The concept of law and order has been central to our nation, yet divisiveness is tearing at the fabric of democracy.
Consent and compromise are keys to repairing the damage.
That was among the key takeaways from two leading experts on the constitutional system discussed at the recent George Washington Leadership Lecture Series at Mount Vernon in Washington, D.C., whose topic was the rule of law, how it was established in the U.S., why it is central to our republic, and how it has evolved.
In a wide-ranging, 70-minute presentation moderated by Lindsay Chervinsky, Ph.D., a presidential historian, and Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library, two attorneys – Michael Waldman and Gregg Nunziata – agreed that our system of government breaks down when lawmakers toss consent and compromise out the window.
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Find Out MoreWaldman, president and chief executive of New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan institute that focuses on improving systems of democracy and justice, cited President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs and domestic use of the military, among other moves, as a sign of presidential power run virtually unchecked.
“There is an ideological desire to expand the presidency and its power that in my view goes well beyond the normal hunger for power that we expect people to have in the White House,” said Waldman, whose institute is a leading national voice on voting rights, money and politics, criminal justice reform, and constitutional law.
“This is … something beyond what we have seen in this country,” added Waldman, who served as the top presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton.
The common good
Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law, a center-right group that focuses on strengthening the rule of law, noted that George Washington set the groundwork for our understanding that there is something special about being governed by rules and that it was important to write the rules down.
Without the rule of law, said Nunziata, “democracy is just two mobs competing to win the power with which to destroy each other. The rule of law is what allows us to have the kind of freedoms, order, and dynamism that we have in our country.”
Waldman added: “The rule of law was not a fixed thing, but there was a shared understanding that you had to appeal to it. You had to make your arguments trying to show that your vision of the rule of law was the right vision as opposed to just saying the heck with it …
“Building new institutions that actually work for the people requires a recommitment to a shared understanding of how we all have to live together to the rule of the law even if we don’t [always] like the outcome.”
A frustrated senator
Waldman and Nunziata agreed that consent and compromise is vital to keep the government running.
“We as Americans and as voters need to demand from our leaders that they will take an approach [to government] that understands that it’s not winner-take-all, but that we’re all in this together,” said Nunziata, a public policy professional and veteran of the conservative legal movement who played a key role in the confirmation proceedings for scores of federal judges and executive branch appointees.
“And that means working with the other side to the extent possible, and to compromise as necessary or tolerate when you must.”
Nunziata recalled a senator saying to him recently that there is nothing in it for him when he does the right thing.
“And it was a senator who often does the right thing, but he was frustrated,” Nunziata said. “He was like, ‘When I do the right thing, people get mad at me from my side and the other side doesn’t give me any praise. You know, I’m doing this just because I care about my country.’ And I thought, well, that’s awfully sad. We need to do something as a people to change incentives for our governing class.”
Christopher Boone, dean of the USC Price School of Public Policy and C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Chair, noted at the Oct. 16 event that the lecture series, now in its 12th year, is meant to highlight the life and lessons of the first president to bring “inspiration to our students, which is my No. 1 job, and to seek to positively impact policy and government for the common good of all citizens.”
The annual George Washington Leadership Lecture Series at Mount Vernon is sponsored by the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington.
The lecture series was established through a gift by Maribeth Borthwick (’73), vice regent for California of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the non-profit that preserves and maintains the Mount Vernon estate originally owned by Washington’s family.
