A Time to Speak: Selected Writings and Arguments (American Ideals & Institutions)

A Time to Speak: Selected Writings and Arguments (American Ideals & Institutions) | Hon. Robert H. Bork | Highly enjoyable and intellectually stimulating

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	A Time to Speak: Selected Writings and Arguments (American Ideals & Institutions) Hon. Robert H. Bork Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2008 - 750 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Since at least 1971, when he published a seminal article on constitutional interpretation in the Indiana Law Journal, Robert Bork has been the legal and moral conscience of America, reminding us of our founding principles and their cultural foundation. The scourge of liberal ideologues both before and after Ronald Reagan nominated him for the Supreme Court in 1987, Bork has for fifty years unwaveringly exposed?and explained?the hypocrisy and dereliction of duty endemic among our nation?s elites, the politicization and adversary activism of our courts, and the consequent degradation of American society.

Now, for the first time, Judge Bork has gathered together his most important and prophetic writings in A Time to Speak, including a foreword and commentary by the author. The volume includes more than sixty vintage Bork contributions on topics ranging from President Nixon to St. Thomas More, from abortion to antitrust policy, and from civil liberties to natural law. It also includes several of his judicial opinions and transcribed oral arguments. A Time to Speak is an indispensable book for all who have harkened to the truths spoken so forthrightly, in season and out, by this great American original.

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Coerced into Virtue

This hefty tome (715 pages) brings together essays and legal opinions written by Bork over a period of 45 years. It will undoubtedly help to seal Bork's standing as one of our era's foremost commentators on law and culture--particularly the struggle to preserve Western culture against its postmodern detractors.

Bork identifies one of the foundations of the postmodern attack as the uneasy alliance of individualism and egalitarianism. As he writes in his essay "Hard Truths About the Culture War" (1995):

"Individualism and egalitarianism may seem an odd pair, since liberty in any degree produces inequality, while equality of outcomes requires coercion that destroys liberty. If they are to operate simultaneously ... [they] must operate in different areas of life, and that is precisely what we see in today's culture. Radical egalitarianism advances, on the one hand, in areas of life and society where superior achievement is possible and would be rewarded but for coerced equality: quotas, affirmative action, income redistribution through progressive taxation for some, entitlement programs for others, and the tyranny of political correctness spreading through universities, primary and secondary schools, government, and even the private sector.

Radical individualism, on the other hand, is demanded when there is no danger that achievement will produce inequality and people wish to be unhindered in the pursuit of pleasure. This finds expression particularly in the areas of sexuality and violence, and their vicarious enjoyment in popular entertainment."

The union of radical individualism and radical egalitarianism have succeeded handsomely, says Bork, in eroding the foundations of our society. Authority is absent where it should be present, and vice-versa. This produces "cultural and moral relativism, whose end products include multiculturalism, sexual license, obscenity in the popular arts, an unwillingness to punish crime adequately and, sometimes, even to convict the obviously guilty."

And thus we arrive at the paradox that is all too familiar in the contemporary Western world: Those who complain about "oppressive" "right-wing" "fascism" (i.e., ordinary law enforcement) are those most in love with the power of the state. This is because the radical egalitarian project, so at odds with a free society, depends for its success on the deployment of the full coercive force of the state. Bork summarizes beautifully this road to totalitarianism:

"Modern liberalism presses our politics to the left because egalitarianism is hostile to the authorities and hierarchies--moral, religious, social, economic, and intellectual--that are characteristic of a bourgeois or traditional culture and a capitalist economy. Yet modern liberalism is not hostile to hierarchies as such. Egalitarianism requires hierarchy because equality of condition cannot be achieved or approximated without coercion. The coercers will be bureaucrats and politicians who will, and already do, form a new elite class. Political and governmental authority replace the authorities of family, church, profession, and business. The project is to sap the strength of these latter institutions so that individuals stand bare before the state, which, liberals assume with considerable justification, they will administer. We will be coerced into virtue, as modern liberals define virtue: a ruthlessly egalitarian society."

Bork then probes the nature and roots of these authoritarian administrators who would refashion society according to their notions of virtue. He notes that Joseph Schumpeter "first articulated the idea that capitalism requires and hence produces a large intellectual class." The members of this New Class are not geniuses or scholars, they are simply those who transmit ideas: run-of-the-mill journalists, academics, teachers, lawyers, and bureaucrats. They became jealous because society traditionally bestowed its rewards and prestige on the doers, those who built the world: inventers, entrepreneurs, military heroes, and the like.

Matters are made worse because the New Class are petty intellectuals in search of something to think about. Bork cites Max Weber in this regard:

"Max Weber noted the predicament of intellectuals in a world from which 'ultimate and sublime values' have been withdrawn: 'The salvation sought by an intellectual is always based on inner need...The intellectual seeks in various ways, the casuistry of which extends to infinity, to endow his life with a pervasive meaning.' ... Richard Grenier observes that among those intellectuals 'most subject to longings for meaning, Max Weber listed, prophetically: university professors, clergymen, government officials... coupon clippers ... journalists, school teachers, wandering poets'."

Bork illuminates an even deeper level of the crisis:

"The root of egalitarianism lies in envy and insecurity, which are in turn products of self-pity, arguably the most pervasive and powerful emotion known to mankind. The root of individualism lies in self-interest, not always expressed as a desire for money but also for power, celebrity, pleasures, and titillations of all varieties. Western civilization, of course, has been uniquely individualistic. Envy and self-interest often have socially beneficial results, but when fully unleashed, freed of constraints, their consequences are rot, decadence, and statism."

What I have summarized here is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Robert Bork's analysis of law, culture, and the central dilemmas of our time. His writing is witty and insightful; deep but never divorced from reality. There could not be a better antidote to the raging winds of nihilism that batter us from all sides.

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Highly enjoyable and intellectually stimulating

A Time to Speak is a terrific book. Anyone interested in constitutional law should immediately pick this up. Judge Bork engages in profound, fascinating discussions with other brilliant legal minds on natural law, the meaning of Constitutional provisions and amendments, the independent counsel act, antitrust law, and other very important issues. I should point out that the five stars I have given A Time to Speak does not mean I agree with Bork on every issue; I disagree with him on gay marriage and the minimum wage, for example. But I do strongly agree with his main argument: that the Constitution should be interpreted according to the original intentions of the people who wrote it. He opposes the doctrine of "the living Constitution," which changes according to the whims of judges. His main complaint is that since the early 1900s, the Supreme Court has invented rights that do not exist in the Constitution, starting with Lochner in the early 1900s up until the present time. He is--too put it mildly--not much of a fan of Roe v.Wade.

I respect Judge Bork's intellectual honesty even more after reading this book. He often reprimands fellow conservatives for judicial overreaching, and has the independence of mind to break with other conservatives' knee-jerk opposition to antitrust lawsuits. A Time to Speak is an indispensable book, not just for lawyers but for anyone who wants to better understand Constitutional law.

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A big book that treats us to the thought, wisdom, and wit of Robert Bork

I still carry a sense of loss that Robert Bork was denied a seat on the Supreme Court. The machinations by Ted Kennedy and others were reprehensible and constituted such a shameless manipulation of the nomination process that subsequent nominees to various posts who have suffered from the same techniques are said to have been "Borked". Having a word coined out of your name is a kind of immortality, but many of us would have preferred to have his name attached to key precedents to help protect our Constitution from the depredations of those who tear it to pieces to support their own social agenda and justify their whims-based-policies as supporting a "living Constitution". This is a fiction to sustain a terrible lie that continues to damage our country.

Have you enjoyed Robert Bork's other books? I have. His writing is clear, well thought out, and often humorous. The nice part of reading clear thinking is that you can actually understand the author's argument and can figure out why you agree or disagree with him. This book collects key legal briefs, transcripts of oral arguments, and articles that Bork has written over his career. They are all quite interesting and even if you think that reading a legal brief would be too tedious for words, let me assure you that Bork's writing is very much worth reading and should stand as a gleaming model for other legal authors to follow.

This book is divided into six parts of varying length.

Part I is the largest and consists of Bork's work and thinking on Constitutional Law. You get to enjoy his work on the death penalty in Gregg v. Georgia before the Supreme Court, his brief against Spiro Agnew's claim of Vice-Presidential immunity, a due process claim against the Navy, and a case about socialists wanting to distribute campaign literature at Fort Dix. The section also includes his judicial opinions for Dronenburg v. Zech, Ollman v. Evans & Novak, and Lebron v. Washington Metro Area Transit Authority. There are also many articles on Natural Law, the role of the courts, and his rather heated public debate with Henry Jaffa on Natural Law and the Constitution. (I think Bork clearly wins the debate.) I also enjoyed his look at Welfare Rights and free speech issues with pornography.

Part II contains articles he wrote on Antitrust and one opinion on the topic (Rothery v. Atlas from 1986). Part III contains articles on aspects of International Law. Part IV has more than a dozen articles on the politics of public policy. Part V contains three articles about people Bork admires. Two are about the life and legacy of Alexander Bickel and the other is about Edward Levi.

Part VI is three light hearted articles on subjects of personal interest to the author.

Good stuff and all worth reading. You will sharpen your own thinking as you work through what Bork is saying and evaluate his arguments whether or not you end up agreeing with him.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

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Exemplary

Put aside Bork's politics and enjoy his penmanship.

It is masterful. Each article/essay possesses perfect structure. Every position is set-up, laid out, and decisively concluded. The language is simple and clear yet conveys sophisticated concepts fluently. Reading his work is both enjoyable and invigorating---and quick.

Simply stated, the book is exemplary for its superior writing, structure and argument.

A Constitutional Passion

I finished this book and it's nice to know someone in the judiciary is (or at least was) clear and forceful in their legal reasoning; from cases to articles. Judge Bork is not political and never has been. He's one of the staunchest supporters and defenders of our U.S. Constitution of anyone in our government in my lifetime. This becomes very clear when reading his writings.

It is a long book but the read is much quicker than expected. His defense of the Constitution is powerful against attacks by social and economic justice theorists. These rabble-rousers have way too much time on their hands and Judge Bork dispatches their arguments with aplomb. In today's world, where neighbors consider my rights and property subject to their personal jurisdiction, it is refreshing to see someone, anyone, fight against such totalitarian tendencies.

Judge Bork, along with France's J.Revel, sees the value of resisting these social tendencies; Revel morally, Bork legally. The U.S. Constitution is a document of the highest order of human accomplishment, and Judge Bork uses it deftly to defend man against the tyranny of small collections of people determined to exert their influence on other peoples lives.

There are several on the U.S. Supreme Court who should be reading this book and paying attention to the clarity, brevity, and restraint it offers. It's a shame that the likes of Ted Kennedy could steer Judge Bork's path to confirmation (in 1987) like he did an Oldsmobile over a bridge near Martha's Vineyard in 1969. We're all a lot worse off because of the results.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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