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The Forgotten Bill of Rights: The Meaning of Liberty in Eighteenth Century American Political Thought
Get PDFAlthough the Bill of Rights has become a sacred part of American constitutionalism, the meaning of liberty has changed significantly since the eighteenth century. Liberty two centuries ago was generally understood in communitarian terms: the people as a whole sought bills of rights to protect themselves against the usurpations of their rulers. Today Liberty is seen primarily in individual terms: the few, particularly unpopular and vulnerable minorities, invoke the Bill of Rights to secure themselves against the power of the many. Eighteenth century bills of rights thus rested upon a theory of liberty no longer remembered, a theory the author calls our \u27forgotten bill of rights"
Institution and Virtue in the Judiciary
Get PDFThis essay reconsiders The Federalist\u27s design of the Judiciary. The argument has two themes. In general, The Federalist does not neglect ambition in the case of judicial power. Rather, The Federalist presents a coherent institutional order that is fully informed by this problem. It defines the central judicial function quite narrowly and describes an elaborate a constellation of influences to contain judicial will within these boundaries. This end and these means impose a very narrow scope on judicial review. The more specific theme concerns the place of virtue in that institutional design. The Federalist\u27s discussion of other, truly discretionary functions introduces the need for some virtue to condition judicial will in the absence of the guidance of law. This concern for virtue in relation to other powers confirms the limited scope of judicial review. Moreover, the need to secure and preserve some virtue in judges imposes further restrictions on functions and powers
Pittsburgh, the Realest City: Shit Talk’n’, Storytell’n’, Social Livin’
No full textThis article documents my lived experience as a participant observer in a writing/performance course that brought together returning citizens, police officers, community activists, university students, and faculty. I utilize Sharon Hoffman’s (2004) “Living Stories” framework and Quiana Cutts’s (2016) concept of ars spirituality, an expansion of poetic inquiry, as lenses to frame the discussion of my storytelling and storiography experience. Curated by Duquesne University sociologist Norman Conti, with theoretical justification from C. Wright Mills and Erving Goffman, the course was co-facilitated by award-winning actor/writer Roger Guenveur Smith and world-renowned writing coach and performer Susan Stein over the Zoom video conferencing platform during the 2021 spring semester. Altogether, the course functioned as a dialogic space where individuals could transcend social status in order to know each other—and perhaps even themselves—through their stories
Black Lives and the Tree of Life
No full textParticipants in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017 chanted, “The Jews will not replace us!” The real meaning of the Charlottesville chant was brought home on October 27, 2018, when forty-six-year-old Robert Bowers massacred eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. While many across the Pittsburgh region came out in support of the Jewish community after the shooting, some in the city’s African American communities observed that one morning of violence at a synagogue, in a relatively affluent neighborhood, received a universal outpouring of support, when daily violence in communities of color is overlooked. Black and Jewish communities share a history of coexistence in Pittsburgh’s Hill District—once home to early twentieth-century Jewish immigrants and formerly enslaved persons who migrated to Pittsburgh after the Civil War. A common struggle to establish roots united these populations, but not for longer than a generation. Over one hundred years later, Pittsburgh remains a segregated city, with Jews perceived as living on the white side of the divide. Recently the city has witnessed months of protests. Jewish activist organizations have been outspoken in support of Black Lives Matter. Local artists and organizations are exploring the potential of music and photography to connect us through our common humanity. Pittsburgh has reached a critical time not only to build bridges between our communities but also to walk across them, in the face of a common foe: White supremacy
East Pittsburgh: White Supremacy, Radical Relationships, and Chosen Family
No full textThis piece is a follow-up to “Stanton Heights” (Kalfou 5, no. 2 [2018]: 372–393), further considering the learning that takes place at the nexus of policing and the Black community. Specifically, it continues the stories of Leon Ford, a Black teenager shot and paralyzed by a Pittsburgh police officer; the murder of three Pittsburgh police officers by a deranged white supremacist; and Ralph Malakki Bolden, a genius-level intellect and remarkable peacemaker originally sentenced to death for the execution of a gun store owner and attempted murder of the store’s employee in an effort to secure weapons for defending his community against rival gangs. On their surfaces, the circumstances of these men would seem unrelated, but as the narrative plays out, unexpected connections reveal an ever-widening circle of complicity. Additionally, this piece addresses the unwarranted police killing of local teenager Antwon Rose Jr. and the protests that followed
Memorial Quilt: Patchworked Remembrances of Those Stolen from Us
No full textEditors’ note: We asked our contributors who they would like to honor from Pittsburgh for the In Memoriam section. They unanimously decided on Antwon Rose, the Tree of Life massacre victims, and the police officers who were ambushed in Stanton Heights. Our guiding thought was that the circumstances of those lives and deaths in some ways make a demand against hierarchizing between one life or the other while also illuminating the messiness of a city that is “stronger than hate” and even “most livable,” for some, but not all. We have three contributors for this section. First, Mian Laubscher, a friend of Antwon Rose, permitted us to weave in his beautiful eulogy. Second, Lauren Bairnsfather decided on a modest memorial to the Tree of Life victims by naming each victim and offering their Hebrew names. She also included the traditional Jewish words of comfort,” May their memories be for a blessing,” as a connecting thread. Finally, Officer Keith Miles shared a personal story about his friend and fallen officer, Eric Kelly
Disappearing Democrats: Rethinking Partisanship Within Pennsylvania\u27s Electorate
Get PDFPennsylvania has more registered Democrats than Republicans, yet Republicans control most of the statewide elected offices and both chambers of the state legislature. How is it possible that the Democrats\u27 registration advantage does not lead to more Democratic electoral success? Using a random survey of Pennsylvania voters and comparative questions on party orientation and party registration, this article finds that many of the state\u27s voters identify with a political party that is different from the party in which they are actually registered. Party identification is important because it is a better predictor of voting behavior than is party registration. The article finds that more registered Democrats in Pennsylvania identify with the Republican Party than vice versa, making the Democrats\u27 registration advantage an advantage in name only
The Impact of Rhetorical Situation on Realism as Measured by the Lexical Content of Governors\u27 State-of-the-State Speeches
Get PDFThis study uses Roderick Hart\u27s method of measuring rhetorical "realism," defined as language that indicates concern with "tangible, immediate, recognizable matters that affect people\u27s everyday lives, in two sets of gubernatorial state-of-the-state speeches. The party affiliation of the governor, economic growth and the per capita income of the state, the level of extremism in public opinion and the combination of divided government and the governor\u27s lack of political experience did not have a consistent impact on the level of realism in the governors\u27 speeches. However, the governors\u27 speeches exhibited higher levels of real-ism in states with liberal public opinion. A variety of possible explanations for this finding are proposed
Pennsylvania Women\u27s Campaign Communication: A Content Analysis of Brochures from 1996 State Assembly Races
Get PDFThis paper examines campaign communication of women who ran for the Pennsylvania State Assembly in 1996. The statements made in their campaign brochures were content analyzed to see if messages in thiis medium were similar to those identified in the literature about female candidates\u27 television advertising. Specifically the issues, traits, and attacks mentioned in the brochures were examined. Differences between incumbents and challengers, winners and losers, and Democrats, Republicans, and Independents were also examined