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Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic
Americans have a love-hate relationship with government. Rejecting bureaucracy--but not the goods and services the welfare state provides--Americans have demanded that government be made to run like a business. Hence today's privatization revolution.
But as Jon D. Michaels shows, separating the state from its public servants, practices, and institutions does violence to our Constitution, and threatens the health and stability of the Republic. Constitutional Coup puts forward a legal theory that explains the modern welfare state as a worthy successor to the framers' three-branch government.
What legitimates the welfare state is its recommitment to a rivalrous system of separation of powers, in which political agency heads, career civil servants, and the public writ large reprise and restage the same battles long fought among Congress, the president, and the courts. Privatization now proclaims itself as another worthy successor, this time to an administrative state that Americans have grown weary of. Yet it is a constitutional usurper. Privatization dismantles those commitments to separating and checking state power by sidelining rivalrous civil servants and public participants.
Constitutional Coup cements the constitutionality of the administrative state, recognizing civil servants and public participants as necessary--rather than disposable--components. Casting privatization as an existential constitutional threat, it underscores how the fusion of politics and profits commercializes government--and consolidates state power in ways both the framers and administrative lawyers endeavored to disaggregate. It urges--and sketches the outlines of--a twenty-first-century bureaucratic renaissance.
But as Jon D. Michaels shows, separating the state from its public servants, practices, and institutions does violence to our Constitution, and threatens the health and stability of the Republic. Constitutional Coup puts forward a legal theory that explains the modern welfare state as a worthy successor to the framers' three-branch government.
What legitimates the welfare state is its recommitment to a rivalrous system of separation of powers, in which political agency heads, career civil servants, and the public writ large reprise and restage the same battles long fought among Congress, the president, and the courts. Privatization now proclaims itself as another worthy successor, this time to an administrative state that Americans have grown weary of. Yet it is a constitutional usurper. Privatization dismantles those commitments to separating and checking state power by sidelining rivalrous civil servants and public participants.
Constitutional Coup cements the constitutionality of the administrative state, recognizing civil servants and public participants as necessary--rather than disposable--components. Casting privatization as an existential constitutional threat, it underscores how the fusion of politics and profits commercializes government--and consolidates state power in ways both the framers and administrative lawyers endeavored to disaggregate. It urges--and sketches the outlines of--a twenty-first-century bureaucratic renaissance.
312 pages, Hardcover
Published October 23, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 20, 2017
Serious, thought-provoking stuff....
If you've ever wondered how - over the last 35 years or so - (or, for that matter, if you weren't even aware that) - legions of private sector ("contractor") personnel have replaced federal civil servants (and, for that matter, young men (and women) in uniform), this should interest you.
But that's just the state of play or the trend - or, in other words, that's water over the dam. The larger question is what might the modern era of outsourcing (or privatization or contracting out) - the hollowing out of the bureaucracy - mean to us, as a nation, and for our future? It's an (incredibly) important (and thorny) question.
In Constitutional Coup, Michaels tracks, describes and explains the breadth and depth of the long-standing privatization debate in the United States. Basically, he wrote the book because he fears that today’s privatization norm—expansive reliance on at-will and desperate-to-please contractors, rather than tenured civil servants—concentrates too much power in the hands of the executive branch (or, more specifically, politically appointed agency heads).
Constitutional Coup, is not a light, summer page-turner. Rather, it is a serious academic (and, for that matter, legal academic's) meditation, recommending not only that we apply the brakes to the outsourcing train, but that the future of our nation depends on taking a meaningful, substantive, principled, fundamental step back. The book poses the largely aspirational constitutional case for a greater commitment to the civil service. Michaels calls upon the courts to exert judicial custodialism to promote a well-functioning administrative separation of powers. And he implores Congress to provide more "support for the currently beleaguered and oft-marginalized civil service; increase the level and quality of public participation in administrative proceedings; and minimize bad-faith obstructionism.” These are perfectly reasonable recommendations (even if they may fall on deaf ears).
Full disclaimer: This book isn't for everyone. The author, no doubt, is an incredibly smart guy, and his arguments reflect a lifetime of serious study and scholarship. His writing exhibits not only the breadth of his knowledge, but also his command of a rich, colorful and expansive vocabulary. Frequent flashes of memorable, quotable and sublime prose break up what might otherwise be dense, impenetrable and complex concepts.
If public policy - or, for that matter, the business of government - interests you, give it a try.
If you've ever wondered how - over the last 35 years or so - (or, for that matter, if you weren't even aware that) - legions of private sector ("contractor") personnel have replaced federal civil servants (and, for that matter, young men (and women) in uniform), this should interest you.
But that's just the state of play or the trend - or, in other words, that's water over the dam. The larger question is what might the modern era of outsourcing (or privatization or contracting out) - the hollowing out of the bureaucracy - mean to us, as a nation, and for our future? It's an (incredibly) important (and thorny) question.
In Constitutional Coup, Michaels tracks, describes and explains the breadth and depth of the long-standing privatization debate in the United States. Basically, he wrote the book because he fears that today’s privatization norm—expansive reliance on at-will and desperate-to-please contractors, rather than tenured civil servants—concentrates too much power in the hands of the executive branch (or, more specifically, politically appointed agency heads).
Constitutional Coup, is not a light, summer page-turner. Rather, it is a serious academic (and, for that matter, legal academic's) meditation, recommending not only that we apply the brakes to the outsourcing train, but that the future of our nation depends on taking a meaningful, substantive, principled, fundamental step back. The book poses the largely aspirational constitutional case for a greater commitment to the civil service. Michaels calls upon the courts to exert judicial custodialism to promote a well-functioning administrative separation of powers. And he implores Congress to provide more "support for the currently beleaguered and oft-marginalized civil service; increase the level and quality of public participation in administrative proceedings; and minimize bad-faith obstructionism.” These are perfectly reasonable recommendations (even if they may fall on deaf ears).
Full disclaimer: This book isn't for everyone. The author, no doubt, is an incredibly smart guy, and his arguments reflect a lifetime of serious study and scholarship. His writing exhibits not only the breadth of his knowledge, but also his command of a rich, colorful and expansive vocabulary. Frequent flashes of memorable, quotable and sublime prose break up what might otherwise be dense, impenetrable and complex concepts.
If public policy - or, for that matter, the business of government - interests you, give it a try.
November 2, 2017
Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Public is one of those books that drive me crazy. It should be read by everyone who cares about good governance but is written with that kind of baroque academic language that ensures the people who need to read won’t get past the introduction.
Privatization of government services has expanded rapidly and dangerously over the years. It is aided by our tepid defense of public servants and the civil service. It has come to the point where the phrase “good enough for government work” is understood as minimal competence rather than the original meaning of excellence. We seem to have forgotten why we have a civil service in the first place, a rejection of the disgrace of patronage and graft that typified Gilded Age government.
The founders did not imagine this fledgling America would expand from thirteen to fifty states and two to two hundred million, so they did not imagine a need for any sort of expansive administration state. We’re missing an article in our Constitution, though Michaels is too polite to say so.
Michaels’ contribution is pointing out that the civil service mirrors the separation of powers the founders originally conceived. Presidents appoint several hundred executives who are tasked with managing departments to reflect executive will. Civil servants prove their professional competence through testing and standardized hiring protocols. With their positions protected from partisan leverage, they echo the learned independence of the judiciary. Then we Regulations.gov and other avenues to allow the general public to voice their opinion embodying the legislative function. Together, they conform to the three functions of government, a constitutional balance of powers we should be using to vigorously defend the administrative state. But we don’t.
We let opponents of government regulation and progressive government assert that the bureaucracy is unconstitutional, a usurpation of power. This allows them to push a new privatization that elevates the executive over the other branches of government. How critical this is was recently revealed by the bizarre no-bid contract awarded to a two-man power company in Montana to restore electricity in Puerto Rico. This is also reflected in the private contractor cook chopping onions earning three times the salary of the soldiers he’s feeding, not to mention the millions earned by the huge military contractor companies whose are insulated from audits, oversight, and even prosecution at times.
FIVE STARS
On one hand, I want everybody to read Constitutional Coup. I have already tagged friends who care about governance, pushing this book on them. We need the power of Michaels’ arguments, the scholarship, history, and evidence he marshals with precision and authority to defend the administrative state, public service and the idea of professional, nonpartisan, civil service. This book promises a lot and delivers everything it promises.
There is real integrity in Michaels argument. He presents the argument of those who push privatization fairly. He does not create straw men, move the goal posts, or engage in logical fallacies. His rigor in presenting his argument is sustained by his fair and painstaking consideration of its opposite. This is academic reasoning at its best.
TWO STARS
On the other hand, this is one of the worst examples of dry academic writing I have read. For example, he used the word perdure. I have a wide vocabulary and recognized the word from other baroque academic texts. I am that word nerd who will log into my library account and see why perdure is better than a more common synonym and sure enough there is a small justification for using perdure. Unlike endure, persist, continue, or last, it actually means last forever. But, really? Even though folks will understand from context it means endure or continue, no one will know from context it means endure forever.
That’s just one example and it’s not what I found most tedious. My real problem was his rigorous adherence to Dale Carnegie’s advice to “Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.”
Carnegie was talking about talking. It is still a good idea to introduce what you plan to say and recap when you’re done, but Michaels actually writes that he is going to tell us a, b, and c and then tells us when he will tell it, then tells us that he told us, and then repeats it again for the next section. Then he reminds us later what he told us and tells us what chapter he is going to tell us the next thing. I think if you cut out all the Carnegie structure, you would lose a third of the text.
So I am conflicted. What I really want is for journalists to read this book and distill its important contribution to our understanding of governance and the administrative state into articles and opinion columns that move his ideas into circulation. I want Rachel Maddow and Joy Ann Reid to interview him. I want Kevin Drum, Nancy LeTourneau, and Joshua Holland to popularize his ideas because his ideas are far too important to rely on him to communicate them.
As for Michaels, there’s a couple of books on my list of books I want to read that I suggest he take a look at, too. (Don't Be Such a Scientist and Houston, We Have A Narrative)
I was graciously provided a copy of Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Public by Harvard University Press.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
Privatization of government services has expanded rapidly and dangerously over the years. It is aided by our tepid defense of public servants and the civil service. It has come to the point where the phrase “good enough for government work” is understood as minimal competence rather than the original meaning of excellence. We seem to have forgotten why we have a civil service in the first place, a rejection of the disgrace of patronage and graft that typified Gilded Age government.
The founders did not imagine this fledgling America would expand from thirteen to fifty states and two to two hundred million, so they did not imagine a need for any sort of expansive administration state. We’re missing an article in our Constitution, though Michaels is too polite to say so.
Michaels’ contribution is pointing out that the civil service mirrors the separation of powers the founders originally conceived. Presidents appoint several hundred executives who are tasked with managing departments to reflect executive will. Civil servants prove their professional competence through testing and standardized hiring protocols. With their positions protected from partisan leverage, they echo the learned independence of the judiciary. Then we Regulations.gov and other avenues to allow the general public to voice their opinion embodying the legislative function. Together, they conform to the three functions of government, a constitutional balance of powers we should be using to vigorously defend the administrative state. But we don’t.
We let opponents of government regulation and progressive government assert that the bureaucracy is unconstitutional, a usurpation of power. This allows them to push a new privatization that elevates the executive over the other branches of government. How critical this is was recently revealed by the bizarre no-bid contract awarded to a two-man power company in Montana to restore electricity in Puerto Rico. This is also reflected in the private contractor cook chopping onions earning three times the salary of the soldiers he’s feeding, not to mention the millions earned by the huge military contractor companies whose are insulated from audits, oversight, and even prosecution at times.
FIVE STARS
On one hand, I want everybody to read Constitutional Coup. I have already tagged friends who care about governance, pushing this book on them. We need the power of Michaels’ arguments, the scholarship, history, and evidence he marshals with precision and authority to defend the administrative state, public service and the idea of professional, nonpartisan, civil service. This book promises a lot and delivers everything it promises.
There is real integrity in Michaels argument. He presents the argument of those who push privatization fairly. He does not create straw men, move the goal posts, or engage in logical fallacies. His rigor in presenting his argument is sustained by his fair and painstaking consideration of its opposite. This is academic reasoning at its best.
TWO STARS
On the other hand, this is one of the worst examples of dry academic writing I have read. For example, he used the word perdure. I have a wide vocabulary and recognized the word from other baroque academic texts. I am that word nerd who will log into my library account and see why perdure is better than a more common synonym and sure enough there is a small justification for using perdure. Unlike endure, persist, continue, or last, it actually means last forever. But, really? Even though folks will understand from context it means endure or continue, no one will know from context it means endure forever.
That’s just one example and it’s not what I found most tedious. My real problem was his rigorous adherence to Dale Carnegie’s advice to “Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.”
Carnegie was talking about talking. It is still a good idea to introduce what you plan to say and recap when you’re done, but Michaels actually writes that he is going to tell us a, b, and c and then tells us when he will tell it, then tells us that he told us, and then repeats it again for the next section. Then he reminds us later what he told us and tells us what chapter he is going to tell us the next thing. I think if you cut out all the Carnegie structure, you would lose a third of the text.
So I am conflicted. What I really want is for journalists to read this book and distill its important contribution to our understanding of governance and the administrative state into articles and opinion columns that move his ideas into circulation. I want Rachel Maddow and Joy Ann Reid to interview him. I want Kevin Drum, Nancy LeTourneau, and Joshua Holland to popularize his ideas because his ideas are far too important to rely on him to communicate them.
As for Michaels, there’s a couple of books on my list of books I want to read that I suggest he take a look at, too. (Don't Be Such a Scientist and Houston, We Have A Narrative)
I was graciously provided a copy of Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Public by Harvard University Press.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
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