• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Jolley on Cass Sunstein

A

Anonymous

Guest
Latest News View All Jolley: Five Minutes With The Myth That Is Cass Sunstein
09/17/2009 02:56PM

Time to clear up a few things about Sunstein. First, he’s a bright guy. You might not like his politics but you don’t get to be a constitutional law professor at Harvard if the old gray matter isn’t fully functional. He does have some off beat ideas about animal rights, though.

A few days ago, Sunstein was confirmed as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. As Obama's "Regulatory Czar," he will be responsible for approving all the rules and regulations proposed by federal agencies. Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association quickly expressed disappointment. A few other animal ag organizations also raised a red flag.

"TSCRA is very concerned that Sunstein, a vocal animal rights activist, will allow his personal feelings against animal agriculture to shape federal regulations that will ultimately harm the cattle industry," said TSCRA President and rancher Dave Scott.

Important distinction #1: He is responsible for approving rules and regs, not writing them. Quick sigh of relief.

Fox News host Glenn Beck, who has been known for occasionally doing a great impression of Chicken Little on things that fall on the left side of the political aisle, said this a year-and-a-half ago: "The day may not be far off, animal lawyers say, when animals are not only present in the court room but participating in the proceedings."

Beck floated the idea that a rancher might be dragged into court by a disgruntled cow. Beck's worst fears are based on a paper Sunstein wrote in 2002. He argued that individuals as well as the state should be able to file suit for animal cruelty – meaning your neighbors might be able to get after you if they think you’re too harsh with the herd. .

What Sunstein said is animal-cruelty laws are enforced only when a public prosecutor files charges. He thinks it’s an "enforcement gap" that should be closed by allowing anyone to file civil lawsuits.

"The very idea might seem absurd," he wrote, "but it is simpler and more conventional than it appears. Just as a child might be represented by an adult human, so, too, would an animal.”

Important distinction #2: The folks at HSUS/PETA and their fellow travelers have already begun playing that card, using undercover video to prod the local D.A. into action. Nothing new here.

Still, a fearful writer for the Center for Consumer Freedom said this about Sunstein: “As the individual about to assume “the most important position that Americans know nothing about,” Sunstein owes the public an honest appraisal of his animal rights goals before taking office. Will the next four years be a dream-come-true for anti-meat, anti-hunting, and anti-everything-else radicals? Time will tell. For now, meat lovers might want to stock their freezers.”

What led directly to the Sunstein fear was a book called Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions, edited by him and Martha Nussbaum. You should take a few hours to read it. Sunstein’s real or imagined influence notwithstanding, it’s a blueprint for the future of the animal rights movement.

Sunstein clarified his thoughts in a 2007 speech at Harvard University: "[Our] willingness to subject animals to unjustified suffering will be seen as a form of unconscionable barbarity… morally akin to slavery and the mass extermination of human beings."

Important distinction #3: That horse is already well out of the barn; long gone down the trail, never to return. We’ve all survived with rules about dog fighting (just ask Michael Vick), beating a horse and cockfighting. Most animal ag people were serious practitioners of proper animal care, anyway. Again, nothing new here.

If you want to worry about something, listen to this Sunstein quote: "We ought to ban hunting, I suggest, if there isn't a purpose other than sport and fun. That should be against the law. It's time now."

So Sunstein would play Duck, Duck, Goose with your hunting season, gradually putting everybody out of that game. Ducks Unlimited, Whitetails Unlimited and United Sportsmen of America should be very careful here. No more long walks out to the marsh on a frigid morning, no hiding out in a blind, waiting for a deer to stroll by – the ‘season’ will be gone forever.

Beck's panic isn’t shared by other conservatives. Obama’s boys pointed out that Sunstein was endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, C. Boyden Gray and the Wall Street Journal. Forbes magazine, the foremost chronicler of all things conservative, got behind the Sunstein nomination, calling him ‘Neither an easy ally, nor a wilting lily.”

Writers Richard L. Revesz and Michael A. Livermore said “The painful costs of under-regulation are widely apparent: from a real estate bubble built on bad lending practices, to the looming threat of climate change. Some business leaders may not admit it, but good regulation saves society money by setting the rules of the road. Without wise regulation, economic growth too often comes with a price tag that is more than it is worth.”

Revesz and Livermore called him not a friend of the extreme right or left, but a compromiser; a good thing in these days of marginalizing politics. “Today, it is not ideological purity that will save us, but sound judgment and a pragmatic spirit willing to take what we need from all perspectives, and leave the rest.”

Bottom line: Sunstein isn’t the cleverly disguised devil Beck would have you believe. Unless, of course, hunting is your passion. Then you better keep an eye on him.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
"There is no reason to believe that in the face of statutory ambiguity, the meaning of federal law should be settled by the inclinations and predispositions of federal judges. The outcome should instead depend on the commitments and beliefs of the President and those who operate under him," argued Sunstein.

This statement was the central thesis of Sunstein's 2006 Yale Law School paper, "Beyond Marbury: The Executive's Power to Say What the Law Is."
 
Top