ideas! For shopping ideas, see my recommended books and films at Amazon.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about the Supreme Court, about truth, about Reforming America: Steps to New Politics, and especially these…
- Lilliput or America – who has a better way to choose its leaders?
- The Democrats believe we are stupid. Are they correct?
- “Lawfare” – using the law to undermine the Constitution (a powerful tool in the quiet coup now in progress).
- Trump’s win revealed the hollowness of US politics. Stronger leaders will exploit this.
- Can we love the Constitution without knowing what it says?
- The Constitution is dying.
Introducing “lawfare” and other forms of modern war
Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Master Plan to Destroy America
By two then-Colonels in the People’s Liberation Army. From the publisher …
“A sobering and fascinating study on war in the modern era, Unrestricted Warfare carefully explores strategies that militarily and politically disadvantaged nations might take in order to successfully attack a geopolitical super-power like the United States. American military doctrine is typically led by technology; a new class of weapon or vehicle is developed, which allows or encourages an adjustment in strategy. Military strategists Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui argue that this dynamic is a crucial weakness in the American military, and that this blind spot with regard to alternative forms warfare could be effectively exploited by enemies. Unrestricted Warfare concerns the many ways in which this might occur, and, in turn, suggests what the United States might do to defend itself.
“The traditional mentality that offensive action is limited to military action is no longer adequate given the range of contemporary threats and the rising costs – both in dollars and lives lost – of traditional warfare. Instead, Liang and Xiangsui suggest the significance of alternatives to direct military confrontation, including international policy, economic warfare, attacks on digital infrastructure and networks, and terrorism. Even a relatively insignificant state can incapacitate a far more powerful enemy by applying pressure to their economic and political systems. Exploring each of these considerations with remarkable insight and clarity, Unrestricted Warfare is an engaging evaluation of our geopolitical future.”
