[lbo-talk] The Note: Alito's in

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Carrol:
> The obsession of many leftists with the SC is a holdover from the days
> of the Warren Court, a period which everyone should have known wouldn't
> last. SC-dependence became addictive, and leftists simply have to work
> on curing that addiction.
> 
> The courts are not a friend of the people. They never have been except
> for very short and periods and by accident.

I rarely agree with Carrol, but I do on this one - except for his rather
frivolous use of the word "the people," which means anything anyone wants it
to mean, i.e. nothing in particular.

But the point that the left has become "addicted" to something that was a
historical accident is well taken.  This was indeed a strategy for
legislating progressive social change without changing the regressive nature
of the US society - it worked for a while mainly because of the Cold War
situation, but it is unlikely to continue.  This is not the way for pushing
for progressive changes anymore - or at least this is not a substitute for
mobilizing, changing the core values, building institutions, etc.  

I personally doubt that such mobilizing, changing core values, and
institutions building has any chance of succeeding in this country in the
foreseeable future, but I could be and sincerely hope to be wrong.  But
whatever the perceived prospects for success, there is no substitute for it.

Wojtek