As a 70 year old female, I have benefited immensely from the destruction of the norms that governed women’s lives when I was growing up. I now live with a level of freedom I never could have imagined as an 18 year old. So the whole discussion about the value of norms is complicated.
One thing the Trump years taught us, in an unfortunate…
As a 70 year old female, I have benefited immensely from the destruction of the norms that governed women’s lives when I was growing up. I now live with a level of freedom I never could have imagined as an 18 year old. So the whole discussion about the value of norms is complicated.
One thing the Trump years taught us, in an unfortunate way, is the surprising fact that many gears in our federal functioning are based on norms, not laws. When there’s a brigade of Republicans who don’t even follow laws (like holding campaign events on the White House grounds), what power does a flimsy norm (like releasing presidential tax records) have?
Excellent point! But a very sad one! When you have to have a law to make people barely civil, you may be in trouble. And I think we do need laws requiring candidates to have some kind of basic knowledge if not values or morals or character or integrity. For starters.
Exactly. Norms are complicated, but I'd be happy if we could enforce existing laws. If we ever get to that point, where we punish lawbreaking, then we can start looking to shore up norms.
As a 70 year old female, I have benefited immensely from the destruction of the norms that governed women’s lives when I was growing up. I now live with a level of freedom I never could have imagined as an 18 year old. So the whole discussion about the value of norms is complicated.
One thing the Trump years taught us, in an unfortunate way, is the surprising fact that many gears in our federal functioning are based on norms, not laws. When there’s a brigade of Republicans who don’t even follow laws (like holding campaign events on the White House grounds), what power does a flimsy norm (like releasing presidential tax records) have?
Excellent point! But a very sad one! When you have to have a law to make people barely civil, you may be in trouble. And I think we do need laws requiring candidates to have some kind of basic knowledge if not values or morals or character or integrity. For starters.
Exactly. Norms are complicated, but I'd be happy if we could enforce existing laws. If we ever get to that point, where we punish lawbreaking, then we can start looking to shore up norms.