Harvard’s Cass Sunstein has put forth a paper about “partyism” — the notion that there is “a form of hostility and prejudice that operates across political lines” … much like racism or other “-isms,” but actually more powerful in ways.
The most head-scratching aspect of this new definition is to be found in the paper’s abstract, in which Sunstein posits that Republicans’ infection of “partyism” would lead them to “discriminate against them [Democrats] in hiring or promotion decisions, or in imposing punishment”:
“Partyism” is a form of hostility and prejudice that operates across political lines. For example, some Republicans have an immediate aversive reaction to Democrats, so much so that they would discriminate against them in hiring or promotion decisions, or in imposing punishment. If elected officials suffer from partyism – perhaps because their constituents do – they will devalue proposals from the opposing party and refuse to enter into agreements with its members, even if their independent assessment, freed from partyism, would be favorably disposed toward those proposals or agreements. In the United States, partyism has been rapidly growing, and it is quite pronounced – in some ways, more so than racism. It also has a series of adverse effects on governance itself, above all by making it difficult to enact desirable legislation and thus disrupting the system of separation of powers.
The paper itself uses as examples decision-making regarding academic scholarships and college admissions.
When test subjects (“partisans with strong party affiliation”) were aware of the party affiliation of college applicants, only forty-four percent selected the (academically) stronger applicant. This, compared to seventy-nine percent who selected the stronger candidate when the party of the applicant was not known.
But this begs the question: Who controls academia? Does Sunstein really believe it’s Republicans? On what planet?
In addition, the abstract and paper seem to utilize the concept of “partyism” as an excuse for greater executive branch power — that is, because of the GOP’s “excessive partyism,” President Obama using executive power supposedly has “considerable appeal as ways of allowing significant social problems to be addressed.”
h/t to Instapundit.
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