Suchergebnisse

Issue 32.3 of the Review for Religious, 1973. ; Review ]or Religious is edited by faculty members of the School of Divinity of St. Louis University, the editorial offices being located at 612 Humboldt Building; 539 North Grand Boulevard; St. Louis, Missouri 63103. It is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute; St. Louis, Missouri. Published bimonthly and copy-right ~) 1973 by Review /or Reqgious. Composed, printed, and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. Louis, Missouri. Single copies: $1.25. Sub-scription U.S.A. and Canada: $6.00 a year; $11.00 for two years; other countries, $7.00 a year, $13.00 for two years. Orders should indicate whether they are for new or renewal subscriptions and should be accompanied by check or money order payable to Review ]or Religious in U.S.A. currency only. Pay no money to persons claiming to represent Review ]or Religious. Change of address requests should include former address. R. F. Smith, S.J. Everett A. Diederich, S.J. Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Editor Associate Editor Questions and Answers Editor May 1973 Volume 32 Number 3 Renewals, new subscriptions, and changes of address should be sent to Review for Religious; P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, Minnesota 55802. Correspondence with the editor and the associate editor together with manuscripts, books for review, and materials for "Subject Bibliography for Religious" should be sent to Review for Religious; 612 Humboldt Building; 539 North Grand Boulevard; St. Louis, Missouri 63103. Questions for answering should be sent to Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; St. Joseph's Church; 321 Willings Alley; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106. The Anointing of the Sick Paul VI The following is an English translation of an apostolic constitution dated November 30 1972 but not made publicly available until January 18 1973. The constitution represents updated provisions for the administration of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. Subtitles in the following have been added by the editor. The Catholic Church professes and teaches that the sacred anointing of the sick is one of the seven sacraments of the New Testament, that it was in-stituted by Christ, and that it is "alluded to in Mark (Mk 6: 13) and recom-mended and promulgated to the faithful by James the Apostle and brother of the Lord. "If any of you is ill," says James, "he should send for the elders of the Church, and they should anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be for-given (Js 5:14-5).1 Ancient Testimonies From ancient times testimonies of the anointing of the sick are found in the Church's tradition, particularly her liturgical one, both in the East and in the West. Especially worthy of note in this regard are two testimonies: The letter which Innocent I, our predecessor, addressed to Decentius, Bishop of GubbioZ; and the venerable prayer used for blessing the oil of the sick: "Send forth, O Lord, your.Holy Spirit the Paraclete," which was inserted 1Council of Trent, Session XIV, De extrema unctione, Chapter 1 (see also ibid., Canon 1): CT, VII, 1, 355-6; DS, 1695, 1716. ZThe letter Si instituta ecclesiastica, Chapter 8: PL 20, 559-61; DS 216. 465 466 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 into the Eucharistic prayer:~ and is still preserved in the Roman Pontifical? In the course of the centuries in the liturgical tradition the parts of the body of the sick person to be anointed with holy oil were more explicitly defined in different ways, and there were added various formulas to accom-pany the anointings with prayers which are contained in the liturgical books of the various Churches. During ~the Middle Ages there prevailed in the Roman Church the custom of anointing the sick on the five senses using the formula: "Per istam sanctam unctionem et suam piissimam misericordiam indulgeat tibi Dominus quidquid deliquisti" ["Through this holy anointing and His most loving mercy, may the Lord pardon whatever wrong you have committed"], followed by an adaptive addition for each sense.'~ Conciliar Teaching In addition, the doctrine concerning sacred anointing is expounded in the documents of the ecumenical councils, namely the Council of Florence and in particular the Council of Trent and the Second Vatican Council. After the Council of Florence had described the essential elements of the anointing of the sick,'~ the Council of Trent declared its divine institution and explained what is given in the Epistle of St. James concerning the sacred anointing, especially with regard to the reality and effects of the sacra-ment: "This reality is in fact the grace of the Holy Spirit whose anointing takes away sins, if any still remain to be taken away, and the remnants of sin; it also relieves and strengthens the soul of the sick person, arousing in him a great confidence in the divine mercy, whereby being thus sustained he more easily bears the trials and labors of his sickness, more easily resists the temptations of the devil 'lying in wait' (Gn 3: 15), .and sometimes re-gains bodily health, if this is expedient for the health of the soul.''~ The same Council also declared that in these words of the apostle it is stated with suffi-cient clarity that "this anointing is to be administered to the sick, especially :~Liber sacramentorum Romanae Ecclesiae ordinis amti circuli ed. L. C. Mohlberg, ~'Rerum ecclesiasticarum documenta, Fontes," IV, Rome, 1960, p. 61; Le Sacra-mentaire Gregorien ed. J. Deshusses, "Spicilegium Friburgense," v. 16, Fribourg, 1971, p. 172; and see La Tradition Apostolique de saint Hippolyte ed. B. Botte, "Liturgie-wissenschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen," v. 39, Miinster in W., 1963, pp. 18-9; Le Grand Euchologe du MonastOre Blanc ed. E. Lanne, Patrologia orientalis, v. XXVII1/2, Paris, 1958, pp. 392-5. 4See Pontificale Romanum: Ordo benedicendi oelum catechumenorum et infirmorum et conficiendi chrisma. Vatican City, 1971, pp. 11-2. '~See M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical Romain au Moyen-Age, v. 1, Le Pontifical Romain du Xlle siOcle, "Studi e testi," v. 86, Vatican City, 1938, pp. 267-8; v. 2, Le Pontifical de la Curie romaine au XIIle sikcle, "Studi e testi," v. 87, Vatican City, 1940, pp. 491-2. C'Decretum pro Armenis. G. Hofmann, Council of Florence, I/I1, p. 130; DS 1324f. ~Council of Trent, Sessio XIV, De extrema unctione, Chapter 2: CT, VII,. I, 356; DS 1696. The Anointing ol the Sick / 467 those who are in such a condition as to appear to have reached the end of their life, whence it is also called the sacrament of the dying.''s Finally, it declared that the priest is the proper minister of the sacrament.9 The Second Vatican Council adds the following: " 'Extreme Unction,' which may also and more fittingly be called 'anointing of the sick,' is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as any one of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the appropriate time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived.''1° The fact that the use of this sacrament concerns the whole Church is shown by these words: "By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of her priests, the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, asking that he may ligthten their suffering and save them (cf. James 5:14-6). She exhorts them, moreover, to con-tribute to the welfare of the whole People of God by associating themselves freely with the passion and death of Christ (cf. Rom 8:17; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 2:11-2; 1 Peter 4:13).''11 Revision ot the Rite All these elements had to be taken into consideration in revising the rite of sacred anointing, in order to better adapt to present-day conditions those elements which were subject to change?'-' We have thought fit to modify the sacramental formula in such a way that, in view of the words of St. James, the effects of the sacrament might be better expressed. Further, since olive oil, which hitherto had been prescribed for the valid administration of the sacrament, is unobtainable or difficult to obtain in some parts of the world, we decree, at the request of "numerous bishops, that in the future, according to the circumstances, oil of another sort can also be used provided it is obtained from plants, thus being closer to the oil de-rived from the olive. As regards the number of anointings and the parts of the body to be anointed, it has seemed to us opportune to proceed to a simplification of the rites. Therefore, since this revision in certain points touches upon the sacra-mental rite itself, by our apostolic authorit3~ we decree that for the future the following is to be observed in the Latin Rite. SIbid., Chapter 3: CT, ibid; DS 1698. 'albid., Chapter 3, Canon 4: CT, ibid.; DS 1719. 1°Vatican Council II, Constitutio Sacrosanctum Concilium, 73: AAS, LVI (1964), pp. 118-9. 11Ibid., Constitutio Lumen gentium, ll: AAS, LVII i1965), p. 15. ~See Vatican Council II, Consiitutio Sacrosanctunt Conciliutn, 1: AAS, LVI (1964), p. 97. Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 The Future Rite The sacrament of the anointing of the sick is administered to those who are dangerously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with olive oil, or, if opportune, with another vegetable oil properly blessed, and by saying once only the following words: "Per istam sanctam unctionem et suam piissimam misericordiam adiuvet te dominus gratia Spiritus Sancti, ut a peccatis liberatum te salvet atque propitius allevet" ["Through this holy anointing and His most loving mercy, may the Lord assist you by the grace of the Holy Spirit so that when you have been freed from your sins He may save you and in His goodness bring you relief"]. In case of necessity however it is sufficient that a single anointing be given on the forehead or, because of the particular condition of the sick per-son, on another more suitable part of the body, the whole formula being pro-nounced. This sacrament can be repeated if the sick person, having once received the anointing, recovers and then again falls sick, or if, in the course of the same illness, the danger becomes more acute. Promulgation and Conclusion Having laid down and declared these elements concerning the essential rite of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick, we, by our apostolic au-thority, also appi'ove the Order of the anointing of the sick and of their pas-toral care, as it has been revised by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship. At the s, ame time, we revoke, where necessary, the prescriptions of the Code of Canon Law or other laws hitherto in forqe, or we abrogate them; other prescriptions and laws, which are neither abrogated nor changed by the above mentioned Order, remain valid and in force. The Latin edition of the Order containing the new rite will come into force as soon as it is pub-lished. The vernacular editions, prepared by the episcopal conferences and confirmed by the Apostolic See, will come into force on the day which will be laid down by the individual conferences. The old Order can be used until 31 December 1973. From 1 January 1974, however, the new Order only is to be used by all those whom it concerns. We desire that these decrees and prescriptions of ours shall, now and in the future, be fully effective in the Latin Rite, notwithstanding, as far as is necessary, the apostolic constitutions and directives issued by our predeces-sors and other prescriptions, even if worthy of special mention. Given at Saint Peter's in Rome, on the thirtieth day of November, in the year 1972, the tenth of our Pontificate. PAUL VI Candlemas Address to Sisters Paul VI I~[irihg the ceremony of the presentation of candles celebrated on February 2 1973, tHh Holy Father gave a talk on religious women presented here in the English trans-l~.[ ion published in Osservatore romano, English language edition, February 15 1973, pp. 3, I0. Oc~ursus, in Latin, Ypapant~, in Greek, was the name given to this festivity ifi ~he early Oriental Church. It meant the meeting, that is, the fact of meet-iO~ the infant Jesus, taken to the Temple of Jerusalem forty days after His bii:th, according to the law of Moses, to be offered to God, as belonging to Hiin. We all know that it was during this legal and religious rite that there tdok place the meeting with old Simeon, who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, r6~bgnized in Jesus the Messiah and proclaimed Him "a light for revelation t6 the Gentiles." Immediately afterwards there also took place the meeting with the venerable prophetess Anna, eighty four years old, who "came to give thanks to God, and spoke of the child to all who were looking for the r6demption of Israel" (Lk 2:38). A Me~;sianic meeting, therefore, which uil~s on prophetic significance and historical voice, and which publicly in-augurates the era of Christ, in-the very place sacred to worship of the one triJe God, and to the chosen People's awareness of its mysterious destiny. A Matter of Loyalties ,Well, let us begin our pious ceremony by giving the meeting, which gathers us here, the religious and spiritual significance which reflects, from s6ihe points of view, the one that the liturgy has us commemorate today. Ybh come here to carry out.an act of recognition of the mission entrusted t6 bur humble person, namely to implement and continue in time the mis- 469 470 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 sion of Jesus Christ, the light and salvation of the world. It is a meeting that expresses mainly two sentiments of yours, one of faith, faith in Christ, in His Gospel and His Church; the other of open adherence in filial respect to the Pope, your Bishop, to the apostle Peter, to whom the Lord entrusted the keys, that is, the authority of the kingdom of heaven, and at the same time the pastoral function over the whole Church. Aware of our human limits, we would be tempted to avoid this meeting, but the investiture of the apostolic office, transmitted to us in legitimate succession, forbids us to do so; in fact it lays upon us the important and sweet obligation to welcome it wholeheartedly. Yes, blessed by this meeting which offers us the welcome opportunity to have around us such a full, varied, and devoted assembly as the one that now surrounds us, which we ourself wished to see carefully arranged, in this monumental and holy basil-ica, not in our honor, but in yours, beloved and venerated sons. The meet-ing means unity, it means harmony, it means awareness of the hierarchial and organic society, which is at the same time religious and spiritual, that we together make up, love, and serve. The meeting means the Church, and here the Roman Church, the apostolic Church. Candle Rich in Symbolism This common awareness is made real and, as it were, experienced owing to the double fact of the presence of the representatives of so many ecclesial bodies, living in the same City, but not easily brought together in the same place and in the same ceremon3~; and the fact that each of these representa-tives comes bearing the offering of a candle, a symbo, l rich in multiple mean-ings, first and foremost the heartfelt bond whereby every institution repre-sented wishes to be connected in faith and charity with us, now brings us deep spiritual joy. We are honoring Christ together; together for Him and with Him we are honoring the Church. What else could make us so happy and bring us such consolation? We often think now that the great event, for which our century will be remembered, the Ecumenical Council recently concluded, was intended to serve, in the intentions of divine Providence, to revive, deepen, and harmo-nize that sense of the Church, which the conciliar doctrines have nourished with splendid themes, and which the evolution of the times requires to be more limpid and strong than ever. We are therefore full of joy and confi-dence when we have some almost tangible experience, however rapid and particular, of this "sense of the Church." How happy and moved we are to enjoy now with you, the ecclesial communion of our diocese! How easy it is for us to suppose that the Apostles, its founders, that its martyrs and its saints, with the Blessed Virgin, salus Populi Romani, are assisting us at this significant moment of spiritual meeting; nay more, to think of the mystery of the secret presence among us of Christ Himself, who promised to be in the midst of those gathered together in His name (Mt 18:20). Candlemas Address to Sisters / 471 Esteem |or Sisters We cannot fail to draw attention to a circumstance that characterizes this ceremony, and confers on it a splendid note of piety and solemnity. Do you see who has the larger and the better part in the Basilica today? It is the religi6us women. It is our sisters, it is the virgins and widows, consecrated to the Lord, living in Rome and belonging to our community. Greetings to you, beloved Daughters in Christ! You blessed religious, who have accepted our invitation to this meeting, whose purpose, as we said, is to gather us round the Messianic mystery of the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple and thus express the network of spiritual and canonical bonds which gives form and substance to religious and social unity in the Church of Rome. Why did we wish the "Roman" sisters (the fact that. they live or even are temporarily staying in our Diocese, qualifies them as such), to have a distinguished place in this assembly today? Oh! For many reasons! We will mention some of them. It is our wish that the diocesan community should have an opportunity for once to show its esteem and affection for these chosen daughters, humble and strong. They are not out on the fringe, no, they are the flowers of its garden. It is our wish that the style of their "evangelica testificatio," of their evangelical testimony, should be honored and vindi6ated in view of the devaluation of laicism which would like to secularize even the most ardent souls, those following most faithfully in Christ's footsteps. It is our wish that a reawakened gen-erous sensitivity of the community of the faithful should not forget the needs of the poorer sisters, often without the means of subsistence. It is our wish that the ascetic, contemplative tradition of religious life, or the active one, should be recognized by everyone, by the ecclesial community particular~ly, as valid and relevant updated as it must be according to the spirit of the recent Council and according to the norms suggested by the documents of this apostolic See, in conformity with ihe renewing effort that the individual religious families have succeeded in imparting to their own way of life, some-times wearisome and purely formal, by means of the wise revisions of their statutes, studied and carried out in their recent general chapters. It is our wish that the specific vocations which qualify religious institutes such as pray.er and penitence, isolation and silence for the purpose of more intense inner absorption in the pursuit of convers'ation wit'h God, or tireless dedica-tion in arduous and providential educational work, or in expert assistance to the sick or the various social needs, or with regard to the Catholic missions, and according to the inventive genius of their piety and their charity--it is our wish that these vocations should be given an honorable and organic place in the ecclesial structure, even, perhaps, by means of some sacred initiation. It is our wish, furthermore, to promote and perfect .the assignment of sisters, when they so desire and are qualified to do so, to cooperation in the pastoral ministry, particularly where there is a shortage of the clergy, or in parishes engaged in religious and moral assistance in popular districts and 472 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 poor suburbs, or in the desolate countryside. We want them to be together with the praying, teaching, operating, ~uf-fering, evangelizing Church, these generous and courageous daughters of ours, these pious and hard-working sisters of ours, these simple, dignified women, always exemplary, and, according to the title attributed to sincere members of the early Christian communities, holy! Following Mary's Way Oh yes! Beloved daughters of holy Church, let the spirit of communion by which she lives enter your houses, beyond the gates of your cloisters, into your souls, instilling the breath of the renewal desired by the Ecumenical Council, and giving you too, nay rather you especially, a vision of the great divine plans at work among mankind and marking its destiny with regard to its supernatural and eschatological salvation, just as they present to us our duties and our resources for the help necessary for the elevation of ~he world, its concord and peace. And here you have understood, blessed daughters, no less than eccles.ias-tics and laymen, and following the steps of the Blessed Virgin along the evangelic.al path interpreted by the liturgical rite we are celebrating, you come to the altar bearing, you, too, your symbolic gift, your candle. Y~ou make us think of the parable of the virgins of the Gospel of St. Matthew. You remind us of the many meanings that ritual and spiritual language at-tributes to the pure and primitive source of light, the candle. You give us the idea of recommending that you should make the candle the symbol of your persons" because of its uprightness and its sweetness, the image of innocen.c.e and purity; because of its function of burning and illuminating, for which the candle is destined, realizing in itself the definition of your life enti.rely destined for the one love, burning and complete, of the Father, for Christ, in the Holy Spirit, a fire-love. It is a love which, with prayer, example, action, providentially illuminates the room and the path of the Church and of the surrounding world. Finally, the candle is destined to consume itself in sile.nce, like your life in the now irrevocable drama of your consecrated heart: t~.he sacrifice, like Christ on the Cross, in a sorrowful, happy love, which will n.ot be extinguished on the last day, but surviving will shine forth forever in the eternal meeting with the divine Bridegroom. For you, for all those present, our Apostolic blessing, with affection_ate gratitude. The Supreme Court on Abortion' A Dissenting Opinion Patrick T. Conley and Robert J. McKenna Patrick T. Conley is associate professor in the Department of History at Providence College; Providence, Rhode Island 02918. His specialty is Constitutional History with degrees in both history and law. Robert J. McKenna is associate professor of Politics at Salve Regina College; Ochre Point Avenue; Newport, Rhode Island 02840. He is also a State Senator from Newport and is a specialist in Church-State relations. In the decade of the 1850s one of the most vexing constitutional questions concerned the status of slavery in the federal territories. For reasons which historians have not yet fully fathomed, this issue became a vent for the economic, emotional, psychological, and moral disputes generated by the institution of slavery itself. During this acrimonious debate three basic posi-tions emerged: ( 1 ) the pro-slave argument which held that Congress had a positive duty to protect a slave owner's property rights in the federal terri-tories; (2) a diametrically opposed view, advanced by anti-slavery Northern-ers, stating that Congress must ban slavery from the territories; and (3) the middle ground of "popular sovereignty" which left the decision on slavery to the residents of the areas in question. Then, in 1857, a Southern-dominated Supreme Court attempted toresolve this morally-charged dispute in what it considered to be a rational and impartial manner. The result was the Dred Scott Decision in which the Court novelly employed the procedural Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to vindicate the Southern position. But it did so in disregard of historical precedents which made that view un-tenable. To compound its error, the Court contended that Negroes could not attain citizenship because such status contravened the intent of the founding fathers. The Dred Scott Decision did not resolve the great moral dispute over slavery and the status of the Negro in American society. It was so patently 473 474 / Review ]or Religious, Volutne 32, 1973/3 unsound that it was overridden--both by subsequent events and by the less violent process of constitutional amendment. The Decision of January 22, 1973 On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court, in magisterial fashion, undertook to resolve another moral controversy in the case of Roe v. Wade, and a companion decision, Doe v. Bolton. These decisions con-cerned abortion, and here a right more fundamental than citizenship was at stake--in issue was the right to life. The Dred Scott analogy to Roe v. Wade is not an exercise in hyperbole; not only was a more basic right in-volved, but a much larger class was affected. In 1857, approximately 4,100,000 blacks and their descendants were judicially attainted; in 1973 alone about 5 million living human fetuses will be shorn of their natural right to life for at least the first six months of their existence. Unlike the Biblical decree of Herod, however, Roe v. Wade does not mandate a slaughter of the innocents. The Court, in fact, explicitly denied the contention of appellant Jane Roe (a fictional name) that a woman's right to an abortion is absolute and that she is entitled to terminate her preg-nancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses. "With this we do not agree," said Justice Blackmun for the major-ity. His statement was echoed by the Chief Justice: "Plainly, the Court today rejects any claim that the Constitution requires abortion on demand," affrmed Mr. Burge'r. Even the libertarian Justice Douglas admitted that "voluntary abortion at any time and place regardless of medical standards would impinge on a rightful concern of society. The woman's health is part of that concern; as is the life of the fetus after quickening." But though the decision was not a total victory for the abortion advo-cates, it was a substantial victory nonetheless. In essence, the Court con-cluded that a state criminal abortion statute, like that of Texas, which "ex-cepts from criminality only a life saving procedure on behalf of the mother, without regard to a pregnancy stage and without recognition of the other in-terests involved, is violative of the Due Process Clau~e of the Fourteenth Amendment." Mother's Alleged Right of Privacy The so-called right which the Texas abortion statute allegedly infringed upon was the expectant mother's right of privacy. In deference to maternal privacy the Court then proceeded to formulate the following abortion schedule: (a) "For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester [the first three months], the abortion decision and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman's attending physician; (b) for the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester [the second three months], the State, in promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion proce- Abortion / 475 dure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health; (c) for the stage subsequent to viability [the final three months] the State, in promoting its interests in the potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health of the mother." Such was the fiat of the Court--a formidable pronouncement indeed. Justice Blackmun's rationale and argumentation, however, were not sufficient to support the Court's foray into the legislative domain because the decision contained several dubious moral, logical, biomedical, and legal contentions. The Question of Life First, the Court explicitly admitted that it "need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins . the judiciary, at this point in the develop-ment of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer." Later it took notice of the fact that the Catholic Church, "many non-Catho-lics," and "many physicians" believed that life began at conception. In view of these considerations and the Court's candid admission of its own igno-rance, it seems incredible that the Court could proceed with confidence to schematize abortion according to the trimester system. It chided Texas for arbitrarily selecting conception as a basis for that state's abortion law, and then, in an equally arbitrary manner chose viability as the basis of its own formula. In effect, the Court said: "We do not know if human life exists prior to viability, but even if it does we choose not to protect it, and we bar the states from protecting it also." It has often been the practice of the Court when it could not resolve or define a key issue before it (like the nature of a "republican form of govern-ment") to declare the matter a political question and therefore nonjusti-ciable. If ever the doctrine of political question should have been invoked, it was when the Court asserted that the question of life's commencement was beyond its ability to resolve. To proceed in the face of that admission was reckless folly. It was, as stated by Justice White in his dissent, "an exercise in raw judicial power"; an "improvident and extravagant exercise of the power of judicial review." White could find "no constitutional warrant" for the Court's action, nor could he accept "the Court's exercise of its clear power of choice by interposir~g a constitutional barrier to state efforts to protect human life and by investing mothers and doctors with the constitu-tionally protected right to exterminate it." The Court did rush in, however, armed with its nescience regarding the origins of human life, and the results were disastrous. Rights of a Person and the Fetus Having thus disposed of the question of life, the justices examined four main theories regarding the point in time when the rights of a person at-tach to a human fetus, namely (I) conception, (2) quickening or first 476 / Review [or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 movement, (3) viability, or (4) birth. Justice Blackmun concluded that "the word 'person,' as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn." Here the Court buttressed its contention with formidable but not insurmountable evidence. With equal effort it could have reached the opposite conclusion, especially in view of the fact that no evidence was adduced to show that the drafters intended to exclude the unborn when they utilized the word "person" in the various sections of the Constitution where it appears. In the absence of a clear constitutional intent, arising ho doubt from t, he fact that the particular problem raised in Roe v. W~ide never oc-curred to previous constitutional draftsmen, the Court should have exercised restraint. Compelling State Interest The Court has applied the "compelling state interest" standard to those legislative acts which have set up classifications or categories, the members of which have been deprived of equal protection of the law. In several recent opinions a majority of the Court asserted that the strictness of the standard for decision in cases involving classifications made by legislative bodies ¯ varies according to the nature of the right placed in jeopardy; the more fundamental the right involved, the greater was the judicial requirement to "carefully and meticulously scrutinize" thc classification in the light of the following principles: (a) As ihe right in jeopardy becomes more fundamental, the more perfect must be the relationship between the classification excluding a human group from the en-joyment of the right and the purpose for which the classification is made. (b) As the right involved becomes more ftmdamental, the more "compelling" the state or governmental interest must be in making a classification exc!iading certain human groups from the enjoyment of the right. In Roe v. Wade the Court has not practiced what it preached. In effect, it has established a judicial classification consisting of those unborn' humans who have not reached the stage of viability and has deprived thes6 individ-uals of their right to life by making them fair game for the abbrti0nist. Several learned anti-abortionists who presented an amicus curiae brief to the Court for its consideration made this valid observation. They argued that "because of the fundamental nature of life, the most compellin~ of all interests would have to be shown on the part of the Court in order to carve out such a classification, which would exclude the lives of unborn huinans from the protection of the law." The Court's Rationale The Court did, indeed, advance a rationale to justify its conclusions by claiming that "the right of personal privacy" is "broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy," though ad-mitting that the right was "not unqualified and must be considered against Abortion / 477 important state interests in regulation." When the Court tried to explain why this alleged right of privacy was fundamental enough to override a state's in-terest in the protection of fetal life, the shallowness of its value system was glaringly revealed. Justice Blackmun justified abortion on the grounds of privacy because "maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future," cause psychological harm, bring "distress for all con-cerned," or place a social "stigma" on the unwed mother. These were the "weighty reasons" for excluding the unborn from the enjoyment of the right to life. Justice Douglas, in a concurring opinion arising out of Roe v. Wade and its companion case involving a Georgia abortion law (Doe v. Bolton), went to more ridiculous extremes. Childbirth, said Douglas, "may deprive a woman of her preferred life style and force upon her a radically different and undesired future." She would be required "to endure the discomforts of pregnancy; to incur the pain, higher mortality rate, and aftereffects of child-birth; to abandon educational plans; to sustain loss of income; to forego the satisfactions of careers; to tax further mental and physical health . . . and, in some cases, to bear the lifelong stigma of unwed motherhood." One could scarcely imagine a more amoral and hedonistic rationale. For the highest. court in a land which professes spiritual values and claims foundation "un-der God" to use such criteria to justify the extermination of human life is a tragic occurrence in every sense of the word. Here is humanism incarnate-- man has become God. Selfishness and Self-love The Court and the absolute abortionists, who occupy a more extreme position than the high tribunal itself, are essentially concerned about the "quality of life." Adolf Hitler had the same concern. It is both ironic and appalling that many individuals and groups who vociferously deplored Hit-ler's misguided attempts to improve the quality of life in Nazi Germany are in the vanguard of the current genocidal attack upon the unborn. The justifications for abortion expressed by Justices Blackmun and Doug-las are the epitome of human selfishness and self-iove. The countervailing evils of easy abortion were thrust aside by the Court. Among these baneful effects, according to Dr. Paul Marx, are "the denigration of the traditional sexual morality distilled from centuries of wisdom, the abandonment of self-control as an indispensable human virtue, the substitution of subjective whim for the priceless heritage of human knowledge, the enthronement of ultili-tarianism over principled morality, the devaluation of life itself, the ruina-tion of the moral basis of natural human rights, and the obvious opening to euthanasia." A society that countenances the brutality of aborticn is one in which psychological ills, irreverence for life, and sexual promiscuity are likely to proliferate. In sum, therefore, we have paid an exhorbitant price to sustain a woman's right to per, sonal privacy. 478 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 Right to Privacy a Fiction That alleged right, however, is more a judicial fiction than a verifiable fact. Even Justice Douglas frankly confesses that "there is no mention of privacy in our Bill of Rights," nor is the type of privacy claimed in Roe v. Wade specifically mentioned in any other section of the Federal Constitution. The Court invented this right in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) when it held that a state law forbidding the use of contraceptives was unconstitu-tional in as far as the law applied to married persons. The Court advanced the so-called "penumbra" doctrine which held that various guarantees in the Bill of Rights impliedly create zones of privacy. In Roe v. Wade a woman's personal decision to abort her child was placed inside that judicially pro-tected private zone. In their attempt to vindicate this alleged right appellants used a scatter-gun approach by claiming that the Texas statute abridged rights of personal privacy protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amend-ments. One of these random shots found its mark when the high court held that the right claimed by the appellants was "founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty." In recent years, the Court has developed a complex formula to protect those rights which it uncovers in the mysterious recesses of the Constitution from invasion by the states. The test traditionally applied to state social and economic legislation is whether or not the law (for example, the Texas abor-tion statute) has "a rational relation to a valid state objective." Had this test been employed in Roe v. Wade the state statute may have been upheld. How-ever, the Court devised a more stringent standard in Shapiro v. Thompson (1969) which held that as the right involved becomes more fundamental, the more "compelling" the state interest must be in passing a law which abridges that right. In Shapiro and subsequent rulings the "compelling state interest" standard was used only in situations involving the equal protection provision of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Harlan attacked this new criterion when he asserted in a Shapiro dissent that "when a statute affects only matters not mentioned in the Federal Constitution and is not arbitrary or irrational" the Court is not entitled "to pick out particular human activities, characterize them as 'fundamental,' and give them added protection under an unusually stringent equal protection test." Such action, concluded Harlan, "would go far toward making this Court a 'super-legislature.' " Yet the Court went even beyond this in Roe v. Wade--it not only held a woman's private right to abort her unborn child to be "fundamental"; it also expanded the stringent "compelling state interest" test in a novel way to embrace the Due Process Clause (shades of Dred Scott!). Dissenting Opinions The majority's decision regarding the fundamental nature of the particu-lar right of privacy asserted in this case was vigorously and persuasively at- Abortion / 479 tacked by Justice Rehnquist in a dissenting opinion: "The fact that a ma-jority of the States, reflecting., the majority sentiment in those states, have had restrictions on abortions for at least a century seems . . . as strong an indication as there is that the asserted right to an abortion is not., funda-mental. Even today, when society's views on abortion are changing, the very existence of the debate is evidence that the 'right' to an abortion is not so universally accepted as the appellants would have us believe," concluded Rehnquist. In support of this latter statement he could have cited with telling effect the results of the 1972 abortion referenda in Michigan and North Da-kota. In the former state the pro-life advocates polled 61% of the vote, while in North Dakota their total was an overwhelming 79%. The right of privacy asserted by the Court is not only absent from the express provisions of the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and later Amendments, it is not generally recognized by law, by custom, or by major-ity opinion. How could such an alleged right, therefore, be "so rooted in the traditional conscience of our people to be ranked as fundamental." The Court does not satisfactorily explain its startling judgment. It "simply fashions," says dissenting Justice White, "a new constitutional right for preg-nant mothers and, with scarcely any reason or authority for its action, in-vests that right with sufficient substance to override most state abortion statutes." Unalienable Right to Life The Court with equal effort could have "discovered" the unborn's right to life, invested it with "fundamental" status, and clothed it with judicial protection. This right is not explicit in any part of the Constitution, but, un-like the right to abort, it is recognized by law, by custom, and by majority opinion. It can also be inferred from the phraseology of no less a document than our Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Li[e, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Traditionally the term "creation" is applied to conception rather than to the other definable stages of fetal life. This line of argumentation is at least as formidable as the privacy doc-trine which the Court concocted, but unfortunately the Court used its legal legerdemain to uphold the right of privacy at the expense of the unborn's right to life--a strange choice indeed, especially in view of the solicitude shown by the Court for criminals under a death sentence in Furman v. Georgia (1972). A Flaw in Argumentation Such was the decision of tile Court in Roe v. Wade and its companion Doe v. Bolton. Almost as an afterthought, however, the Justices alluded to a serious flaw in the arguments of those who sought to uphold state abortion 480 / Review [or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 restrictions. The state appellees in Wade and Bolton asserted that the un-born's right to life was constitutionally protected by the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Yet the state statutes which they defended, especially Georgia's more "modern" law, allowed abortion in special circumstances: (1) if the life or health of the mother were endan-gered (this was the extent of the Texas statute); (2) if the fetus would very likely be born with a grave, permanent, and irremedial mental or physical defect; or (3) if the pregnancy resulted from forcible or statutory rape. As Justice Douglas was quick to observe, the Georgia statute permits fetal de-struction in several instances without regard for due process or the develop-mental stage of the fetus. Justice Blackmun in a footnote in Roe v. Wade also spotted the dilemma. Despite a broad proscription on abortion, an exception exists in every state, at least to save the life of the mother. "But if the fetus is a person who is not to be deprived of life without due process of law, and if the mother's condition is the sole determinant, does not the Texas exception appear to be out of line with the Amendment's command," queried Blackmun, "and why is the woman not a principal or an accomplice" to the killing? This in-consistency can only be effectively resolved by recourse to the position that any direct taking of the life of the fetus is a moral and legal crime for all involved. Our dissenting opinion to the Court's abortion ruling would be merely an intellectual catharsis and an exercise in frustration if the Court's action could not be overriden. Our purpose thus far has been to show that the decision was patently unsound from either a logical, biomedical, moral, or legal perspective. Hopefully this knowledge of the decision's infirmity will provide an incentive to secure its reversal. Thus, in conclusion we offer guidelines for those who wish to challenge the ruling and vindicate the rights of the unborn child. Guidelines for Action At the State level the legislature has several plausible options. First, it can take advantage of the Court's failure to resolve "the difficult question of when life begins." It can declare as a conclusive presumption "that life commences at the instant of conception." This legislative finding of fact will reestablish protection for the unborn child, at least until the issue is settled as to whether or not the Court will accept a legislative determination in this area. Abele v. Markle (342 F. Supp. 800), in which this issue is raised, is now pending on appeal. Second, the legislature can memorialize Congress to adopt a constitutional amendment to protect the unborn child. Third, the legislature can petition Congress to call a constitutional convention to act on this issue and on others where the Court has overstepped its proper juris-diction. Fourth, it can require that the father's rights be protected in those cases where he does not agree to have his child killed. North Carolina has Abortion / 481 enacted such a provision. Fifth, it can and should provide that no person or institution shall be required to assist in any way with an abortion if such an act violates the values of that person or institution. Despite these State remedies, however, the most effective counter-mea-sures can be wielded by Congress. For example, the Congress can adopt and propose to the states a constitutional right-to-life amendment. While this is a time-consuming remedy it is also one that would be decisive and relatively enduring. It is the best course of action to pursue. Second, Congress can pass an act to establish the start of life at the instant of conception and thus answer the key question sidestepped by the Court. Third, the Congress can also remove the power of the Supreme Court to hear appeals in this area by altering the Court's appellate jurisdiction. There is precedent for such a move in the case of Ex parte McCardle (1869) and in the OPA cases of the World War II era. Such a course of action may seem drastic, but the Court's abortion ruling demands a vigorous and effective response. The Dred Scott Decision's denial of the Negro's right to citizenship was only overcome by the concerted and forceful effort of those who thought the Court's opinion morally, historically, and legally unsound; can we do less for those living yet unborn than to vindicate their right to life itself? How to Write Good Constitutions Ladislas M. Orsy, S.J. Ladislas M. Orsy, S.J., is professor of theology and canon law at Fordham University; Bronx, New York 10458. To write constitutions for religious communities is a difficult job. It requires a great deal of grace and common sense. No document with pious generali-ties would do; something more practical is necessary. No wonder that great and good constitutions for religious are few and far between. The following rules for writing good constitutions are not exhaustive, but they can be of some help to those who are wrestling with the task of finding new bottles for the new wine that is presently fermenting in the Church and in religious communities. 1. Good Constitutions Respond to Present Needs and Give Stability for the Future A basic rule is that constitutions should incorporate lasting values. The writers should look beyond the present and should design structures which will uphold the community's spiritual inspiration for many years to come. Sound organization brings stability without stifling natural evolution. Let us take an example from secular history. The crisis and upheavals that many European states suffered in modern history were due largely to their constitutional instability. Unsatisfactory and weak structures contrib-uted to divisions and unrest and did not allow for healthy evolution. The relative stability and continuity that the United States experienced from the beginning is the fruit of the wisdom of th~ founding fathers who gave the country a reasonable instrument of government, broad enough to accommo- 482 How to Write Good Constitutions / 483 date developments, yet strong enough to keep the nation togetherl While European states were changing and rewriting their constitutions with an alarming rapidity, the United States remained faithful to the original one. Surprisingly, the constitutions conceived for the emancipated colonies re-main an excellent instrument of balance for a modern powerful industrial nation. Had the first drafters been clearer about the relationship of the States to the Union, maybe the Civil War could have been avoided--or it would have been fought under other pretext than the issue of the right to secede. Yet, even though the Civil War happened, the fact stands: Substan-tial stability was given to the nation through a well-designed constitution which did not hamper good developments. To incorporate lasting values means to look beyond our own times. Much that is up-to-date and fashionable today will look hopelessly out-of-date to future generations. Constitutions should achieve a certain timelessness. This can be done only by those who have some knowledge of past history. By looking back they have another point of reference than the present; their horizon is broadened. Of course, I am not suggesting that the past should be copied or codified in the constitutions; but I am suggesting that those who know the present and the past are better forecasters and planners for the future than those who are limited by the narrow vision of the present. If you are on the high seas and have no other point of reference than the spot where the boat is, you cannot plan any safe course for your future journey. Writers of constitutions who do not know the history of religious orders are like navigators who did not absorb the common pru-dence and learning of their ancestors. They did not learn the trade; they may rock the boat. No one should conclude, however, that the constitutions should not be a response to present needs. They should--with an eye on the past and the future. 2. The Constitutions Must Reflect the Spirit of the Gospel but They Must Contain Specific Provisions for a Given Community It is easy to write new constitutions by paraphrasing the Gospels, and leave it at that. The trouble with such constitutions is that whatever they say, it has been said much better, and usually more concisely, by the evangelists. Why should anyone bother to go to second hand sources about Christian life when he can go to the original ones? Good constitutions cer-tainly reflect the spirit of the Gospel; they should not be soulless legal docu-ments. Yet what makes them constitutions is that they integrate spiritual principles with practical rules and structures suitable for a given community. Lofty doctrine should lead to sensible rules that free the community for the service of God and men, and create a harmonious human and Christian en-vironment. It is right to speak about the beauty of community life, but that beauty should not be lost in chaos and confusion when it comes to vital decisions. Down to earth practicality is the mark of good constitutions. 484 / Review for Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 3. The Constitutions Should be the Codification of a Way of Life That Has Proved Itself, Not a Blueprint Conceived in the Abstract and to Be Imposed on the Community When we reflect on the beginnings of religious orders and congregations, we do not find that the founders first wrote abstract constitutions and then looked for some persons who were prepared to try them out. Rather, they first gathered a group for a specific way of life, for a particular apostolic task, and when it all worked out and the group was forged together into one community, they committed into writing what they lived and experienced so intensely. Therefore, a community should not be afraid of letting good customs de-velop without any kind of fixed rules. If the love of Christ is alive among them and they have enough common sense, such a process should be possi-ble. A good system of planned and controlled experiments is more important in these years than the writing of new norms. But the experiments should be controlled; there should be a good machinery for the critical evaluation of new enterprises. The whole process of experiments is meaningful in the context of an ongoing conversion only. If the members are not moving toward Christ, but are just asserting rights and liberties without reference to Him, what started as renewal can end up as disintegration. Freedom in Christ is necessary for developing sensible practical rules. 4. The Constitutions Should Contain a Balance between Light and Dark-ness, Joy and Sorrow, Life and Death; They Should Be Similar to the Gospels We explain this rule by contrasting two mentalities. The one wants to put into the constitutions all the negative sides of Christian life, such as mortifi-cation, abnegation, penance, and so forth. A most depressing document would ensue; enough to scare away any healthy individual. The other wants to speak about the positive sides only, such as peace, joy, exultation, and so forth. A most uplifting document would follow--with hidden deception in it. Both mentalities are one-sided. The right approach is in a harmony that we find so well expressed in the Gospel of St. John. The light is there, but so often it is surrounded by darkness. Life is there, but it must go through the baptism of death. Also, the harmonious blend of frustration and enrichment is manifest in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." Poverty and wealth go hand in hand. Incidentally, such balance is necessary in our liturgical celebrations" too. There we commemorate the whole life of Christ, His death and His resurrec-tion. The uninterrupted, one-sided celebration of joy can become inhuman and unchristian; in this life we need the quiet rhythm of sorrow and joy, darkness and light, to prepare us for the great final acts of death and life. How to Write Good Constitutions / 485 5. Keep in Mind that Faith, Hope, and Love Have No Measure; Everything Else Must Be Measur~ed A Christian can n.eve,,r. '.'exaggerate" in faith, hope, and love. He knows no limits to believing in God, to trusting and loving Him, because these "vir-tues" are gifts of grac~ ari.d, they originate m God's boundless generosity. Of course a man can distorf'tlie meaning of the gifts, he can express them one- ~,' sidely, he can even refu.s:e.them. But if he is open to the Spirit, there is a movement in his heart ffia( has no limit; it can expand indefinitely. Faith, hope, and love have an affimty with God's infinityi their growth is not sub-ject to any human measure. In all other virtues arid" actions, there is a measure. There is no limitless progress. There is a point b'eyond which the movement of construction be-comes the demon of destruction. In other terms, change is not equivalent to progress. A community b~ifit on change regardless of measure will eventu-ally destroy itself. R~al~,[ogress consists in finding the right amount of change at any given tithe, ~d no more¯ There is an obvious comparison: If you drive and do not press the ac-celerator enough, you db hot move, you crawl; if you oress ~t too much you are heading for disa~t6r. Movement and speed alone do not guarantee safe arrival. The history of religious life would offer olentv of examples to illustrate this truth. Let us g~ve lU.~t One. St. Franms of Assxs~ certa.inly loved poverty. He went far m giving a@a~.y, what he had, even to the point of deposmng h~s clothes at the feet of his '~.]]gry father. He became a pilgrim with no shelter over h~s head. But he d~d not sell himself into slavery as he could have done w~th a little ingenuity. Nor did he give his time away; in fact, he jealously guarded it. He estabfi'~he~d ~a measure in poverty, his own measure no doubt, but a measure nonetti~le~.°]-lad he not done so, had he been bent on giving all by selling himself ~'tl~b infidels as a slave on some galley, he would not have been free enough to start a great religious movement, he ould not have had ume and leigure t6 wander around and compose the Canticle o~ the Sttn.! ~"" After Vatican Council 1I many religious communities made great prog-ress in renewal, but s~n6~of them never thought of finding the right measure in change. They become intoxicated with new things and the movement that began under the ~nsplranon of the Spirit may eventually carry them too far, to the very bnnk of d~s~ster. A good question }"o¯r "~a' "c~onstitutional assembly, or for a general chapter, concerning every single 'i~ss uce is: What is the right measure in this matter? The measure, of course, '~oes change from time to time; no community should become static. But even if the measure changes, there is always a measure. The rule should be.~. a~plied. . to community life, to prayer, to apostolic 486 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 work--to everything, except faith, hope, and love. In those three the com-munity should open itself to the Spirit of God who can fill the members with His gifts beyond their desire and expectation. 6. Remember That Rules Are Necessary, but Persons Give Life to a Community Paradoxically, we could say that good persons can prosper even if the constitutions are bad, or, that good constitutions lead nowhere without the right persons to apply them. This is not to demean good constitutions. They work marvels with good persons. And bad constitutions can harm people. Rather, the paradox is a way of stressing that persons, not rules, give life to a community. Many religious institutes worshipped their own structures before the Council; the slightest infringement to the rule was considered a disgrace be-fore God and man. Today they understand better that the rules are means to open our hearts to faith, hope, and love and therefore there is nothing ab-solute about them. But structure-worship does not change easily; mentalities survive longer than we care to admit. Much of the naive belief in the mysteri-ous saving quality of the rule has been transformed into a utopian trust in the redeeming strength of committees. Committees are all right, although with measure. The greatest inspira-tions in the history of mankind never came from a committee. Legend has it that the camel owes its shape to a committee that wanted to design a horse. Be that as it may, the camel is a useful animal if you want to cruise in the desert. Yet we would hesitate to entrust the reshaping of this creation to a committee; it is frightening to think what would happen to the graceful flight of the seagull, to the playful nature of the chipmunk, or the trunk of the elephant. Government by committees is not well suited to the care of .persons. Who can open himself fully to a committee? Person to person relationship is necessary in religious government. Not on the pattern of father and child, or mother and daughter, but on the pattern of a wise and trusted companion caring for another. Therefore, in religious life there should be a way of recurring to a person above and beyond all committees. Take the example of a religious who has a serious personal problem--not the type he cares to preserve on files. He needs a change, perhaps a different job, at a different place. How can be ex-plain it all to a personnel board? 7. Good Constitutions Assure Both Broad Consultation and Efficient Action Good government in apostolic religious institutes is based on broad con-sultation among the members and on efficient action by the one in authority when it is needed. There must be in the community an upward movement of ideas. Every member has a right and duty to contribute to the welfare of How to Write Good Constitutions / 487 all. Therefore, at the base there must be a structure to assure that each can speak his mind and is listened to with respect. The result of this initial con-sultation process will be a mixed bag of ideas. Some will be excellent, some harmless, some to be discarded; in all they will be a fair representation of divine inspiration and human limitation. Therefore, some way must be found to screen them. This happens through the system of chapters. At the pro-vincial chapter elected representatives choose some ideas and proposals out of many. Eventually, an even smaller group, such as the general chapter, selects the best suggestions and makes them into guidelines and constitu-tional rules for the whole institute. Why this complex procedure? Because each has a right to speak, and God can speak through the smallest ones. But religious life is inspired by un-reachable ideals; therefore you want to choose the best of all suggestions. The clue to succcss is a wise combination of democracy and selectivity. The whole upward movement of ideas is a slow process. It involves long con-siderations and discussions. It is the proper field for committee activity! The application of the abstract policies and of constitutional guidelines to concrete individual cases is a different matter. The movement should mostly originate at the top where a trusted person leads and presides; he is the superior general. He is there to translate the norm into everyday actions. He should act with prudence, with the help of qualified counsel, and he should be swift and e~ficient too. He deals with particular communities and with individual persons. They need decisions, and they need them without much delay. The superior general's government can be spoiled in two ways. First, by distrust. The community may impose the duty on him of endless consulta-tions and impose all sort of checks, all to avoid a mistake. The result is a hesitant temporizing administration. Second, by cluttering up the line of ex-ecutive government by committees. They are never good for action; they are necessary for sorting our ideas, for setting policies. The superior general should be accountable. He should be responsible to the general chapter and should give a full account of his stewardship when-ever it meets. He should be removable; but as long as he is in once, he should be. trusted and free to take intelligent risks. Sbme communities built so many safeguards around their superiors that no intelligent and inspired initiative can be expected from them anymore; the safeguards from real or imagined tyranny will assure mediocrity for some time to come. Authori-tarianism was bad enough, but slowness and indecisiveness on the executive" level does not promise well for the future either. Let us remember also that a bad decision given with speed is frequently better than a good decision given with delay. Decision means movement; if it is a bad choice it can be corrected as long as there is life. No decision means lack of movement and lack of life. It cannot even be corrected. In all, we propose a healthy cycle, intended mainly for apostolic corn- 488 / Review [or Religious, Volume 32, 197~,/3 munities. It begins with full consultations; it gives the ultimate power to the chap(er; yet it retains person to person relationships in government. But we do not propose this pattern with any rigidity. Its basic simplicity allows many variations according to the traditions and desires of different communities; it can even be combined with other systems. 8. Community Means Unity in Diversity; Diversity without Unity Destroys the Community How far can a community go in pluralism without destroying its cohe-sion? To answer this question, consider the unity in diversity that you find in an orchestra. The players have different instruments; they even play different melodies. Yet, the product is a symphony with depth and harmony. Har-mony is possible because there is a limit to this diversity. Pluralism in a religious community can be interpreted in two ways. It may mean differences that contribute to the unity of the group; or, it may mean differences, that do not have an internal finality toward unity. The former makes the community, the latter destroys it. It follows that before talk begins about pluralism and its extent, the com-munity must define the type of unity they desire to maintain. Once the mem-bers know how united they want to be in their life style, in their apostolic endeavor, they can determine how much pluralism they can allow. There is no general rule for the extent of pluralism a community can bear; the unity they need is the measure of it. 9. You Will Know the Tree by Its Fruit, but Remember Some Trees Take a Long Time to Bear Fruit The constitutions should provide for an ongoing evaluation of the com-munity, in particular of the new experiments. Chapters on local, 'provincial, and general levels can be good instruments of evaluation. Each session should begin with an examination of conscience: how far in fact the com-munity lived up to its ideals. Most chapters are looking into the future; they are planning sessions. They should give equal time to the past, not in the form of debate, but in the form of a prayerful examination of conscience. They should give a good critical look at the fruit that was recently produced. The word experiment underwent many changes. Often it is used for change, an illegitimate use. We all would gain by restoring its primal mean-ing which is "to test something under controlled circumstances so that the process can be judged and evaluated." If we need change, by all means let us have it, but we must not call it experimentation; if we need experiments, let us do them properly. But experiments in religious life are not the same as those performed by physicists. The stakes are high in religious life; the faith, hope, and love of the members can be affected. Besides, fruits mature slowly because the ulti-mate test for any experiment is its contribution to a climate in which the How to Write Good Constitutions / 489 community is more open .and receptive to the grace of God. Often many years will be necessary to know the value of an experiment. Early judgments can be rash judgments. Take the issue of formation. No one can fully evaluate a particular pro.gram of formation until those formed have gone through many tests and trio!s in their religious vocation. I0. Good Constitutions Cannot Be Composed under Stress Peace of mind and he.a.rt is a necessary condition for wisdom and inspira, tion. Polarization and division in the community is an obstacle to grace and to human creativity. The c_0mmunity must be healed before it can produce. A community not .at p.eace may be tempted to write constitutions by way of reaction to past or t.o pre.sent trends, or to search for a feasible compromise which will not represent any high ideal. A disturbed group should not write constitutions. Peace i~ ne~e~sary to receive the Spirit and to create good and lasting structures. A group's first duty is to create life in harmony and attend to the task of writing .afte.r they have found peace with God, with the C. hurch, and with each other. Conclusion Good constitutions a.re. a blend of spiritual wisdom and shrewd practical judgment. The form.e.r is given by God, the latter is the result of human creativity. Constitutions .c.a.,nnot take the place of faith, hope, and charity, but they can be a powev.f.ul instrument to keep the process of conversion alive in a community, The Nature and Value of a Directed Retreat Herbert F. Smith, S.J. Herbert F. Smith, S.J., a well known spiritual writer and director of retreats, is sta-tioned at St. Joseph's College; City Avenue at 54th Street; Philadelphia, Pennsyl-vania 19131. During the last decade there has been a rebirth of the directed Ignatian re-treat. The directed retreat is a marked departure from the familiar preached retreat in which we customarily spent some two hours a day hearing the word of God as it was spoken and interpreted by the retreat master. Origins in Experimentation The successful return of the directed retreat can almost certainly be credited to that widespread phenomenon of our day, the passion for experi-mentation. The experimental approach springs from a twofold conviction: that we can produce something better; and that, in an age wherein proliferat-ing options are overloading our decision-making powers, we must discover what is most relevant. We have all benefited from the experimental approach. Consider agri-culture. Ten years ago there was widespread talk of the impossibility of feeding the world's people. Today there is not. That is largely because, in the interval, agricultural experimentation was carried on in the Philippines to produce a new strain of wheat. The first objective was to produce a better wheat, one that would give a greater yield per acre. The second objective was produce a more relevant wheat, one hardy enough to flourish on poor land in cold climates. The result is 1R-3. It is revolutionizing the growth of wheat, turning traditionally wheat-importing countries to wheat exporters. In the field of religion, we have similar problems and similar inclinations. How can we raise up better Catholic Christians, people more in contact with 490 Directed Retreat / 491 God, more committed to Him, more faithful to the Church, more productive in the service of the kingdom? How can we form more relevant Catholic Christians, people who can responsibly handle the increased responsibility laid on each today? Enterprising men and women in the Church are pre-senting the directed lgnatian retreat as one answer. Is it? I think it is, but my objective here is not to give proof of that. My objective is rather to give information concerning the nature of a directed retreat. Judgments can come later. What is a directed retreat? I will proceed to answer that question by giving a series of progressively improving definitions until we ultimately reach the most illuminating definition I can provide. One-to-one Relationship The directed retreat is a retreat made neither alone nor in a large group; ]urthermore, it is made without the help of several talks a day. This incom-plete definition is meant to clarify the manner in which the directed retreat departs from the familiar preached retreat. The directed retreat involves one director and one retreatant operating in a one-to-one relationship. The di-rector may or may not be directing other retreatants simultaneously, but in any case he guides each retreatant as though he alone were on retreat. Of course, there may be some interplay between retreatants. They may cele-brate Mass together. They may do shared prayer. Smallest Possible Community The directed retreat is a concerted effort to seek God in the smallest possible community. In a directed retreat, everything is set up and directed to help the retreatant find God. All irrelevant and distracting persons and entities are withdrawn. That leaves us with the smallest possible community, a community of three, in the likeness of the Trinity. The community of three which results can be described in various ways. It can be seen as composed of the retreatant, God, and His Spirit; God is the goal, and the Holy Spirit is the agent. He guides the retreatant to God, and He is the Love between the retreatant and God. There is, from another viewpoint, the triad of the retreatant, the director, and the Holy Spirit. The retreatant and the director work out the retreat in concert, and the Holy Spirit is the one Guide of both. From a still more comprehensive viewpoint, the tripartite community is made up of the retreatant, God, and the Church (whom the director em-bodies and represents). The reason for setting up this smallest possible community is to promote the total personalization of the /etreat. All transactions are aimed directly at the one retreatant and his unique personal needs here and now. While it is true that God always can and does work as personally with an individual in a group as with an individual off by himself, the retreat director cannot. And conversely, the retreatant cannot. The fact that God can is the saving grace Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 197~//.~ of group retreats. The fact that retreatant and d~tector cannot is the reason there is at times no substitute for a directed retreai; The tiny directed retreat community favors ~nt,~ate contact that helps the retreatant to come to know his God, himself, and .his Church in an intimate new way. By intimacy I mean an attentive, h~!thy, open, and receptive relationship with another that is productive of a ifilJ~aal identification in joys and sorrows. Directed to Spiritual Exercising The directed retreat is the engaging in sptr~tua.l exercises under the daily guidance oJ a di'rect6r who h'as the twoJold rDi~ ol retreat director and spiritual direc'tor. The function of the retreatant ~ ~o do spiritual exercises. The function of the director is to guide and mo,ri~tor the exercises. In the directed retreat, there is emphasis on ttlE aiztivity of the retreatant. We have all seen the retreat master of the prea@fid retreat deliver his four and five talks a day, hear confessions, hold interviews, and stagger out of the house exhausted six days later. The directed r~ii:Eat, bn the contrary, de-mands much more of the retreatant and focuseg bn what the retreatant is doing more than on what the director is saying. !f tti( rctreatant's activity still involves a great deal of active listening, it i~ ndt a human being he spends a lot of time listening to, it is God. St. Ignatius himself stresses the activity of th~ i'etr~atant, whom he calls the exercitant. He introduces his little book for r~ii'eat Jig "spiritual exercises Which have as their purpose the conquest of self iind t~ie regulation of one's life in such a way that no decision is made under: th~ influence of any in-ordinate attachment" (#21 ). The director gives the retreatant daily guidani~i~. Generally, the two meet once a day. The director provides spoken or writieh ~5oints for meditation, and they are generally given very briefly. If the iziirEctdr has more than one retreatant, he may give points in common to savd time, where this is not to the disadvantage of the retreatants. The retreatant gives the director a faithful afifi~Sufi~ of the inner experi-ences and responses which take place in the coti~se 6i' his meditations. He tells of joy or sadness, peace or unrest, hope 0i: [6ai'; and so on. This ac-count of one's personal experiences is always gi~,(h ili a private interview. This account is at the heart of the directed retiE~ii, as is the response the director makes to it. The practice of making ttiis reiSort develops the re-treatant's ability to discern the movements of ~.Sbd ~ind evil that play in man's mind, heart, and feelings. The guidance dt~ [he ~tirector helps the re-treatant learn how to distinguish between the godi:l ~iri~i evil influences more successfully. Most important, it helps him distili~iiist] the divine call from every other influence on him. This knowledge frdE~ iaiih from old slavery to whims and emotions and nagging feelings of guilt: ii h61ps him to put on the mind of Christ. Directed Retreat / 493 Functions of the Director From what has just been said, it becomes manifest that the director of the directed retreat has two clearly distinct functions. First, like the director of a preached retreat, he provides the retreatant with input for the meditations. Let it be added that, both in the brief way he provides this material and in the selection of the material he provides, he himself is guided in a general way by his source material, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The director feeds in this input in harmony with the retreatant's actual accomplishments, thus moderating the advance and flow of the retreat in a fully personalized way. The director is fully aware that the graces sought in each meditation are necessary graces which have to be built up in their proper order like the parts of a building: sorrow for sin is the excavation, forgiveness the founda-tion, and so forth. This careful control of the process of the retreat is cer-tainly one of the great advantages of a directed retreat. Second, the retreat director is the retreatant's spiritual director. The great religions of the world, even in their most mystical traditions, all teach the need of a guide, be he a guru, a starets, a roshi, a spiritual director. Without a director, there can be no making of the Spiritual Exercises, as a reading of the introductory observations will establish. Without a director there has not been set up the necessary mini-community described in the second definition. The Discerning Process The director helps the retreatant to discern the mysteries of the interior life in a practical way that is meant to lead to practical decisions and practi-cal service of Christ. The retreatant himself is always the primary discerner, and the director the auxiliary discerner. Only the retreatant is present to his own inner experiences. Unless he gives a good and faithful report, the aux-iliary discerner cannot give the help he is meant to give. The retreatant, then, is the subjective discerner. The director is the objec-tive discerner. As objective discerner, he interprets the experiences of the retreatant in accord with the Biblical and doctrinal expressions of revelation as it is guarded and developed and handed on by the whole Church. If the retreatant too is learned in theology, and sometimes even if he is not, he may be able to interpret his experiences quite authentically himself. But in accord with the wisdom of the Church and of revelation, the People of God do not rely on themselves individually, but depend on one another in the effort to understand the meaning of God's communications, even the individual and personal ones. If the retreatant is guided by the Holy Spirit to come to a cer-tain decision, the director can hope to be guided by Him to confirm the decision. The Priest-confessor and the Retreat Director The role of the director as auxiliary discerner is made even clearer if we consider the distinction between the role of the priest-conJessor and the role 494 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 of the retreat spiritual director. The confessor in the sacrament of penance is concerned primarily with the moral order, with the person's conscious, sin-ful rebellions against God's will. The retreat spiritual director is concerned with the retreatant's inner experiences, his moods, attractions, and repulsions, even before he has made any deliberate free responses to them. The con-fessor wants to know what a man has done of good and evil. The director wants to know to what seeming good and what seeming evil the retreatant is being drawn through his inner experiences in prayer and meditation. St. Ignatius himself makes this distinction, and even makes it clear that the retreatant' should feel free to go to a confessor other than the director: While the one who is giving the Exercises should not seek to investigate and know the private thoughts and sins of the exercitant, nevertheless, it will be helpful if he is kept faithfully informed about the various disturbances and thot~ghts caused by the action of different spirits. This will enable him to propose some spiritual exercises in accordance with the degree of progress made and suited and adapted to the needs of a soul disturbed in this way (#17). It might be pointed out here that the director need not be a priest. He or she need only be a spiritually gifted person experienced in living the spiritual life, possessing the developed capacity to guide others, having a good knowl-edge of the faith, and knowing the Spiritual Exercises through exercise in them. This is a fact,to be underscored, since if the one-to-one retreat is to proliferate, many directors will have to be drawn from religious men and women and other members of the laity. Sisters and laymen are in fact al-ready active in directing retreats. The retreatant needs openness and courage to give his director the neces-sary account. Still he does not need to steel himself to bare his whole soul, as he sometimes finds it necessary to do with his regular spiritual director, and certainly finds it necessary to do with his confessor. Direct Communication with God .4 directed retreat is a retreat in which one is guided by a director to do spiritual exercises which will purge him, illumine him, and dispose him Jor direct communication and communion with God, direct guidance Jrom Him, and the readiness to do His will. This final definition gives a comprehensive idea of the directed retreat. The Ignatian directed retreat is divided into four parts or weeks. It was Ignatius' hope that the retreatant would really spend a whole month, apart from all other business, in making his retreat. Thirty-day retreats are being conducted today. More often, however, the retreat is condensed and made in a period of eight days. The first week provides spiritual exercises of purgation. The second week provides spiritual exercises of illumination which call the retreatant to a more wholehearted commit-ment to Jesus. The third and fourth weeks invite one to share Jesus' ex-perience of passion and resurrection as a preview of one's own future in His Directed Retreat / 495 service and life. In everything, Christ is the retreatant's life, his light, his salvation, his motivation. The directed retreat is a search for direct communication and communi-cation with God. To miss this would be to miss the meaning of the directed retreat. The preacher of the preached retreat is not really replaced by the director. He is replaced by God who Himself gives His message to the re-treatant here and now. The retreatant hears God, not by words in his ears, but by the various movements in his inner life which have been described in this article as the experiences which call for discernment. To come into a retreat with this expectation calls for deep faith in both the director and the retreatant. No doubt this faith frequently falters in both, perhaps most when they are least aware of the fact. Some directors may not even have the conviction that this direct communication and communion with God should take place, but then they are betraying their trust, for it is inescapably clear that this is the expectation and absolute conviction of the author of the Exercises. He writes: The director of the Exercises ought not to urge the exercitant more to poverty or any promise than to the contrary, nor to one state of life or way of living more than another. Outside the Exercises, it is true, we may lawfully and meritoriously urge all who probably have the required fitness to choose continence, virginity, the religious life, and every form of religious perfection. But while one is engaged in the Spiritual Exercises, it is more suitable and much better that the Creator and Lord in person communicate Himself to the devout soul in quest of the divine will, that He inflame it with His love and praise, and dispose it for the way in which it could better serve God in the future (# 15). What Ignatius expects is that the retreatant will, by making the Exercises, repeat some of his own experiences of God guiding him. Those experiences were so vivid that Ignatius called God his "Schoolmaster." Let me point out here by way of example that we customarily describe the attraction to the priesthood as a "vocation," a "call" from God. St. Ignatius is simply broadening the base of that belief by affirming that God calls us directly to many things, to little things, every day, if we can hear His voice and if we will respond to it. God's call is experienced through the inner movements of love, joy, peace, attraction to a better way, and so forth. According to Karl Rahner, S.J., this is a case of grace breaking into consciousness. In essence, therefore, the directed retreat is meant to be a mystical retreat. It is a series of spiritual exercises and prayers and contem-plations in search of the experience of God and the reading out of His will. It is a transcendental relationsh!p breaking into consciousness. Directed versus Preached Retreat It should be of help to add a brief comparison of the directed and the preached retreat. The directed ~'etreat is the authentic presentation of the 496 / Review [or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 Spiritual Exercises. This is a fact of history, but it also stands from an ex-amination of the introductory observations in the Spiritual Exercises. Still, that does not mean that the directed retreat is always best for everyone, in every set of circumstances. St. Ignatius makes it clear in the Exercises them-selves that not everyone is suited for them or ready for them. Nor are they necessarily better for anyone, year after year. They have a certain inherent advantage in that they guide the retreatant to listen directly to God Himself. On the other hand, there are times when God Himself sends us to men, as He did Paul after his conversion experience. Many factors must be weighed in determining which type of retreat will be best: the level of human ma-turity; the level of religious maturity; the personal needs at the moment, such " as the need of making a decision concerning a state of life; the level of gen-erosity, of restfulness, of vitality. The preached retreat remains of immense value when it is well con-ducted. I support this simply by appeal to the years of experience which most of us have had in making such retreats and which some of us have had in con-ducting them. Furthermore, preached retreats are excellent opportunities for hearing the word of God, and men always remain bearers of that word. There is no substitute for the preached word of God, iust as there is no sub-stitute for the inner experience of God. Then, too, the preached retreat is an opportunity to share the personal faith vision and synthesis of the retreat master who can often communicate his experience with the help of some specialized theological, sociological, or psychological competence. What it comes to is that the preached and the directed retreat are two species of retreat. Each has its own unique value, and each addresses itself to unique needs. 3-he directed retreat is of unsurpassed value for times when serious decisions have to be made. It is also of unsurpassed value in provid-ing a guided and formative experience in living the interior life. It has great value in helping a person find direct communication with God and in coming to other primary religious experiences. The preached retreat is especially valuable for broadening .and articu-lating our knowledge and vision of the faith. This helps us overcome our per-sonal limitations and biases, so that we can formulate a more comprehensive response to God. It helps us supply for our personal lack of initiative in over-coming our deficiencies. It can stir new faith in us, for belief is communi-cated by believers; and it can stir new love of God in us, for love is com-municated by lovers. In brief; the preached retreat is especially valuable in those times when for one reason or another, we need the word of God preached to us through the agency of men. Editor's Note: For other treatments of the directed retreat and of the Spiritual Exer-cises of St. Ignatius Loyola, see Sister Margaret Baker, H.V.M., "My Experience of a Directed Retreat," Review Jot Religious, July 1972, pp. 573-7: William A. Barry, SJ., Directed Retreat / 497 If this information and these norms do not yet make it clear which retreat you should prefer, I would offer one piece of advice. Experiment. Try th~ one you haven't experienced. For St. Ignatius, the need for experimentation was one of the fundamental principles of the spiritual life. "The Experience of the First and Second Weeks of the Spiritual Exercises," Review ]or Religious, January 1973, pp. 102-9; William Connolly, S.J., "Story of the Pilgrim King and the Dynamics of Prayer," Review ]or Religious, March 1973, pp. 268-72; and William A. Barry, S.J., "Silence and the Directed Retreat," Review ]or Religious, March 1973, pp. 347-51. Father Smith's present article, "The Nature and Value of a Directed Retreat," is available (at 20 cents per copy plus postage) from Review for Religious; 612 Hum-boldt Building: St. Louis. Missouri 63103; a previous article by the same author, Method for Eliminating Method in Prayer," is also available from the same address at 25 cents a copy plus postage. The Healing of Memories Francis Martin Father Francis Martin, a member of Madonna House; Combermere, Ontario KOJ 1LO; Canada, is presently completing his doctorate in Scripture in Rome. Our memory is a mysterious thing. St. Augustine, in his Confessions (Bk 10) spoke of "the fields and vast palaces of memory," and "the huge court of my memory." In his Treatise on the Trinity, Augustine saw man as an image of the Trinity because in his one interior being there were the three realities of memory, understanding, and will. Memory is compared to God the Father because it is an image of eternity, because it is the point out of which spring understanding and love, and in relation to these it has no be-ginning. Growth in Spirituality and Growth in Memory The vast universe of inner being has its spiritual origin in what we call today "awareness" or "consciousness." It is this that St. Augustine called "memoria." In some ways his term is better than ours since it points to the mysterious fact that memory is the principle of continuity. In my awareness of myself, I know myself to be the same man who yesterday lived through a certain series of experiences--I answer to the same name; and the reason for this is memory. Thus, awareness of ourselves always involves knowing "where we come from" not only in the sense of our past, but also in the sense of our Source, our Creator. We come from our past since we are at any moment of our lives the person who has lived through and been affected by a whole concatenation of experiences which we recall only imperfectly. We come from God since He has made us and at this moment is present to us, holding us in existence, though we are most often unaware of this. There is a way, then, in which it is true to say that growth in spirituality is growth in memory: it is an increasing awareness of where we come from. 498 The Healing o] Memories / 499 A deep awareness of God present to us, creating, saving, and sanctifying us, is an intimate and essential dimension of self-awareness, just as, on the other hand, our memory of the experiences which have made us who we are is a necessary part of our total awareness of who we are in God. Since this is so, there come moments in our lives when those experiences which have hurt us and twisted us somewhat must be brought to awareness and healed so that our life of prayer may deepen and our presence to God be-come more conscious. This process is called the healing of our memories or the healing of our inner being. Memory as the Sacrament of God's Presence It is not that memory only serves to retain those wounds of the past that are imperfectly healed. Our memory also carries deep within it those effects of God's action in our lives, those moments that in a special way make up our own salvation history. In allowing ourselves to enter once again into those recesses of our being where the awareness of God's action is still a living thing, we put our present experience into perspective. Deeper than this, through this memory, this action of God still living in us as a sacrament of His presence, we enter into a knowledge of where we come from: our past itself becomes the chalice containing our awareness of God. The Psalmist sings: "God, you are my God; 1 long for you, my soul thirsts for you . Upon my bed 1 remember you, in the watches of the night I dwell on you. Yes, you are my Help; in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you, your right hand holds me" (Ps 63: 1, 7-9). The remembering of God brings us to songs of joy as we find ourselves protected by the vast expanse of His overshadowing wings. In this sense our memory is our access to awareness of the presence of God: He who has made us and saved us, for whom there is no time, and who is at this moment holding us in existence and giving us His life, is He who "is and was and is to come" (Rev 1:4). Our memory of what God has done brings us to the awareness that the effects of His saving acts exist in us by the mystery of His presence. Thus, though we name God by what He has done, we are speaking to Him who is present, and we know that when we shall see Him as He is, we will recognize Him as He who has always' been with us. The command of Jesus in connection with the Eucharist applies to all prayer both in com-mon and in the secret of our own heart: "Do this in memory of me." Obstacles to Living Memory But what are the obstacles to this living memory of the past upon which faith is founded, and this living memory of the future which is the inner face of hope? The greatest obstacle is our inability to "remember" because our memory is protecting itself from the wounds it carries within it. The wounds inflicted by others and the effects of our own sins still lie hidden in our inner being. These wounds are like so many "black and blue marks" on 500 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 our psyche: they are areas too sensitive to touch and yet they impede our movement. Our Lord wants to heal those wounds, either by taking them completely away or by taking away our fear of them enabling us to live in simple acceptance of our weakness and limitation. No matter what the source of these wounds, they can be the means of our union with Jesus whose wounds still shine gloriously in heaven. Even now our weakness makes the glory of God all the more manifest: "About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me, but he has said, 'My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.' So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me. " (2 Cor 12:8-10). Consciousness and Forgiveness This healing from inner wounds and from the fear of them, this healing of our memories, takes place most often through a process of consciousness and forgiveness: consciousness removes the protective but smothering layers of forgetfulness and opens that area of our being to the light and air of God, and forgiveness is a healing balm that eases pain and fosters restoration. We should speak about this process for a minute. We are aware, sometimes more forcefully than others, that there are ob-stacles that prevent us from being at ease with the Lord. We attribute this uneasiness to our sinfulness, especially to those sins and infidelities of which we are conscious. We know, really, that having sinned is no obstacle to find-ing joy in the Lord's presence: we often quote to others and to ourselves those incidents in the Gospels where Jesus goes out of His way to "welcome sinners and eat with them" (Lk 15:2). We have the constant testimony of the lives and words of the saints, and we see many people around us who bear this same witness. Still, when we are alone with the Lord, we are un-easy. Sometimes, even in deep prayer when we are aware of our Lord draw-ing close to us, we can find our minds starting to wander, almost trying to create distractions because of a fear of His presence. There can be many reasons for this, but basically we instinctively know, as we do in any love relationship, that unconditional love once accepted from the beloved obliges us to the same commitment, and we are afraid. We fear for ourselves in a commitment that takes from us the control over our own lives and future: when once we admit that we are so loved, we are no longer "free." One of the fears occasioned by charismatic manifestations of our Lord's presence is precisely this: that the Lord, through these signs of His nearness and His love, becomes too real and too obviously committed to us to be kept at a distance by our careful rationalizations and our well-apportioned times for prayer. Such initiative on the Lord's part demands conversion from us. We are called to receive the kingdom of God like a littlc child (see Mk 10: 15), but we prefer that illusion of autonomy we have so carefully created for ourselves. The Healing o] Memories / 501 However, for most of us, our Lord exercises too great an attraction to be put completely behind the bars of our self-centered caution. As we become more familiar with His presence and a little more faithful to His Spirit in us, we are less uneasy. But we must go further. Very soon in a serious life of faith we must renounce our bondage to darkness, we must be freed from our attachment to those things that hold us back from a pure surrender to the action of God in us. We must live out totally those renunciations we made at our baptism and which we ratify at every Easter Vigil. And it is here we find great difficulty and meet with the obstacles of selfishness, sensuality, ambi-tion, resentment, pride, fear, and so forth. Healing Our Memories Now the source of some of these blocks that we notice in ourselves, some of that fear of God and shame before others, as well as our attempts to com-pensate for these feelings, can be traced, as has been said, to unhealed wounds left in our inner being by incidents of our past. Of some of these we are conscious, of some but half-conscious, and of others we may be no longer conscious at all. How does one proceed in allowing our Lord to heal these memories? There are three things to be done: inner prayer; a sharing, in some degree at least, with another; and faith contact with the Body of Christ. In other terms we could describe these three this way: we enter into the sanctuary of our inner being and allow our wounds to become conscious; we pray with another who, as bearing within himself the mystery of Christ and His healing power, can be an instrument of peace; and we open ourselves, through forgiveness of others and the discipline of authentic personal re-lationships within the sacramentalized context of a truly human community, to the truth that sets us free. The first step is individual prayer; the second is confession which achieves a particular power if it is sacramental; and the third is community whose deepest source and most powerful presence is the Eucharist. Renouncing Our Resentments Let us begin with inner prayer. When we are alone at prayer, we should quite simply and directly ask our Lord to heal our memories. This may be a very general prayer at first, and may remain so for many days as we re-peat this request in our prayer. Our prayer may go something like this: "Lord Jesus, may You be praised for the love and mercy You have shown me all my life; I praise You and I thank You for that love with which You died for us and with which You share the radiance of Your risen life. Lord, You see into the depths of my soul; You know that I am wounded. The reality of evil has touched me in my own sin and in the sins and imperfec-tions of others. Lord, heal me of these wounds, let the power and beauty of Your life shine in me. I renoun(e attachment to my resentments, I forgive anyone who has ever hurt me, and I pray for them. Jesus, I join myself to 502 / Review for Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 that act of forgiveness in which You died, and I love all those people who have entered my life; I embrace them with the same love and tenderness You have for them. I hold them up before Your face, O Lord, that You may bless them and be kind to them." It may happen during this prayer that certain people or incidents arise in our memory, and we re-experlence all the hurt and anger we first knew when the event occurred. It may be our parents or some other adults during our younger years: teachers, priests, some authority figure. It may be someone in our mature years: friend, husband, wife, employer, .superior, someone who betrayed us. Or it may be something quite abstract: "the system," the Church, my education, society, though these latter abstractions are usually evasive symbols covering a person we do not wish to think about. In any case, when someone particular comes to mind, we should stop our prayer and gently, without forcing ourselves, take this person into our heart. Do not be surprised at the degree of repugnance such an interior gesture meets with. Go gently, but firmly. Resolve very quietly that you will to be de-tached from this resentment. It is better to go gently over a period of a few days with a clear awareness of the issue and a determination to share Jesus' love for this person, than to make a violent, emotional "act of the will" that only harms your own heart and is but counterfeit love for the other. When this person is in your heart, then look at Jesus and say in the name of both of you who have now become one in love, "Lord have mercy." In such a gesture, we admit our need for mercy and pray for the other person with the same desire for their well being as we have for our own. The Lord always hears this prayer. Offering the Fullness of Forgiveness It is very important in this prayer that we do not waste our time in some sort' of amateur self psychoanalysis. We are praying for our own healing with the faith-knowledge that we can never be healed without the healing of our relationships and this includes, of course, desiring that others be healed. A large part of our own personality is made up of our relations to others. We are truly and maturely persons when both the individual and the social dimensions of our being are in contact and harmony with Jesus Christ. It was this realization that led Origen to posit among the seven ways that sins are remitted, "that we forgive our brothers their sins." For, as this great teacher goes on to say: "Our Lord and Savior himself told us this when he said, 'If you forgive others their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you, but if you do not forgive others then neither will your Father forgive you your offences.' Then too, the Lord taught us to say in prayer, 'Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us' " (Homily 2 on Leviticus). There are many emotional blocks to the fullness of the forgiveness we offer to others as they dwell in our hearts, but with prayer, honesty, and The Healing o] Memories / 503 gentleness with ourselves our Lord can heal these. This sanctification of our emotional relationships is an aspect of the way the Body of Christ "builds itself up in love" (Eph 4: 16). Since this healing pertains to the mystery of the Church in its reality as a divinization of that complex web of relation-ships by which all men are, in some deep way, linked to one another, it often happens that our Lord's action within us as we pray alone leads us to see that for deeper healing we should go and pray with another. In and through this other human being, we contact Christ, and thus also every other person in this world. We should go to someone in whom we have confidence and share with that person our burden to the degree of explicitness that the Lord leads to, as both of us pray. This is one way that we carry out that injunc-tion of St. Paul to "serve one another in love," and is a practical realization of that mutual care for one another that he describes as "carrying one anothers' burdens" (see Gal 5: 13, 6:2). Sharing Our Wounds with Others Early Christians often went to the holy men to share with them the wounds of their soul and to receive their blessing and their prayers for heal-ing. In ancient monastic life thig "manifestation of thoughts" (both good and bad) to one's spiritual father was a daily practice. Other Christians went to these men of th.e Spirit for a confession of healing whenever they felt the need. Often, but not necessarily, these spiritual fathers were priests. For, be-sides those upon whom the Church has conferred in a special and explicit way the power given her by the Lord for inner healing, there are many other people who receive this gift from the Lord by another kind of action of the Holy Spirit: "There are different ministries but the same Lord" (1 Cor 12:4). While it is always possible to share our burden with friends and pray with them for healing and have them lay hands on us, there are times when we should go to someone whom the Lord seems to have endowed in a particular way with gifts of discernment and healing. Such people, accord-ing to the unanimous witness of tradition, are recognizable by their humility, their gentleness and patience with others, and their chaste, other-centered love. In the early Church we find them described as "someone who encour-ages the brethren" or again, "a pool where the liv.ing waters ofGod's love for man are gathered." In their hearts, the love of Christ has worked a puri-fication which has brought the gift of understanding hearts and of healing them to a certain stability and power. Other Facets of the Obstacles in Our Souls As someone with whom we have shared our burden begins to pray with us, we may become aware of many other facets of the obstacles in our soul, blocking us from true freedom with the Lord. We should quietly renounce attachment to these obstacles; this is especially importantin the areas of sen-sual pleasure, anger, and resentment. Again, let the truth be strong and 504 / Review for Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 undiluted in our soul, but let the truth come from theLord and not from our self-hate, fear, or shame. Perhaps our Lord will enlighten us by giving words of prophecy to the person or persons praying over us. Most often these words have an intensely personal content for us, unsuspected by the other: his message shows us our attachment to sin or calms and heals our fear. In either case, when it is the Lord who is acting, we experience the liberation and strengthening of hearing "the truth in love." Though most of the time the healing takes place through a certain remembering of past incidents that have wounded us and a consequent conferring and receiving of forgiveness, this is not always the case either in private prayer or in prayer with others. Sometimes the Lord heals us without bringing the wound to consciousness at that moment, or at all. This is why it is so important we do not attempt to force things from our memory, but simply be willing to see and acknowl-edge anything, no matter how painful or embarrassing, that occurs to us as we pray in this way. Mark the Hermit, in one of his maxims, reminds us that unhealthy concentration on our past sins "brings sadness and banishes hope." This is true of undue preoccupation with our weaknesses and inner wounds: that ceaseless "search and destroy" drive we find in ourselves does not come from the Lord. As a matter of fact, to spend time in anxious worry and endless self-investigation is to act as though our Lord did not really appreciate how weak we are and could not help our compromised honesty to a greater degree of simplicity and truth. When we ask the Lord for healing, we are asking the Lord to heal us. He will usually do this by working in us a greater con-sciousness of our wounds and deeper capacity to trust Him and love and forgive others: our role is to agree to the action of God in us as He answers our prayer. His healing will be an inner touch and sometimes also an exterior word of discernment, encouragement, or revelation of what lies in our heart. Forgiving Sins by Healing Them The ancient Church in Syria reminded a bishop on the day of his ordina-tion that because he had been given the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins, he had been constituted a "healer of the Church of God." In the Byzan-tine rite of today there is mention of healing in the prayer for the ordination of both bishop and priest. This is but another reflection of the deep connec-tion the Eastern Church has always seen between ordination and the min-istry of healing. Origen advises his listeners to think carefully about "the doctor to whom you should make known the cause of your illness." He should be someone who "knows how to be sick with someone sick, to weep with one who weeps; who knows the discipline of grieving and suffering with another," and who can decide wisely whether or not "your illness should be brought out and healed in a meeting of the whole Church, so that others can be built up and you canbe healed the more easily" (Homily 2 on Psalm 37). The Healing o] Memories / 505 Healing and the Sacrament of Penance The above passage has its difficulties, but given the whole context of the accent on healing in connection with the forgiveness of sins in the Eastern Church, and other statements of Origen's elsewhere, we can see that the priest was looked upon as being able to forgive sins by healing them in their source and prescribing the proper remedy. This same thinking is reflected in many early commentaries on our Lord's words as reported in John 20:22-3: "He breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.' " The link between the Holy Spirit and the for-giveness of sins was found in the active presence of love, and this in turn was manifested in the wisdom shown in healing the wounds of God's people. Healing is an act of the Spirit who is described in the Roman rite, in one of the Masses during the former octave of Pentecost, as being "Himself the forgiveness of sins." Thus, "therapeutic confession" and the presentation of one's sins before the bishop or his appointed representative in order to be re-integrated into the community by public penance, were not considered as completely dis-tinct. These two roles tended to blend, especially in the Western Church as the centuries progressed and, unfortunately, the legal preoccupation domi-nated. However, in the intuition of the faithful, it was most probably the desire for an inner healing that inspired people to practice regular confes-sion. This desire was only dimly realized and poorly expressed, but it was there. Today, a deeper understanding, on the part of both priest and peni-tent, of the healing power of penance could mean a greater presence within the Church of a ministry of inner healing. Father Michael Scanlon in his recent booklet, The Power in Penance (Ave Maria Press) has performed a great service in suggesting practical ways to exercise this ministry. Priests must pray deeply for a revitalizing of the healing power conferred on them at ordination. They must strive in their own lives to be mature men, those "seniores" described by the Rule of St. Benedict as men who "know how to cure their own and others' wounds without disclosing them in public" (Ch. 46). The Eucharist and Inner Healing Now that we have touched upon the sacramental dimensions of inner healing, it would be worthwhile to meditate, just briefly, on the role of the Eucharist in inner healing. The celebration of the Eucharist is the "source and summit of the whole work of preaching the gospel" according to Vatican 1I (On Priests, par. 5). It is in this reality that the Church expresses her own inner nature and realizes it ever more perfectly. If the community is truly gathered in love, then the mystery of the Church is vitally present: there is a sacred and living space of divine love, another pool where healing waters are gathered for all to drink. The authenticity of our mutual love and desire 506 / Review Jot Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 for reconciliation with God and with all men, and our praise of God and our prayer for ourselves and others, must be given a real and human expression. God expressed His love for us in a human way, and he does not expect us to be more "spiritual" or "interior" than He is. The deepest reason why the liturgy remains dead and unable to make present the mystery of Church is not so much a lack of faith, though this is an operative factor, as the fact that our human expressions of what the Spirit is working in and through us remain superficial, stilted, and dominated by human respect. Not only the sacraments, but the whole sacramental dimension of the Church exercises a causality by signifying something. When there is no sign at all, there is no sacrament--no bread, no Eucharist--and when the sign is not assimilated in faith but is merely something performed by rote, then the signifying power of the sacramental dimension is reduced to such a point that for most people nothing transpires at the conscious level of their being. On the other hand, when there is a living and beautiful human expression of what the Church as the primary sacrament really is, then the power of this mystery radiates to all, touching and transforming them. Christian Affection and Reconciliation In such a context, the dynamics already well perceived by psychology as necessary for human growth are caught up in a healing action of the Spirit. Love, thoughtfulness, acceptance, forgiveness, song, joy, friendship--all these become the mud and spittle rubbed on our eyes, so that when we wash, we see. The intimate union between body and soul has been so consecrated by the Incarnation that Tertullian could call the flesh "the hinge of salva-tion." For just as the water touching our body awakens our whole being and opens it to receive the action of the Spirit, so the psychological and physical reality of a true Christian community is an instrument of healing. To ignore the depth and power of true and chaste Christian affection and yet to expect the community gathered for worship to possess and confer an authentic reconciliation is like trying to baptize without water. In this atmosphere of love, we confess our sins, we praise God and pray for all men, and we hear in an intimately personal way those prophetic words that are contained in the Scriptures for all the Ch. urch for all time. The .words of the Scriptures enlighten, point out sin, encourage, and heal when they are heard with a heart that has already learned to set aside its fear and believe in the love of the Lord as He is expressing it through people gathered together. Memory and the Reception of Christ's Body And then we receive the Body of Christ. This is not only a touch with that flesh of Christ that healed so many, even,before the Resurrection and is now transformed by the fire of the Spirit; it is also an intimate, a mystical, union with all those who make up the Body of Christ. When our hearts are The Healing o[ Memories / 507 open, we receive and are reconciled in Christ to everyone in this world. Men may pray over us for the coming of the Spirit; Jesus enters into our body, and He is the source of the Spirit. This is the moment when our memories of the past blend with the passion of Jesus, and we forgive as He does; and we live, as He does, a life that is "unto God." Then memory becomes experi-ence of a healed past and a transformed future, somehow already present. Our inner being begins to know already the power of the Resurrection; the knowledge of where we come from, both as past and as God, becomes fused in a present awareness of Christ living in me. My memory becomes a living image of eternity where the name of God is uttered in awe and praise and the great deeds of God are proclaimed in the assembly of the faithful: "Yahweh, your name is forever; Yahweh, the memory of you is from gen-eration to generation!" (Ps 135: 13). A Community for Today and Tomorrow M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. M. Basil Pennington is a Cistercian monk of St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachu-setts 01562. His most recent previous article in Review ]or Religious was "Christian Zen Retreat" in the September 1972 issue, pages 710-3. On my way to the annual Cistercian Studies Conference at Kalamazoo last May, I took the opportunity to visit the True House Covenanted Com-munity at Notre Dame. It was a very wonderful and gracefilled experience and I would like to try to share a bit of it with you. What I found and experienced at True House was quite different from what 1 expected. The press, Kevin Ranaghan's book, the annual conferences create a certain image, a good image, of Notre Dame, but something quite different from what one finds when he has the privilege of stepping into the True House Community. The popular image, at least as it strikes some of us back here in the East, leads one to expect a rather large movement, one made up mostly of students, a rather enthusiastic but changing scene. I was therefore surprised to find that the True House Community is a rather small group, including many non-students, quite structured and stabilized, and, apart from the annual conference which takes over the Notre Dame Campus when the students are not there, having relatively little apparent impact on campus. But what I "found, I must say, deeply impressed me. Quality of Life First of all and most fundamentally what impresses one is the quality of life. Here are men and women of different ages and backgrounds, truly committed in a very stable way to living as full Christians. Prayer is very much in the fabric of their lives. The Lord Jesus truly lives in them, in 508 A Community for Today and Tomorrow / 509 their hearts, in their households. Their day begins with prayer together. Or even before that, it begins with a personal get-together with the Lord as they slip, one by one, into the chapel to spend a few moments or an hour or two there before the household morning Office. Grace before and after meals is not a perfunctory duty fulfilled but a time--and time is really given to it--to praise the Giver of all good things. And in this community all strive to gather in the early evening to celebrate together a daily Eucha-rist. For one who comes from a scene where he hears mostly of people try-ing to break away from structures and tradition, it is a surprise to discover this charismatic community firmly holding on to the traditions of the Church universal. Apart from the beautiful outpouring of praise, thanksgiving, and petition at certain moments, a Catholic traditionalist would be delightfully at home with the morning prayer and evening Mass offered in the com-munity. Perhaps it is because of the immense freedom they have in the Spirit (which frees them from the need to react against structures to ex-perience freedom) and the satisfactory outlets which are wisely and with good order provided within the liturgy and at the prayer meetings, that the community feels no need to throw over the established structures. But I sensed something more positive present among them. There is alive in the community a wonderful sense of belonging to th~ Church. And, I be-lieve, they have a real need and desire to experience themselves as praying with the Church, spread across the world and through the centuries. Praise the Lord! This quality of life was not only present in their prayer and worship, it was evident in their whole way of life. "See how these Christians love one another"--and the stranger, or rather fellow Christian, who suddenly appears in their midst, like myself-~was a thought that constantly echoed in me during my visit with them, as it would again later when I was priv-ileged to spend a couple of days with the saints at Ann Arbor. As one moved about on the campus there was always a special quality presevt when one encountered and greeted another from the community. Sitting around the supper table, playing volley ball, or having a sandwich together at noon, there was present in the fabric of the very ordinary human give and take a weave of genuine love and reverence for a fellow Christian. Christ was always present. Praise Him! Structures I was perhaps most surprised to see how quickly and to what extent the charismatic community had been structured. But this is a very realistic thing. Men need structures to live together in justice and love. I only hope this and all charismatic communities, as they do realistically structure them-selves, learn at least one lesson from the traditional religious communities and never allow their structures to solidify and, instead of serving life, begin to dominate it. We must ever retain, even in our needed structures, the 510 / Review ]or Religious, Volume 32, 1973/3 freedom of the sons and daughters of God. This is a quality that is. visibly present in the True House Community. The community is divided into households. When ! was there there was the single men's household,, the single women's, the sisters, one married household, and a few on campus. New households, married and single and for guests, were in the planning. Each household off campus lived in an ordinary house, shared meals and chores, had a common exchequer, prayed together at different times during the day, and had its doors wide open to all the other members of the community and the community's guests. To their special contentment at least one of the households had the privilege of hav-ing their Lord live in their midst in His Eucharistic presence. The households on campus consisted of perhaps four, five, or six men living in the same dorm, who gathered daily for prayer and meals. As I have already men-tioned, the whole community gathers each evening for the Eucharist. Loving Concern The members of each household realize a special responsibility toward each other, one of very special loving concern. When the household is large, as the single men's household of ten, this breaks down into sub-groups, the three or four who share the same room. Herein it seems to me the True House ~ommunity is finding one of its special apostolates, or missions in the Church, one very much needed today. A vast number of our young people today have been hurt, damaged by the home they come from, with i~s lack of self-giving love and security. There needs to be healing before these young men and women can become fully mature and free Christians. And this healing can be brought about only by love. Within the context of a true Christian community this self-giving love can be administered. To effect this healing the love has to be very personal, direct, constant, and even in some real sense intimate. This the households and their sub-groups can make possible. In such a climate of concerned love, wounds are healed, a fully free Christian emerges. Then he or she can maturely and freely choose to follow the Lord and His way in marriage or in singleness for the Lord, in the community or elsewhere within the family of the People of God. Often today when a young man or woman graduates from college he or she is not yet ready for life decisions, and yet social pressures tend to demand them of them. The community provides a context where one, free from such pressures, can continue to grow as a free person in the Lord, until he is truly ready for such a decision. I think True House in its mission of healing through love and providing a context for Christian maturation is fulfilling and exemplifying an apostolate that is desperately needed in the Church today. The Sisters in the Community True House is singularly blessed in its leadership. In Jim Byrne it has a A Community [or Today and Tomorrow / 511 truly charismatic leader, one who inspires, in a very humble and Christlike way, real confidence and loyalty. I was privileged to spend a good bit of time with him and they were gracefilled hours. He is supported by real collaborators, men and women who are really with him. The community is especially blessed with the two sisters who form one of the households. I think, perhaps without their realizing it, they have something important to say to many religious today. One thing I would note in passing. The sisters are perhaps a full generation older then most of the community (Sor-ry to mention that, Sisters!), yet there is no trace of the well-known genera-tion gap. More important the sisters are playing a very important role in the heart of the community. I do not know if I can really express it accurately, and I probably will not express it the way they would; but as one looking from the outside in and seeing the whole, I might see it better than they. I think because they do stand as members of the community who do have a special consecration to the Lord, and in their particular household in some special way live this, without in any way withdrawing from full membership and participation in the life of the community, they say some-thing, minister something, more by life than by words, to the rest of the community. And I ask myself if they are not pointing toward the way in which in the future religious, other than those called by the Lord to go apart to seek his Face in monastic solitude, will find their place and fulfill their role in the Church by becoming fully integrated, yet specially conse-crated members of local Christian communities. The sisters have struggled to find how practically and meaningfully to live their commitment to two communities, the local community of True House, and their religious com-munity- and they seem to be succeeding well. The Priest and This Type of Community No word on True House Community would be complete if it did not speak of a man who is not officially a member of the Covenanted Com-munity yet is very much a part of it. I am sure that under God the quality of life at True Housc is due in great measure to the effective presence in their midst of a truly holy priest, Father Ed O'Conner. His ministry to the community at the daily Liturgy and through the many regular hours of personal spiritual direction is made powerful by the inspiring example of what he is and by his complete openness to

A hurricane threat, a shortened schedule, some botched scheduling and an audience that couldn't get excited in unison were just a few of the challenges that confronted the Republican Party's Convention that concluded this past week in Tampa, Florida. The main purpose was to reintroduce Mitt Romney to the file and rank of his own party as well as to the wider national audience and to show that, besides business experience and his CEO approach to politics, the man is also human. With the help of Ann Romney, this was arguably accomplished. However, once humanized, the candidate had to convey a compelling message, a vision of the future that would sway the 8% undecided, and convert the anti-Obama into pro-Romney voters. In this, the Convention fell short. His strategic efforts as a candidate in the Primary Election were dedicated to convincing the right wing of the Republican party that his ideas and values had "evolved "from his times of governor of Massachusetts: he is now pro-life and not pro-choice, and his signature health care reform for that state, based on an individual mandate, had very little resemblance to Obamacare. He succeeded then, but these ultra conservative positions alienated two fundamental blocs of voters he will need for the general election, namely, women and Latinos. Indeed, the gender gap puts Obama ahead, with 51% of women voting for Obama and 41% for Romney. The Latino voter gap is at 63% for Obama to 28% for Romney. The campaign's political calculation was thus to use the Convention to appeal to the wider audience by showing the party's "diversity", by "humanizing" the candidate and by convincing the Evangelical right that being Mormon is not a monstrosity. Testimonials by members of his congregation, a convincing speech by Ann Romney and a black- and- white biographical video succeeded in meeting this goal. We learned that Mr. Romney is a wonderful husband and father, a patient man who tries to live by a set of values; that his years as head of a Mormon community were devoted to helping the needy, accompanying the lonely and counseling the troubled. It was also revealed that his tithing was uncommonly and consistently generous. The Convention was carefully staged to show younger, more diverse GOP "rising stars" in order to bring into the fold some of still persuadable minorities. Paul Ryan, the Catholic, strictly anti- abortion 42-year old that completes the ticket, gave an ideological speech that charmed the older generation, with references to "central-planners" and direct attacks on Obama's "socialist" policies, using what could be described at best as half-truths. A great admirer of atheist right-wing writer Ayn Rand, Ryan, a Representative from Wisconsin, rose to fame this past year by presenting a budget plan that would lower taxes for the upper-income bracket, privatize Medicare and harshly restrict social programs. Portraying himself as a compassionate conservative, he is supposed to bring in the Catholic vote. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Florida Senator Marco Rubio used their personal stories aptly and were able to get two of the few electrifying moments of the Convention. Rice's appearance was important after a period of what seemed to be her retirement from politics; she talked optimistically about America, its unbound freedoms, its role as an underwriter of world order, and unquestionably, the land of exceptional opportunity: channeling Obama, she offered her story as a testament of these possibilities. In spite of growing up in the Jim Crow South, she rose to Secretary of State and here she was today, the first "stateswoman" of the Republican Party. Rubio, a fresh-faced 41 year old and the son of working class Cuban immigrants, was the Latino version of the same idea. He had the difficult task of introducing Mitt Romney after the audience was still puzzled at Clint Eastwood's imaginary dialogue with President Obama (represented by an empty chair). After an awkward moment during which the seniors in the audience were still trying to process the meaning of Eastwood's sometimes off-color parody, Rubio managed the transition quite well and soon people were paying him undivided attention. One of the best-received portions was an anecdote about his father, who worked for years at a bar. "He stood behind a bar in the back of the room all those years, so one day I could stand behind a podium in the front of a room," Rubio said, bringing in a huge applause. There were many of these "rag-to-riches" stories aimed at reassuring the viewers that the candidate's wealth is not an obstacle to Romney and Ryan's newly found empathic conservatism. Mitt Romney's entrance along a cordoned red carpet, shaking hands and nodding to groups of supporters on each side, as well as the first few lines of his acceptance speech were shrewdly staged to evoke the State of the Union address. In line with the general theme, he devoted two thirds of his speech to his own biography and very little to the specifics of his economic agenda. While conventions are seldom memorable affairs, and while this one is most likely going to be remembered by the bizarre spectacle of actor Clint Eastwood talking, at times incoherently, to an empty chair, there were other minor headlines running parallel to it that deserve more attention for what they reveal of the long-term GOP plan to re-take government. Under the pretext that voter fraud is prevalent in presidential elections (a claim unsubstantiated by serious research), at least 14 Republican-dominated state legislatures, mostly (but not all) in the South, have been quietly passing new laws aimed at making the act of voting more difficult in those states. The intention is clear: to keep just enough demographic groups likely to vote for the Democrats (namely, young people and minorities) away from the polls. This voter suppression strategy takes different forms, the most prevalent of which is requiring the presentation of government- issued photo IDs, such as a driver's license or a US passport, at the polls It is a well-known fact that many elderly minorities and disabled citizens who don't drive lack these (Social Security cards in the US do not have photos, and there is not voting document such as a "credencial civica" in the US). These groups of people would have a hard time getting one, sometimes requiring them to travel miles away to get to the closest Public Safety office. In the case of young students, university-issued student identification cards for the most part are not accepted at the polls. Other bills and rules were aimed at shortening early voting time frames, repealing Election Day registration laws, and preventing non-profit, non-partisan groups such as the League of Women Voters from organizing voter registration campaigns. This week, however, a three-judge panel of the Federal District Court in Washington DC struck down a Texas voter ID law. Two days earlier, a different three-judge panel for the same court found that, in its redrawing of the electoral-district map (a practice that takes place every ten years following a national Census), the Texas legislature had intentionally discriminated against minority voters More important than any platform, more lasting than any emotional appeal to voters, voter suppression attempts constitute a politically divisive outrage that goes to the heart of our democracy. Indeed, it is unfathomable that over a century and a half after the Emancipation Proclamation and the Fifteenth Amendment, and half a century after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, minorities in the United States still have to rely on the court system to protect their right to vote. In a presidential election year and with a race as tight as the one we are about to witness in two months, voter turnout is fundamental. Laws aimed at discouraging citizens to vote are a surreptitiously shrewd, anti-democratic way to ensure victory.

Over the last decade, media and politicians have been praising the great economic and democratic progress of the former state socialist countries in East Central Europe. At the same time, however, there have been occasional news about a growing income gap, high female unemployment rates, highly restrictive abortion legislation etc. in those countries. This contradiction caught my attention. In my thesis, I wanted to get to the bottom of it. Thus, the main questions at the beginning of my work were the following: What changed after the implosion of state socialism in the countries of East Central Europe? And how? What were the gendered implications of these changes? What role have the European Union and the possibility of gaining EU membership been playing in the transformation processes – especially regarding the power relations between men and women? I decided to restrict my research to seven former state socialist countries in East Central Europe that are currently candidates for membership in the European Union: Poland, Czechoslovakia, respectively the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania. To approach the questions standing at the beginning of my work, I went way back to early socialist theorists, protagonists, and movements and their ideas and goals. I was particularly interested in women and gender issues in these theories and ideas. The next step was trying to grasp the state socialist reality. From this vantage point, I could finally analyse the changes and transformation processes that have been taking place since the implosion of state socialism. I decided to use a feminist approach with gender as a central category of analysis. This is a very fruitful way to discover and reveal social interconnections, causes and outcomes of economic, political, and social processes, as well as crucial patterns that have been influencing and/or directing the processes in the East Central European countries under consideration over the last decades. Since the topic of my thesis is in the realm of international politics, I am taking a look at the encounters of feminist approaches and international relations at the beginning of my work. After that I am giving an overview of the main approaches to researching and theorizing the transformation processes in the former state socialist countries of East Central Europe, followed by an explanation of the approach I am taking. Then I am developing a theoretical framework that I am eventually applying to analyse the processes and changes taking place in those seven East Central European countries I have chosen for my work. In the final chapters of my thesis I am dealing with global influences on East Central Europe, namely international economic and monetary organizations/institutions and their role in East Central Europe before and after the implosion of state socialism as well as the European Union's role in the transformation processes. Finally, a summary of the central results of my research, a few closing thoughts, and a glimpse ahead are concluding my work. Zusammenfassung: Am Anfang meiner Arbeit stand ein Widerspruch: einerseits wurde in Medien und Politik immer wieder der große wirtschaftliche und demokratiepolitische Fortschritt der Länder Mittel- und Osteuropas (MOE) seit dem Ende des Staatsozialismus gepriesen. Andererseits gab es aber auch vereinzelt Berichte über eine wachsende Schere zwischen Arm und Reich, über hohe Frauen-Arbeitslosenraten, über eine drastische Verschärfung von Abtreibungsgesetzen etc. Dieser Widerspruch machte mich neugierig. In Form meiner Diplomarbeit wollte ich ihm auf den Grund gehen. Zentrale Fragen am Beginn meiner Arbeit waren daher folgende: Welche Mechanismen waren bzw. sind während der Transformationsprozesse seit der Implosion des Staatssozialismus in MOE im Gange? Wie sehen die vergeschlechtlichten Implikationen dieser Prozesse und Entwicklungen aus? Welche Rolle spielt die Europäische Union bzw. das Anstreben der EU-Mitgliedschaft während der Transformationsprozesse – vor allem hinsichtlich der Machtverhältnisse zwischen den Geschlechtern? Den theoretischen Rahmen meiner Arbeit bildet das Konzept des Gender-Regimes. Dieses beschreibt die "formelle und informelle Organisation der politischen Machtzentren entlang der Geschlechterdifferenz." Ich konzentriere meine Analyse auf die drei Sphären Arbeit, Politik und Reproduktion. Dies erscheint mir für meine Arbeit am fruchtbarsten, da sich in allen diesen drei Sphären Macht manifestiert und sie gleichzeitig durch komplexe Wechselbeziehungen eng miteinander verknüpft sind. Ich habe einen feministischen Forschungsansatz mit Gender und Geschlecht als zentrale Kategorien der Untersuchung gewählt. Der Blick aus der Geschlechterperspektive ist besonders aufschlussreich, da dadurch viele bis dahin unsichtbare oder als selbstverständlich bzw. 'natürlich' hingenommene Entwicklungen und Prozesse aufgezeigt und kritisch hinterfragt werden können. Meine Analyse umfasst ein breites Bild: Nach der Beschäftigung mit theoretischen marxistischen/sozialistischen Schriften in Hinblick auf Geschlechterverhältnis und Emanzipation, wende ich mich der staatssozialistischen Realität zu. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf sechs bzw. sieben MOE-Ländern, und zwar Ungarn, Polen, Tschechoslowakei bzw. Tschechien und Slowakei, Slowenien, Bulgarien und Rumänien. Mit diesem wichtigen Backgroundwissen untersuche ich schließlich die Entwicklungen und Prozesse nach der Implosion des Staatssozialismus in eben diesen MOEL, die heute alle auch Beitrittskandidatenländer für die EU sind. Dabei stoße ich trotz der großen Heterogenität zwischen und innerhalb dieser Länder auf zahlreiche Parallelen und ähnliche Tendenzen, was die Transformationsprozesse und ihre vergeschlechtlichten Implikationen angeht. Die Transformationsprozesse nach der Implosion des Staatssozialismus haben gravierende Konsequenzen für alle Menschen in MOE – und darüber hinaus – (gehabt). Diese Konsequenzen weisen eindeutig geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede auf. Geschlechterungleichheit, ein patriarchales Grundmuster und männliche Dominanz finden sich in allen drei von mir untersuchten Sphären – Arbeit, Politik, Reproduktion. Der Systemwechsel hat nichts an der vergeschlechtlichten Machtverteilung bzw. dem Machtungleichgewicht zwischen Männern und Frauen verändert – nur die Konfigurationen sind anders geworden: Arbeitswelt und Politik sind nach wie vor auf den männlichen Alltag und auf männliche Lebensentwürfe zugeschnitten und ausgerichtet, und diese schließen Reproduktion nach wie vor aus. Diese bleibt fast ausschließlich Frauensache. Unter den neuen marktwirtschaftlichen Verhältnissen wird reproduktive Arbeit noch mehr privatisiert und feminisiert als zur Zeit des Staatssozialismus. Der Frauenanteil bei den Arbeitslosen, v.a. den Langzeitarbeitslosen ist sehr hoch. Frauen müssen sich bestenfalls anpassen, um Eingang vor allem in höhere Positionen in Wirtschaft und Politik zu finden, die zum einen besser bezahlt sind und zum anderen mit mehr Macht ausgestattet sind. Aufgrund ihrer Mehrfachbelastung fehlen vielen Frauen dafür aber die nötige Zeit, Energie und im Hinblick auf formelle politische Institutionen nicht zuletzt auch die finanziellen Mittel (z.B. um einen erfolgreichen Wahlkampf zu führen). Neben strukturellen Hindernissen spielen geschlechterspezifische Rollenbilder, Vorurteile und Clichés eine bedeutende Rolle. Deren Wurzeln liegen zum Teil in der vor-staatssozialistischen Zeit, zum Teil wurden sie durch den Staatssozialismus geprägt, und auch globale, v.a. westliche Einflüsse spielen hier mit hinein. Die nach der "Wende" drastisch gesunkene quantitative Repräsentation von Frauen in formellen politischen Institutionen hat negative Auswirkungen auf ihre qualitative Repräsentation in der Politik. Was etwa Reproduktion betrifft, so fällen nach wie vor Männer in Politik und Wirtschaft Entscheidungen, welche die Reproduktionsfreiheit von Frauen direkt und indirekt einschränken – direkt z.b. durch strengere Abtreibungsgesetze, indirekt z.b. durch arbeitsmarkt- und/oder sozialpolitische Maßnahmen und Regelungen. Eingeschränkte Reproduktionsfreiheit – z.b. durch erschwerten Zugang zu Abtreibung, zu wenige Kinderbetreuungsplätze etc. – hindert Frauen an gleicher Teilnahme wie Männer in Wirtschaft und Politik. Eine zentrale Schlussfolgerung aus meiner Analyse ist daher die, dass die Grundlagen vergeschlechtlichter Machtungleichheit selbst einen Systemwechsel überstehen (können). Solange Frauen und spezielle weibliche Anliegen, die vor allem an deren biologische Reproduktionsfähigkeit geknüpft sind, nicht als gleichwertig anerkannt werden, solange Machtsphären wie institutionalisierte Politik und Wirtschaft diese nicht inkludieren, solange Reproduktion nicht als gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe und Verantwortung betrachtet wird, solange wird sich an der herrschenden Machtverteilung nichts ändern. Die EU bzw. die EU-Beitrittsbestrebungen haben bisher durch den Fokus auf wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit, Entwicklung und Reformen, bei gleichzeitiger Nichtberücksichtigung oder Vernachlässigung von sozialen Themen und Anliegen das ihre zu den oben beschriebenen Entwicklungen beigetragen. Dennoch werden an die künftige EU-Mitgliedschaft bezüglich Geschlechtergleichstellung gewisse Hoffnungen geknüpft. EU-Gleichbehandlungsrichtlinien und Aktionsprogramme zur Gewährleistung von Chancengleichheit für Frauen sollen die Gender- und Gleichstellungsthematik in MOE aufwerten und Druck auf die zukünftigen/neuen Mitgliedsstaaten ausüben. Angesichts der Tatsache, dass Frauen in den derzeitigen EU-Staaten mit vergleichbaren bzw. zum Teil sehr ähnlichen Problemen zu kämpfen haben wie jene in MOE, liegt vor der demnächst 25 Mitgliedsstaaten zählenden EU und ihren BürgerInnen noch eine große Aufgabe.

This paper analyzes the transfer and spread of laparoscopy in Korea in the 1970–80s and its impact on Korean society from a historical perspective. It raises three questions: first, what was the reason that laparoscopy was introduced and spread in Korea, even though other contraceptive technologies were already in use? Second, what was the impact of laparoscopy on the Family Planning Program in Korea? Third, what subsequent effect did laparoscopy have on obstetricians in Korea? To clarify these points, this study examines government documents, NGO reports, and medical research papers produced in Korea and the United States of America (USA). There were three main reasons due to which laparoscopy was introduced and spread in Korea. Firstly, it was the necessity and the possibility of new contraceptive technology. The limitations of existing contraceptive technology led to the need for tubal sterilization. Intrauterine devices and oral contraceptives caused many side effects due to defects in the technology itself and baseless target amount; additionally, they were a substantial economic burden due to their long-term costs. Vasectomy and artificial abortion were suggested as alternatives, but the limitations were obvious; vasectomy could not overcome the psychological resistance among males, while artificial abortion was vulnerable to the ethical condemnation of sacrificing life. As intrauterine devices, oral contraceptives, vasectomy, and artificial abortion exposed several limitations, tubal sterilization, which had not been discussed as an alternative, began to emerge as a viable method. The Hospital Family Planning Program and the introduction of laparoscopy realized and expanded the possibilities of tubal sterilization, which until the early 1970s had been a difficult surgery, only available at hospital-level institutions. This constraint was resolved with the implementation of the Hospital Family Planning Program in response to the rise of the urban population problem. As hospitals, concentrated in cities, emerged as new centers of family planning, the technological limitations blocking the spread of tubal sterilization were naturally solved; further, laparoscopic surgery, introduced in the mid-1970s, expanded possibilities of tubal sterilization. With the introduction of laparoscopy, tubal sterilization changed from a complicated surgery requiring hospital-level institutions to a simple surgery available at clinic-level institutions. With both necessity and possibility in place, tubal sterilization became a key means of the Family Planning Program. The second reason is that laparoscopy met the interests of the governments and medical professionals of both the USA and Korea. In the late 1960s, the governments of both countries sought new means to replace the existing contraceptive technologies. As mentioned above, intrauterine devices and oral contraceptives caused frequent side effects and were quite expensive. Under these circumstances, laparoscopy emerged as a groundbreaking technology for popularizing tubal sterilization, decreasing the difficulty of the operation and increasing its safety. Although the problem of its high initial cost remained, a single surgery could have a permanent contraceptive effect, thus, it seemed to be an economical option. For both governments, laparoscopy was an excellent technical solution to overcome the technological and economic limitations of existing contraceptive technologies. Laparoscopy also met the interests of medical practitioners in both countries. Obstetricians in developed countries, leading the development and diffusion of contraceptive technology, were able to secure huge amounts of clinical cases through worldwide population control projects. Proving the effectiveness of new medical technologies required a sufficient number of cases; however, this was not an easy task in developed countries, where population problems were not prominent. The solution was the 'extension of the operating room.' If the surgical procedure could be standardized and the results could be reported in a systemized format, cases could be collected easily from various countries. Medical professionals in Korea also saw their benefits. Based on the network between Korea and the USA through the standardization of laparoscopic surgery, obstetricians in the former country received technology transfer and exerted authority as experienced surgeons. Behind the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics lay the overlapping interests of the governments and medical professionals of both countries. Lastly, laparoscopy was technically improved to suit the situation of developing countries. When first used for tubal sterilization, laparoscopy was not an appropriate technique to be used in developing countries as it was neither safe nor cheap. Laparoscopic surgeries sometimes caused complications, such as perforation of the small intestine; furthermore, in developing countries, where medical personnel and facilities were scarce, such complications could threaten the lives of the patients. The lack of safety was a major flaw preventing the spread of laparoscopic sterilization, as it could not be implemented at the expense of people's lives. The complexity and low economic efficiency of laparoscopy were also problematic. Although it was simple and inexpensive compared to open surgery, it was still complex and too expensive to be widely used in developing countries. To solve these problems, public and private organizations such as the United States Agency for International Development and the Ford Foundation, and several medical professionals dove into the improvement of laparoscopy; consequently, laparoscopy became affordable and safe enough for developing countries. With three conditions in place, the necessity and the possibility for tubal sterilization, overlapping of the interests in technology transfer, and technological improvement to suit the environment of the developing countries, laparoscopy could be transferred and spread rapidly. After laparoscopy was introduced in Korea, laparoscopic tubal sterilization quickly matched other contraceptive techniques and finally outpaced them in the early 1980s. The second and third questions correspond to the influence of laparoscopy on Korean society. Regarding the impact on the Family Planning Program, laparoscopy solidified and deepened the male-dominant gender order. The Family Planning Program had always targeted women. It was the result of the consensus of the two major powers, namely, government officials and doctors; most government officials viewed family planning as the job of a 'housewife,' and doctors also focused mostly on female contraception. It is no exaggeration to state that the Family Planning Program was a project to spread female contraceptive technologies. The budget was focused on the dissemination of intrauterine devices and oral contraceptives rather than vasectomy; in turn, it became evidence proving the effectiveness of targeting women, fixing them the subject of the program. Laparoscopy consolidated this flow. The side effects of intrauterine devices and oral contraceptives, ironically, could resolve gender inequality in family planning strategies. As the sustainability of the program became uncertain, a group of bureaucrats and doctors who had shifted all responsibility to women began to reorient the plan toward vasectomy. With the introduction of laparoscopy, however, the plan focused on women again. As laparoscopy popularized tubal sterilization, political will toward vasectomy decreased accordingly. In the circular logic by which the availability of technology determined the direction of the policy, and such policy proved the value of technology, women became the set target of the Family Planning Program, and laparoscopy became a driving force to maintain this vicious circle. The same was true for the initiative of the Family Planning Program. The program was designed and implemented by male doctors and policy-makers from the beginning. The women's birth control movement, which existed until the end of the 1950s, came to an end with the military coup. The military regime excluded female organizations from the program, and the international organizations represented by the International Planned Parenthood Federation focused on population control projects under the order of Cold War rather than women's right to control childbirth according to their will. Given the change of circumstances, the initiative of the plan was transferred to a group of male doctors who had acquired knowledge of preventive medicine, population theory, and had become proficient in English by studying abroad; they emerged as a point of contact between the international order and Korea. Furthermore, they took over key posts in the public and private sectors. The introduction of laparoscopy strengthened the male dominance of the program. In the 1960s, although a group of male doctors led the plan's design and supervision, it was the women who were tasked with its implementation in the field. Family planning agents were in charge of inserting the intrauterine devices and providing guidance on the usage of oral contraceptives as well as promoting and enlightening the program. The situation changed with the popularization of laparoscopic tubal sterilization. As the program was reorganized to focus on laparoscopic surgery, the role of female agents was reduced to promoting the new technology, while obstetricians—predominantly male—emerged as the main actors intervening in women's bodies. Thus, laparoscopy was a technology that reproduced and reinforced gender inequality in terms of the plan's targets and initiatives. Laparoscopy also had an impact on the Korean obstetrician community. In short, it was the basis of technological catch-up. Elite obstetricians in Korea who joined the international trends of obstetrics continued to face new technologies, such as surgical microscopes used for microsurgery (e.g., tubal reanastomosis) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Encouraged by the introduction of laparoscopy, obstetricians in Korea once again tried to keep up with the trends in global obstetrics and attained some success. This was because laparoscopy created the necessity and the possibility of technological catch-up. The popularization of laparoscopic tubal sterilization meant an increase in the demand to restore fertility. Although the proportion of those who wanted reversal surgery was not significantly high, the absolute number was not small because sterilization was performed on hundreds of thousands of people every year. This resulted in the demand for tubal reanastomosis and IVF. Laparoscopy created the possibility of introducing new reproductive technologies also. Microscopic tubal reversal was transferred to Korea through the same network by which laparoscopic tubal sterilization had been introduced. The main agents of technical education and financial support, and the operation of the training programs, were identical. The case of IVF was slightly different. In the case of IVF, universities and laboratories were competing to achieve success first. In this competitive structure, nobody wanted to disclose their technology; therefore, it was not easy for medical professionals of developing countries to go abroad to learn new skills. However, the human network established during the introduction of laparoscopy enabled many Korean obstetricians to seek training overseas, thereby introducing IVF technology to Korea. In conclusion, laparoscopy was developed and spread through the unique social structures of the time, whilst reproducing and strengthening them at the same time. First, in the political order of the Cold War, laparoscopy was rediscovered and improved as a means of intervening in the population of developing countries and then became the basis for the continuation of population control projects. Second, in the patriarchal setup of Korea, laparoscopy was introduced through the Family Planning Program assuming women as the main target of the program; further, the spread of laparoscopic sterilization circularly strengthened this assumption and the dominance of male doctors. Finally, in the context of the aspirations to high technologies of medical professionals in Korea, laparoscopy could defeat competing technologies and spread quickly; moreover, it functioned as a basis for technological catch-up. In short, laparoscopy was a technology that mediated and reinforced the multilayered structures of the Cold War, gender politics, and technological aspirations. 이 논문은 1970년대와 1980년대 한국에서 복강경 기술이 도입되고 확산하는 과정과 그것이 한국 사회에 미친 영향을 역사적으로 분석하였다. 문제의식은 다음의 세 가지였다. 첫 번째, 이미 다른 피임 기술이 보급되어 있던 상황에서, 복강경 기술이 한국으로 도입되고 확산할 수 있었던 까닭은 무엇인가. 두 번째, 이렇게 도입되고 확산한 복강경 기술은 한국 가족계획 사업에 어떤 영향을 주었는가. 세 번째, 복강경 기술은 이후 한국의 산부인과학계에 어떠한 영향을 주었는가. 이를 밝히기 위해 1970년대와 1980년대 당시 한국과 미국에서 생산된 여러 정부 문건과 비정부기구 보고서, 의학 연구 논문 등을 살펴보았으며, 그러한 탐구의 결과 다음과 같은 결론을 내릴 수 있었다. 먼저 복강경 기술이 한국으로 도입되고 확산할 수 있었던 이유는 크게 세 가지였다. 첫 번째는 난관 불임 수술이라는 새로운 피임 기술의 필요성과 가능성이 갖추어졌기 때문이다. 1970년대에 들어서면서 기존에 사용되던 자궁내장치와 경구피임약, 정관 불임 수술 등의 방법은 기술 자체의 결함과 근거 없는 목표량 설정에 따른 잦은 부작용, 심리적 저항 등의 한계를 노출했다. 이에 따라 많은 의학자와 인구학자는 난관 불임 수술이라는 대안 기술에 주목했다. 물론 난관 불임 수술은 수술실과 입원실이라는 물적 조건을 갖춘 병원에서만 시행 가능한 까다로운 기술이었다. 하지만 한국의 경우 도시 가족계획 사업의 시행으로 병원이 사업의 새로운 중심으로 부상하고, 여기에 1970년대 중반에 도입된 복강경이 수술의 물적 조건을 완화하면서, 이러한 한계는 상당 부분 극복될 수 있었다. 두 번째는 복강경 기술이 미국과 한국 양국 정부와 의학자의 이해관계에 고루 부합하였기 때문이다. 기존의 피임 기술이 한계를 노출하는 상황 속에서, 미국 정부와 한국 정부는 복강경 난관 불임 수술을 시행함으로써 인구 조절 사업을 통한 자유 진영의 수호와 경제 개발 계획을 지속할 수 있었다. 복강경 기술은 양국 의학자의 이해에도 합치하였다. 피임 기술의 개발과 확산을 주도하던 선진국의 여러 의학자는 수술법을 표준화하여 보급하고 규격화된 양식으로 결과를 보고받는 '수술실의 확장'을 통해 막대한 양의 임상례를 확보할 수 있었다. 한국의 의학자 역시 복강경 수술의 표준화로 이어진 양국의 연결망을 바탕으로 선진국의 기술을 이전받는 동시에, 다량의 임상례를 생산하는 자로서의 권위를 누릴 수 있었다. 마지막은 복강경이 개발도상국의 상황에 맞게 개량되었기 때문이다. 난관 불임 수술에 사용되기 시작한 초기만 해도, 복강경은 개발도상국의 환경에 적합한 기술이 아니었다. 복강경은 기대만큼 안전하지도, 기대만큼 저렴하지도 못했다. 이를 해결하기 위하여, 국제개발처와 포드 재단 등의 관민 기관과 여러 의학자가 복강경의 개량에 뛰어들었다. 복잡한 부품은 간단한 부품으로 교체되었고, 위험한 방식은 안전한 방식으로 대체되었다. 이렇게 난관 불임 수술의 필요성과 가능성이 갖추어지고, 기술 이전을 향한 이해관계가 중첩되는 동시에, 이전 대상국의 환경에 따라 복강경이 개량됨에 따라, 복강경은 급속도로 이전되고 확산할 수 있었다. 한국에 복강경 기술이 이전된 이후 복강경을 이용한 난관 불임 수술은 다른 피임 기술을 빠르게 추격하였고, 마침내 1980년대 초반에 이르러 수위(首位)를 차지했다. 두 번째와 세 번째 문제의식은 복강경 기술이 한국 사회에 미친 영향에 해당한다. 먼저 가족계획 사업에 끼친 영향이다. 요컨대 복강경은 남성으로 치우친 사업의 젠더 질서를 고착화하고 심화하였다. 복강경은 사업의 대상을 여성으로 고정하는 결과를 가져왔다. 사업을 주도하던 양대 세력인 정부 관료와 의사 집단은 사업의 초기부터 줄곧 여성을 대상으로 삼았다. 자궁내장치와 경구피임약의 확산이 정체하면서 정관 불임 수술이 대안으로 떠올랐지만, 복강경의 도입과 함께 사업은 다시 여성으로 집중되었다. 사업의 주도권 역시 마찬가지였다. 남성 의사 집단이 사업의 설계와 감독을 주도하였지만, 복강경이 도입되기 전까지만 해도 현장에서의 실행만큼은 여성의 몫이었다. 그러나 사업이 복강경을 중심으로 재편되며 여성 요원의 역할은 새로운 기술을 홍보하고 안내하는 수준으로 축소되었고, 남성이 다수이던 산부인과 의사가 여성의 신체에 개입하는 주요 행위자가 되었다. 이렇게 복강경은 사업의 대상과 주도권의 측면에서, 젠더 불평등을 재생산하고 확대하였다. 다음은 복강경 기술이 한국 산부인과학계에 미친 영향이다. 복강경을 계기로 산부인과학의 국제적 조류에 합류한 한국의 엘리트 산부인과 의사는 계속해서 수술 현미경이나 체외수정과 같은 새로운 기술을 도입하였다. 이는 복강경이 기술 추격의 필요성과 가능성을 만들어낸 결과였다. 먼저 복강경은 신기술이 도입되어야 할 필요성을 창출했다. 복강경의 확산에 따른 난관 불임 수술의 보급은 다시 생식능력을 복원하려는 수요의 성장으로 이어졌다. 복강경은 새로운 기술이 도입되는 가능성이기도 했다. 현미경을 이용한 난관 복원 수술은 복강경 난관 불임 수술을 도입하던 연결망을 통해 한국으로 이전되었고, 체외 수정 역시 복강경 기술의 이전 과정에서 생성된 인적 연결망을 바탕으로 도입될 수 있었다. 이처럼 복강경은 당대의 고유한 사회 구조를 매개로 만들어지고 퍼져 나갔고, 동시에 이러한 구조를 재생산하고 강화하였다. 먼저 오래된 기술인 복강경은 냉전의 정치 상황 속에서 개발도상국의 인구에 개입하는 수단으로 재조명되며 비로소 개량될 수 있었고, 이렇게 개량되어 보급됨으로써 다시 인구 조절 사업을 이어나가는 바탕이 되었다. 또한 남성으로 치우친 한국의 젠더 질서 속에서 복강경은 여성을 사업의 주요 대상으로 상정하는 사업 기조를 매개로 한국에 도입되어, 다시금 여성을 사업의 대상으로 고정하는 동시에, 남성 의사의 주도권을 강화하기도 했다. 마지막으로 복강경은 선진국을 향한 여러 엘리트 의학자의 열망에 힘입어 빠르게 이전되고 확산하였으며, 이는 이후 수술 현미경과 체외수정 기술을 추격하는 기반으로 작동하였다. 요컨대 복강경은 냉전과 젠더 불평등, 그리고 선진 기술을 향한 선망이라는 당대의 구조를 매개하고 강화하는 기술이었다. ; open ; 박사

Pakistan was selected as a case study because of its estimated 40 percent decline in fertility between 1980 and 2006. Pakistan's high fertility rate began to decline gradually after the late 1980s and has continued to fall since then, though progress has been uneven and there have been signs of a slowdown in recent years. Unlike the other four case study countries (Algeria, Botswana, Iran, and Nicaragua), the history of fertility reduction in Pakistan has not been an overwhelming success story but rather a story of challenges, partial responses, and shortcomings that offer abundant lessons for other high-fertility countries as well as planners in Pakistan.

 Institut
d'Estudis Nord-americans  Blog 

Josep
M. Colomer: "The current political polarization of the United States originates
in its institutional system."

General newsPhotography: Alicia Colomer



By Marc Amat

On January 6, 2021, a mob of Donald
Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol to get Vice President Mike
Pence and Congress to reject President-elect Joe Biden. This shocking event was
the result of a crescendo of political hostility that, for decades, had eroded
the institutional system of the United States. This is how prestigious
political scientist and economist Josep M. Colomer reads the situation in his
latest book La polarización política en Estados Unidos (Debate,
2023). In its pages, Colomer points out the institutional design of this North
American country – with the separation of powers between Congress and the
Presidency and only two parties – as being responsible for the constant
emergence of bitter political and territorial rivalries.

With a comprehensive tone and rhythmic
pace, Colomer weaves a lucid essay on how the deterioration of the
effectiveness of government can end up generating growing tensions in the
political scene. To do so, he draws on his long academic and professional
career. Currently, he is a professor of political science at Georgetown
University, in Washington D.C., and an associate researcher at the l'Institut
de Ciències Polítiques i Socials in Barcelona. How should we interpret the
assault on the Capitol? What symptoms of dysfunction exist in the U.S.
institutional system? What changes could be made to improve it? To analyze
these issues, this month we interview Josep M. Colomer.

On January 6, 2021, images of the assault on the United
States Capitol swept the world. How do you explain that occurrence?

It's been repeated many times in the
media that what we experienced was an unprecedented situation. However,
throughout history, the U.S. has faced several episodes of institutional
violence. If we look beyond the recent past, between 1830 and 1860 there was a
great escalation of tension and violence, even among the congressmen
themselves. With the abolition of slavery as a core issue, this dynamic led to
a bloody civil war, with 750,000 people dead, a figure that represented 2.5% of
the population of the United States at the time. Now, for almost three decades,
we've been experiencing another continuous increase in tension in American
domestic politics. This time it will not lead to a civil war, but it is
paralyzing politics. There are problems in approving budgets; in the recent
past there have been four impeachments, when there had only been one in the
19th century; it's extremely difficult to move forward with legislature…

Can we understand Donald Trump's rhetoric and the assault
on the Capitol as a culmination of this escalation?

It is a consequence. We have to look
for the beginning of the tensions in the mid-1990s. In 1994, the Republicans
won a majority in Congress after many years without it. From day one, they
acted to create a climate of political hostility against President Clinton.
They tried to overrule him, they dug up scandals… Today, this behavior still
continues: Republicans adopt a position of boycott towards institutions they do
not control.

And this causes the institutional system to falter.

It's not that the Republicans are
worse or more combative people: the problem lies in the country's own
institutional design, which creates incentives for this to happen. That's my
thesis.

So this is a problem with a long past. In fact, it originates
in the constitution itself.

In the 18th century, when the United
States approved its Magna Carta, they were undertaking an experiment: to
establish a republic in a large country. This did not exist anywhere, and in a
way, it could be said that the U.S. has had to pay for the novelty of this
undertaking. They drew up a constitution very much intended to defend
themselves against the British, French and Spanish armies, which still had
colonies at their borders. Therefore, foreign policy was the core element. With
the creation of the United States, the newly independent states that were part
of it wanted to have a firmer government. Throughout the centuries, foreign
policy has remained the axis of the American system. We saw this, for example,
during the Second World War or the Cold War. Now, with Russia and China there
is some nostalgia to relive times like the Cold War, though the present
situation is not comparable. When there is a clear and threatening enemy,
foreign policy takes over and the whole country pulls together to face the
threat. On the other hand, when the enemy is more abstract, a lot of internal
issues surface that have never been resolved.

Such as?

There are many of them. Obama's health
care program, which didn't quite work; issues related to education; border
control and the wave of immigrants who want to enter the country; the use of
firearms; abortion; legislation on transgender people; the constant racial
tensions… These are internal issues that have never been addressed. With the American
institutional system, resolving these conflicts through two institutions ruled
by two different parties blocking each other is very complicated. The parties
being unable to solve problems has led to the appearance of social movements
such as Me Too or Black Lives Matter, but also the Tea Party or the
anti-vaccine movement.



Has political polarization translated into growing social
polarization?

In some previous conflicts, such as
the years of the Cold War, the government tried to create a certain climate of
fear among the population. They were encouraged to build atomic shelters in
their homes, there were drills in schools… Most people, however, moved away
from the hysteria and led a normal life. In fact, in the 1950s, society
progressed a lot, with the massification of automobiles, the entry of television
and appliances into the household, Coca-Cola, Hollywood… Similarly, the current
polarization is much stronger politically than socially. In fact, the
polarization is inflammatory and a spectacle, but the vast majority of people
are not polarized. Only 2% of voters go to Donald Trump's rallies, for example.
He demonizes immigrants, but there is no news of civil conflict with
immigrants.

In your book, you often remind us that America is huge.

One of the things I least expected to
find in the country when I went to live there was the great territorial
fragmentation. This is not the United States of America: it is the Disunited
States of America. I can identify at least six different countries within its
borders, such as the East Coast, the Midwest, Texas, California, the South…
There are territories with great differences and certain sentiments towards
others, but they have built the nation based on sharing a flag, a currency and
a language.



Has the size of the country also conditioned the
effectiveness of the institutional system?

When they made the Constitution, the delegates were very
inspired by Montesquieu. In fact, the French thinker is the most cited author
in the deliberations of the Americans. The author could not speak English, but
he had visited England to analyze its political system and be able to describe
it in a chapter of the book The Spirit of the Laws (1748). In
the United States, they took this as a reference. The problem was that, in
reality, the British system that the intellectual described had been out of
date for over a century. The person who instructed him during the visit was a
monarchist who had been expelled years ago from the House of Lords for
conspiring to restore the absolute monarchy, had gone into exile in France and
spoke French. He explained Britain's medieval monarchy to Montesquieu,
Montesquieu reproduced it in his book and in Philadelphia, the delegates took
inspiration from it, replacing the king with an executive president with many
powers. The result was the creation of a republic in a huge country. It was
unprecedented. The model is still unique in the world, the Americans themselves
did not even implement it in other countries, such as Germany or Japan, after
the Second World War.

What measures do you think should be incorporated into the
system to combat the malfunction you describe?

I dedicate the last chapter of the
book to this. I make suggestions for institutional reforms, but I don't propose
a new constitution. I try to identify real examples that are already moving in
the right direction, such as the reform of the electoral system that already
works at the local and state levels in some states, with elections with a
second round. Cooperation should increase between Congress and the president.
Currently, there are already some department secretaries who periodically visit
Congress to report back. Cooperation between Washington and the states still
has much room for improvement. That role should be played by the Senate, but
it's too partisan. There is a way to go, and the Constitution would not need to
be changed much to move towards a more parliamentary system. But confrontational
partisanship makes institutional reforms very difficult.

Personal website: www.josepcolomer.com




La polarización política en Estados Unidos

Orígenes
y actualidad de un conflicto permanente

Josep
M. Colomer

Saber más

Josep M.
ColomerComing soon in English:CLICK - Taylor & Francis - Routledge

 

Dass 2016 der Republikaner Donald Trump als rechtmäßiger Vertreter einer demokratischen Öffentlichkeit gewählt wurde, wirkte sich auch dort aus, wo man es zuletzt vermuten würde: in den feinen Verästelungen des akademischen Schreibens über vierhundert Jahre alte Bühnentexte. Sucht man Phänomene der Gegenwart zu erklären, bieten Shakespeares Dramen eine beliebte Hilfestellung. Erst kürzlich veröffentlichte Stephen Greenblatt unter dem Titel TYRANT. Shakespeare on Politics die ausführliche Version eines Essays, der im Oktober 2016 unter dem gewagten Titel "Shakespeare Explains the 2016 Election" in der New York Times erschienen war. In der genauen und bisweilen etwas sprunghaften Lektüre von Shakespeares Dramen macht der Literaturwissenschaftler spezifische Figurenkonstellationen und Charaktereigenschaften aus. Daraus entwickelt er eine Typologie von "Ermöglichern", die tagespolitische Entwicklungen erhellen soll. In Shakespeare in Divided America wählt James Shapiro einen anderen Weg: Er untersucht, wie die szenische und analytische Behandlung von Shakespeares Bühnenfiguren in markanten historischen Momenten mit Themen und Ereignissen korreliert, die die Identität Amerikas ausmachen. Die Motivation teilt er dabei mit seinem Kollegen Greenblatt. So gesteht Shapiro gleich auf den ersten Seiten: "It was the election of Donald Trump in 2016 that convinced me to write about Shakespeare in a divided America." (S.8) Sein inhaltliches Fundament erhält dieses Verkaufsargument durch die 724 Seiten schwere Sammlung Shakespeare in America: An Anthology from the Revolution to Now, die der Autor vor sechs Jahren veröffentlichte. Das dort versammelte Material beginnt 1776, im Jahr der Unabhängigkeitserklärung, – die aktuelle Publikation eröffnet ein halbes Jahrhundert später mit den Konflikten um "Miscegenation", der Furcht vor einer 'Vermischung der Rassen', die dem bevorstehenden Bürgerkrieg den ideologischen Boden bereitete. Mit einem Artikel "On the Character of Desdemona" trug der ehemalige Präsident John Quincy Adams am Neujahrstag 1835 indirekt zu dieser Diskussion bei. Befeuert von der enttäuschenden Begegnung mit der vierzig Jahre jüngeren Schauspielerin Fanny Kemble, die seinen Ausführungen über Shakespeare keinen Beifall zollte, veröffentlichte er im American Monthly Magazine einen langen Brief. Darin wählt er den Umweg über seine bereits zuvor vielfach im Halbprivaten geäußerte Obsession mit Othello, um auszudrücken, "what he otherwise was too inhibited or careful to say" (S.44): Desdemona habe ihr Schicksal verdient, weil sie sich des naturwidrigen Vergehens schuldig gemacht habe, einen "blackamoor" (S.25) zu ehelichen. Hier zeigt sich – und das ist die grundlegende Überzeugung Shapiros –, dass Shakespeare für die Ängste und Vorurteile, die das gesellschaftliche Klima prägen, als "canary in the coalmine" (S.4) fungiert. So ist es folgerichtig, dass Shakespeare in America die 'hot topics' der Gegenwart – Race, Class, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Immigration, Otherness, Power & Politics – anhand der Aufführungs- und Rezeptionsgeschichte Shakespeares verhandelt. Auch Mental Health scheint zwischen den Zeilen immer wieder durch. Die Reflektiertheit, mit der Shapiro seine historische Rekonstruktion betreibt, würde man sich grundsätzlich von allen Autoren wünschen, auf die die Adjektive 'old white privileged male' angewandt werden können. Eben jene Aspekte sind es nämlich, die er ins Zentrum seiner kritischen Auseinandersetzung stellt. Wenn es gilt, historische Machtverhältnisse zu analysieren, lohnt der Blick auf die Mächtigen: Shapiro beobachtet ein ausgeprägtes Näheverhältnis, das sämtliche amerikanische Präsidenten zu Shakespeare pflegten. Das Vorwort der Anthology schrieb 2014 übrigens Bill Clinton, jener Präsident, für den Monika Lewinsky zum Valentinstag 1997 eigens ein paar Liebesverse aus Romeo und Julia in die Washington Post setzte. 'Sämtliche', natürlich ausgenommen Donald Trump, "who may be the first American president to express no interest in Shakespeare" (S.229). Für Präsident Abraham Lincoln, federführend bei der Abschaffung der Sklaverei, verlief die Begegnung mit einem Schauspieler tödlich: John Wilkes Booth, jüngster Sohn einer Schauspielerdynastie, sah sich die Rolle des Brutus auch auf den Brettern der Weltbühne spielen. In der Loge des Ford's Theatre schoss er dem theaterliebenden – und im Privaten bevorzugt Shakespeare rezitierenden – Staatsoberhaupt in den Kopf. Booth war überzeugt von der Rechtmäßigkeit der 'Sklavenhalterstaaten' und erkannte in Lincoln seinen ultimativen Feind. Shapiro rekonstruiert die Entwicklung von Booth' politischem Fanatismus biographisch entlang seiner Auseinandersetzung mit Shakespeare: "Rather than playing introspective or noble parts (as his father and brother Edwin had), the only roles in which he distinguished himself were dark and often villainous heroes, men of action who die fighting. If a character wasn't scripted that way, he didn't hesitate to exaggerate these traits." (S. 133) Fragen der 'Otherness' verhandelt Shapiro anhand der Aneignung von The Tempest, das wiederholt als "Shakespeare's One American Play" (S. 160) betitelt wurde. In der Figur Calibans, darwinistisch interpretiert als 'missing link' zwischen Wildheit und Zivilisation, wird das Fremde verortet, von dem wahlweise Gefahr ausgeht oder das es zu disziplinieren gilt. Das zeigt sich in zahlreichen Bearbeitungen und Adaptionen des Stückes. Dass in Shakespeares Dramen Gemeinschaft durch Ausschluss hergestellt wird, lässt sich auch in den Komödien nachweisen: "Community in Shakespeare's comedies depends – much like immigration policy – on who is barred admission as much as on who is accepted." (S. 151) Worin der Autor die aktuelle Geteiltheit Amerikas ausmacht, erschließt sich am Ende des Buches anhand eines Zitats des Regisseurs Oscar Eustis, dessen Produktion von Julius Caesar Shapiro beratend begleitete: "Part of the divide is between those of us who believe in this democracy and those of us who believe that this democracy has utterly failed. And those that believe that it has failed believe they are victims, they are oppressed by the intellectuals, by the liberals, by the elite, and that that's the source of their problem." (S. 246) Die sieben Kapitel lassen sich gut separat voneinander als eigenständige Essays rezipieren – jedoch zeigt sich in der Gesamtstruktur, dass ihr Verfasser seinen Shakespeare gelesen hat: Die narrative Klammer bildet besagte Produktion von Julius Caesar im Sommer 2017. In der Einleitung rollt Shapiro das Feld aus. Motiviert von der Wahl Trumps entschied Oscar Eustis, der Artistic Director des New Yorker Delacorte Theater, den gewaltsamen Sturz eines despotischen Herrschers in blonder Perücke und roter Krawatte auf der Bühne des Open-Air-Theaters vor 1.800 Menschen zu zeigen. Als Challenge für sein mehrheitlich liberales Publikum intendiert, sollte dem Mord an Caesar eine inszenierte Revolte von im Publikum stationierten Statist*innen folgen – dieser Theatervorgang wurde aber unvermittelt von der Realität überlagert: Die Rightwing Media griffen das Thema einseitig auf, der Widerstand gegen die Aufführung spitzte sich schnell zu. Erst in der Conclusio entfaltet Shapiro die ganze Geschichte und zeigt das verheerende Ausmaß von Social Media im Kampf gegen die Wahrheit. "CNN? Clinton? ISIS? Terrorism? It is hard to imagine a more irrelevant list of ideological or moral objections to the show. […] The crucial thing was not what was said but ensuring that the stunt would circulate on social media." (S.240) Allein im Juni 2017 erreichte die Kontroverse auf Facebook über zwei Millionen Menschen. Dass die gern herbeizitierte politische Sprengkraft des Theaters nicht bloß eine behauptete ist, wird umso deutlicher, weil Shapiro seine Leser*innen zwischen Einleitung und Schluss auf eine Zeitreise mitnimmt: Was 1846 in einem schottischen Theater als Privatfehde zweier Schauspieler-Egos begann – der Amerikaner Edwin Forrest pfiff den Briten William Macready während eines Hamlet-Monologes auf offener Bühne aus –entwickelte sich zu einem Flächenbrand, der drei Jahre später mit den Astor Place Riots seinen Höhepunkt erreichte. In die Aufstände rund um die Darstellung eines anderen Shakespeare Dramas, diesmal Macbeth, waren über 25.000 Menschen involviert. 31 kamen dabei ums Leben, 120 wurden verletzt. Was war geschehen? Als Symbol des Britischen Königreiches, gegen das es sich aus Perspektive der weniger wohlhabenden amerikanischen Bevölkerung zur Wehr zu setzen galt, hatten sich der Engländer Macready und der amerikanische Nationalheld Forrest binnen dreier Jahre zu den Gallionsfiguren eines "Class Warfare" entwickelt. Ort der Handlung war ein neu erbautes Theater, das zum Flaggschiff des Klassenkampfes auserkoren wurde. Denn im Bau des Astor Place Opera House mit seinem weiß behandschuhten Publikum spiegelte sich ein neu erstarkender Elitismus: Um den Kontakt der sozialen Klassen möglichst zu unterbinden, waren die billigen Plätze vom "pit", "renamed the parquette" (S.87), auf den vormals teureren Rang verlegt worden, der nun nur mehr durch separate Stiegenhäuser zu erreichen war – eine Umkehrung der Sitzordnung, die sich bis heute durchgesetzt hat. Als Macready in diesem Gebäude eine Serie von Shakespeare-Gastspielen antrat, die Forrest im Übrigen in einem benachbarten Theater spiegelte, rief dies wüste Proteste hervor. Es ist die Kombination aus historischer Detailgenauigkeit und gegenwärtigem Blick, mit der Shapiro das Geschehen lebendig macht: Am ersten Abend der Riots spielten die stoischen Schauspieler*innen das Stück stumm zu Ende, als sie merkten, dass ihre Stimmen sich gegen den Tumult auf der Galerie nicht durchsetzen konnten. Am nächsten Tag wurde der Widerstand physischer; Eier flogen aus dem Zuschauerraum. "Potatoes followed, along with lemons, apples, an old shoe, and a bottle of asafetida, a foul-smelling spice, that splashed Macready's costume." (S. 94) Erst als die Bestuhlung auf die Bühne geworfen wurde – "Macready didn't have the luxury of knowing that the chairs crashing onstage a few feet from where he stood weren't meant to hit him" (S. 95) – brach der standfeste Engländer die Vorstellung ab. In die atmosphärische Rekonstruktion des Zeitgeistes flicht Shapiro immer wieder heutige Perspektiven ein. So auch in seinen Ausführungen über die Schauspielerin Charlotte Cushman: "As is so often the case in the theater, there was a gap between what people saw and what they projected upon the performers or simply imagined seeing. A video clip of Cushman's performance would no doubt disappoint, failing to capture its allure." (S. 67) Die Gründe für diese 'Projektion' entfalten sich im Kapitel "Manifest Destiny", jenem Leitspruch, der Amerikas gottbestimmte Dominanz über den gesamten Kontinent legitimieren sollte. Im Kontext territorialer Ausdehnung wirft der Autor ein Licht auf die Geschichte jener weiblichen Darstellerinnen, die für einen kurzen Moment der Geschichte als Romeos und Hamlets die amerikanischen Bühnen betraten – laut Shapiro, weil sich das fragile männliche Ego in Zeiten des Bürgerkrieges von schwachen und wankelmütige Helden akut gefährdet sah. Über die Schauspielerin Cushmann – die mit 23 zum ersten Mal als Romeo neben ihrer jüngeren Schwester auf der Bühne stand und diese Rolle für weitere 20 Jahre verkörpern sollte – transportiert Shapiro einerseits die Stimmung der Bevölkerung in Zeiten des Krieges und andererseits die private Biographie einer Frau, die im 19. Jahrhundert ihre berufliche Existenz auf Schauspielerei gründete. Auch wenn sie eine gleichwertige Gage zur Bedingung machte, war ihre Position als alleinstehende Berühmtheit, die sich anmaßte, Männerrollen auf der Bühne zu verkörpern, stets gefährdet. Die durch private Korrespondenzen gut dokumentierten Beziehungen, die sie zu anderen Frauen unterhielt, musste sie stets so kaschieren, dass ihr Liebesleben nicht zur existenzbeendenden Schlagzeile wurde. Mit dem Waffenstillstand veränderte sich die öffentliche Wahrnehmung: "Martial manliness was, many now saw, a hollow and dangerous thing." (S.72) In unmittelbarer Folge bildete sich auf der Bühne eine ähnliche Verdrängung ab, wie sie mit Ende der beiden Weltkriege auch in Europa zu beobachten war: Aus den beruflichen Positionen, die Frauen in Abwesenheit der Männer eingenommen hatten, mussten sie sich wieder zurückziehen. "Once men could comfortably play a Romeo who could at times appear effeminate, they reclaimed the role." (Ebd.) Cross-Dressing ereignete sich aber auch in umgekehrter Richtung: Als 1845 die Disziplin der im Camp Corpus Christi Stationierten sukzessive zu zerfallen drohte, wurde von einem umsichtigen Kommandanten ein Armeetheater gegründet. Mithilfe von Othello, dessen Militärszenen die Lebenswirklichkeit der Soldaten reflektierten, sollte die Moral der Wartenden gehoben werden. In Ermangelung einer weiblichen Besetzung begab man sich auf die Suche in den eigenen Reihen. Gefunden wurde das Substitut im späteren Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten, Ulysses S. Grant, "because of his looks and perhaps his voice too" (S.49). Zur Aufführung kam es trotz dieser offensichtlichen Qualifikation jedoch nicht, da der Othello-Darsteller sich weigerte, mit Grant zu spielen – aus Angst, unter Homosexualitätsverdacht zu geraten. Weitere Berührungspunkte von Homosexualität, Emanzipation, Marginalisierung und Theater treten im Kapitel über das Musical Kiss me Kate zutage, das auf Shakespeares sperriger Komödie The Taming of the Shrew basiert. In diesem Backstage-Frontstage-Drama kam es 1948 für einen kurzen Moment der Geschichte auf der Bühne zur friedvollen Koexistenz unterschiedlicher Lebenswirklichkeiten: "The defining feature of the Shakespeare musical was its hybridity – mixing musical styles, mixing Shakespeare's language with contemporary American idiom, mixing races, and mixing highbrow, middlebrow, and at times lowbrow." (S. 183) In der Verfilmung des Musicals wurden diese Unterschiede fünf Jahre später jedoch zugunsten eines Mainstream-Leinwanderlebnisses wieder homogenisiert. Zur Kontextualisierung der Themen "Adultery and Same Sex Love" bezieht sich Shapiro auf Erhebungen des Gallup Instituts und kontrastiert diese mit Zahlen zu tatsächlicher Untreue. Die aktuellsten Daten zum Wertekanon der USA stammen aus dem Jahr 2015 und besagen: "To give some sense of American's disapproval of infidelity, no other behavior that was polled was considered less morally acceptable – not even human cloning, suicide, or abortion." (S.214) Ein großer Teil des Kapitels gilt der Analyse der Drehbuchentwürfe zu Shakespeare in Love (R.: John Madden, UK/US 1998) und den in den verschiedenen Fassungen wirksamen Moralvorstellungen. Die Fiktionalisierung rund um Shakespeares Gender-Swap-Komödie Twelfth Night verwebt Shapiro mit dem Produktionsgeschehen – Homosexualität in Hollywood! Harvey Weinstein! –und Bill Clintons Impeachment-Prozess, der im Jahr des Kinostarts die Weltöffentlichkeit bewegte. Es ist unmöglich, über Shakespeare zu sprechen, ohne die eigenen innersten Haltungen zu verraten. "Shakespeare's plays are rich in the extremes of experiences – injustice, separation, violence, revenge." (S. 7) Daher werden persönliche Überzeugungen, Misogynie, Rassismen und Intoleranz angesichts seiner Stücke so sichtbar wie sonst allenfalls nach dem fünften Bier, erläutert Shapiro im Podcast der Folger Library, der das Erscheinen des Buches begleitet.[1] Die Stärke der Publikation liegt nicht allein in der ungemein kenntnisreichen Kontextualisierung, sondern in der Lebendigkeit des Eindrucks, den man beim Lesen davon erhält, wie sich die öffentliche Wahrnehmung der shakespeareschen Figuren im Kontext bestimmter gesellschaftlicher Konstellationen verändert hat. Während sich rekonstruierende Versuche eines 'original practice style' meist auf die getreue Umsetzung von Raum, Requisiten, Kostümen und womöglich Spielweisen beschränken, trägt die Lektüre von Shakespeare in a Divided America dazu bei, das Mindset der Menschen zu einer spezifischen Zeit an einem spezifischen Ort besser zu verstehen. Auf 250 Seiten (plus 50 Seiten kommentierte Bibliographie) erzählt Shapiro eine dichte Geschichte Amerikas, bei der man en passant Erstaunliches aus der Aufführungsgeschichte Shakespeares, viel mehr aber über die enge Verwobenheit von Theater und Gesellschaft erfährt. Dass er dabei die Rolle Shakespeares mitunter ein wenig überschätzt, ist man ob der Kraft der Narration schnell zu vergeben bereit. Nach der Lektüre dieses Buches hat man eine Menge erlebt. Und am Ende ist man mit Shapiro überzeugt, dass wir von der Auseinandersetzung mit Shakespeare, der noch immer der meistgelesene Autor Amerikas ist, auch nach vierhundert Jahren beständig Neues über unser Menschsein lernen können. [1] Barbara Bogaev/James Shapiro: "Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 140". In: The Folger Library. 17.03.2020. https://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/shapiro-divided-america.

The November 3rd election for governor in Virginia is making headlines, as Obama rallies for Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds at Old Dominion University this week, in a last- ditch effort to close the gap that separates him from Republican candidate Robert McDonnell.Taking place in an "off" year, this race is considered a harbinger of next year's mid-term legislative elections, which in turn are a referendum on the popularity of the President himself. That is why it is being closely monitored by both parties and the media. The so-called "Old Dominion" has occupied a central role in the political history of the country since its early beginnings, through the Civil war and the Civil Rights movement of the 60s. Its state government, with the country's oldest legislature, has consistently been ranked first in effectiveness among all 50 states. Virginians are politically savvy and their voting trends are considered of national significance. For example, in 1989 Virginia was the first state to elect an African-American as governor. In the last eight years, while still remaining a red state that voted Republican in national elections, it chose two consecutive Democratic governors. In the historical 2009 election, as a reflection of important demographic changes in the age and diversity of its voters, Virginia became a swing state: Barack Obama carried the state, and today Virginia's two Senate seats are occupied by Democrats. In spite of its importance as a bellwether of national politics, the contest for Governor this year has been a lackluster race, characterized by two candidates with little or no charisma, one of which had a clear advantage from the beginning. Indeed, for Republican Bob Mc Donnell the race has been easier from the start, since he faced no opposition during the primary season. He has therefore had enormous financial support from his party and has used the national debate on government spending to his advantage, capitalizing on public discontent with the lack of tangible results of Obama's economic rescue plan on Main Street America. McDonnell has assailed his opponent aggressively as a tax-and-spend Democrat who, if elected, would run the state finances to the ground regardless of the cost to Virginians. Thanks to his party's financial support he has been able to conduct an overwhelming TV advertising campaign focused on his own and his daughter's military career (a smart decision in a state with large military bases and an even larger defense establishment), his concern for job creation programs and support for small businesses.In contrast to his opponent, Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds had to face a tough three-way primary election this past summer, against Terry McAuliffe, a prominent party man who headed Hillary Clinton's campaign last year, and Brian Moran, a county prosecutor and Virginia House delegate. In spite of running a poor campaign with sparse staff and minimum resources, and of being outspent by at least one of his opponents (McAuliffe) two-to-one, Deeds, who had trailed in the polls for most of the race, finally won by a surprisingly wide margin (50%-26%-24%). The current governor race is a re-match of the Attorney General race of 2005, which was very close and McDonnell finally won by a mere 320 votes. Asked about it, Deeds says that he holds no grudge against his opponent. Deeds, a state senator from Bath County with a strong Southern rural accent, is an honest but rather bumbling character, with tousled hair, a disheveled appearance, and a tendency to give muddled answers to questions. In contrast, Mc Donnell, a fit- looking former Army officer and prosecutor with strong ties to the Christian Right leader Pat Robertson, has run an orderly campaign, focusing mainly on issues that affect Virginians such as transportation and taxes, but also on the spending habits of national figures such as House and Senate leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Indeed, Deeds has complained in interviews that his campaign has been negatively affected by the spending plans of the Democrats inside the Beltway.In contrast to McDonnell's more general approach at attacking everything Democratic, Deeds has based his advertising campaign on more personal attacks, mainly aimed at McDonnell's 1989 master thesis in which he expressed ultra-conservative views on women, homosexuals and abortion. This is a tactic that may backfire as people are tired of negative advertising.In later ads, Deeds has tried to portray his opponent as telling "untruths" and changing his policy position belatedly and dishonestly, only in pursuit of votes (the "flip-flop" strategy). Although still negative, these were more tailored to issues that matter to Virginians. For example, in arguably the most important policy issue the next Governor will face, namely, that of changing the redistricting state laws, McDonnell clearly changed his opinion once he decided to run for governor and now supports reform. 2010 is a Census year, and based on the Census results, state legislatures will engage in the decennial process of re-drawing political borders. In Virginia, the present system is skewed in favor of incumbents. There has been an important movement led by the League of Women Voters to reform the process so that redistricting is carried out by a bipartisan commission and not by the party in power. Deeds supports this reform, as do most Virginians, but McDonnell was against it until this year. Thus, the flip-flop allegation may prove to be a better angle of attack for Deeds than McDonnell's 20-year-old thesis on the role of women in society, although those negative ads have certainly gotten the attention of many young and professional women who will now come out and vote for Deeds.Nonetheless, Deeds faces an up-hill battle for several reasons. Besides the advantage of an early start in fund-raising and campaigning, the whole Republican Party has rallied around McDonnell, who is perceived as a strong candidate that could initiate a much needed turnaround in the fortunes of the party. He has campaigned with McCain and will campaign with Mitt Romney next week. He is more articulate, better organized and a smoother debater than his opponent, and has known how to capitalize on the public discontent with Washington. He has run on a basic platform of job creation and lower taxes to favor small businesses, and would subsidize the urgently needed transportation projects by the novel idea of selling off state-owned liquor stores to private owners. (In Virginia, one can only buy hard liquor and spirits at state-owned dispensers called ABC stores, which are closed on Sundays).In contrast, Deeds, a cerebral policy wonk who does not shy away from intricate ideas and well thought out plans, and who does not speak in sound bites or buzz words, appears less eloquent and not as good a communicator. Although neither is a brilliant debater, during the live debates McDonnell looked more competent, less flustered and less tentative in his responses. In addition, Deeds has not been able to unite the party behind him. Former Virginia Governor Douglass Wilder, the first African-American to occupy that office in the United States, has refused to endorse Deeds in spite of a plea from Obama to do so. The two men disagree on tax policy and gun control. The Democratic candidate has acknowledged he would raise taxes to pay for the transportation projects, while Wilder denounces his plan as reckless, given the state of the economy. On a totally different issue, they are also at odds. Deeds (perhaps because he represents Bath County, a rural district of Virginia) supports the repeal of a state gun-law that restricts the amounts of guns Virginians can purchase. Wilder, as do most Democrats, would like that law to stand. This kind of contradiction –in favor of higher taxes (a fiscally progressive stance) but against gun control (a conservative position) sums up of the kind of candidate Deeds is and explains why he has not gained the support of all Democrats. Ironically, the Republicans have been hailing Wilder's refusal to endorse Deeds on account of his stand on higher taxes, but they avoid mentioning the gun control issue, on which they would be obliged to concur with Deeds.On Tuesday October 27th, exactly one week before the election, President Obama held a rally with Deeds at the Constant Center at Old Dominion University, in front of a crowd of 6,000. This represented a last effort by Obama to rescue Deeds by persuading the youth and African Americans to vote next Tuesday. It was only the second time the President campaigned for Deeds: he had done so once at the beginning of the campaign, in Northern Virginia. Clearly, Obama understands the difficulties his party will face in the 2010 mid-term elections. The man earns his paycheck: this past week alone he has raised money for Democratic congressional candidates in Miami, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. He then rallied for incumbent Governor Corzine who faces a tough re-election battle in New Jersey and finally for Deeds in Southeastern Virginia. Some say that by spending so much time on the road doing the bidding for his party, the President loses credibility as an agent of change. But no one should underestimate Obama's capacity to handle many issues at the same time. As his meteoric rise in politics proves, he is methodical, disciplined and always focused on a long-term strategy.Obama is quite aware that if his party loses seats in the 2010 elections, his own agenda and indeed, his own chances at re-election in 2012 will be in jeopardy. And as an avid student of political history, he knows that since the 1930s there were only two cases in which the sitting President's party did not lose seats in a mid-term election, so the odds are unmistakably against the Democrats. In the case of Virginia's gubernatorial races, a similar phenomenon has been unfolding: in the last eight consecutive elections, governors have been elected from the party opposite to the one in the White House. To these historical precedents, one must add the state of the economy today, the fact that unemployment is running at 10% and that public opinion is showing high levels of discontent with political parties and politicians in general. (The president is still exempt from this malaise, at least for now, with last week's polls showing his support at 57%). Also, another factor that will weigh in on next year elections is that those independents in traditionally Republican-leaning districts who voted for Democratic candidates in 2006 and 2008 as a result of the anti-Bush backlash may very easily reverse that trend by voting Republican next year.Very mindful of these challenges, Obama is exerting himself to the utmost to reap at least some early wins that would give new direction to the public mood. In health care reform he seems to be very close to victory. A win in the gubernatorial races would certainly reinforce that trend and give some positive signals for 2010.In Virginia, this election will also test the depth of that transformation from red state to swing state. The main trial for Democrats is to get people energized enough to go to the polls next Tuesday. After eight years out of the Governor's mansion in Richmond, this time Republicans are much more attuned to the gubernatorial race than Democrats, and they are also much more enthusiastic about their candidate than Democrats are about Deeds. All eyes are therefore on Virginia. The last Rasmussen Reports taken a few hours after Obama's visit, found McDonnell at 54% to 41% for Deeds, with 4% undecided. Creigh Deeds has run as the underdog before and recovered in time to win. He may still surprise us again, but this time he needs a miracle.Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

In spite of all the good news about the economy and the swift confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, the headlines this stormy week have been dominated by town hall brawls. As congressional representatives went home to their districts for their August recess, they were greeted by a volatile mixture of high temperatures, monsoon-like storms and furious mobs who stormed town hall meetings to protest against health reform. Several politicians, terrorized by the voters, suspended the meetings and ran past the mobs and into their getaway cars. They later announced they would take phone calls or meet voters individually in scheduled appointments. Journalists and TV talk show personalities were left wondering as to the origin of this new movement of storm troopers: were they real people, from the grassroots, fed up with the way Washington is dealing with health care reform, or was this manufactured, "Astroturf" mobilization, organized by the health insurance and drug companies, scared of losing a large share of their profits if a government-run plan is included on the final bill? Most likely it is a mixture of both. But whether fabricated or not, the tone of the debate and the images of scuffles and fist fights shocked the nation and left many asking what happened to American civility. More importantly, where was the President's leadership?Granted, it is difficult to defend a bill that is not even ready, and Obama has avoided giving bottom lines that may come back to haunt him: his larger political purpose is to pass some kind of health care reform, even if serious compromises have to be made. Having taken the 1994 Clinton-care defeat lesson to heart, President Obama decided from the beginning that he could not dictate to Congress and therefore stated the general principles of health care reform (universal coverage and cost control) and then gave Congress leeway in writing the detailed legislation. But from the beginning, there was a deep chasm between progressives, who insist that a public-plan option is the best way to meet both goals, and conservatives, who adamantly oppose the government-run plan claiming it would bankrupt private insurance companies, and see this and the mandate of universal coverage as "socialized medicine". The Blue Dog Democrats, fiscally conservative, have joined ranks with the opposition and effectively killed the public option in some versions of the bill, replacing it with a vague alternative of co-ops (mutual care).The result so far has been a confusion of bills and versions that no regular voter can understand. Indeed, not even those that are following the debate closely can tell with clarity what each version entails. But because health care is close and personal, it is easy to whip up a frenzy over it just by letting out a few misleading judgments, half truths and exaggerations, and hammering at them until they have the ring of truth. Corporate interest groups from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries are fiercely organizing fringe elements on the right, mainly instructing them to be disruptive of town hall meetings and to interrupt any serious discourse. And most of the average, less-educated voters use "easy" sources of information such as radio talk commentators (read: Rush Limbaugh) or TV news shows which are anything but "fair and balanced", instead of hard sources (newspaper editorials, op-ed and factual news articles). In the end, when topics are complex and conflicting information saturates the media, people believe what they want to believe, what confirms their feelings and their ideological bent, what reassures them they are correct in their assumptions and emotions.It is this state of confusion that has allowed the crazy mobs, aided and abetted by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, to make the most outlandish claims, from accusing the government of Socialism and Nazism in one voice, to vociferously asserting the Democrats' plan includes euthanasia (of course it does not; it includes a voluntary option for terminal patients to get "counseling on end-of-life options"). But these are the same kind of people that kill abortion-clinic doctors and nurses in their crusade to "save innocent lives". And exactly of the same kind as the "birthers", those who do not believe President Obama was born in the United States, a fact very easily verifiable, since the White House has made his birth certificate available!The point is, extremists are taking over that national scene and are attacking a bill that is not yet ready, based on false claims and preposterous characterizations. The left is now mobilizing union representatives to counteract the right wing crazies. Perhaps it would be better to cancel all town hall meetings, since it is expected that a bill will be passed by the end of the month. It will be most likely be a watered down version of what Obama initially wanted, but it will allow him to claim yet another victory, another check mark on his campaign promises.The debate over health care has accomplished something that seemed unfathomable only a month ago: it has united Republicans. Economic conservatives, libertarians and extreme right social conservatives are all against the public plan option. However, even if they were successful in defeating this bill, as long as they continue on this course of adamant opposition, they will not be well-positioned for the 2010 elections. They will have no other policy initiatives or legislative accomplishments to boast of and they will still be easily characterized as the "party of no." Their political calculations made them oppose a highly qualified Supreme Court nominee in a futile exercise that has put them on the wrong side of history and set them back at least for a decade in getting electoral support from the Latino community, the largest and fastest- growing minority group in the country. The void of Republican political leadership has been filled by extremist groups and irresponsible radio talk commentators, reducing the party's appeal to moderates and independents.This dramatic realization is one incentive to get Republicans to work harder in passing health care reform in some bipartisan shape or form. But this is not likely, since their preference so far has been to deny Obama any chance of bipartisanship. Another motivation to bring them to the table should be the awareness that, if the rising cost curve of health care is not brought under control, the economic recovery that is starting to show will only be temporary, the deficit will continue to grow and other countries will not be so accommodating in holding US debt. But political expedience on their part may overtake even this fundamental concern about the future economic stability of the country.On his part, Obama will have the problem of dealing with the liberal wing of his party: the left will be furious if, with a majority in both Houses, their version of health care reform does not pass, and the President settles for a weaker, watered down version. Indeed, in general terms, the biggest and most immediate test for Obama will be how far he allows the left in Congress to go before he decides to rein them in. In order to regain control of the health care debate, the President held his own town hall meeting in New Hampshire this past Tuesday. His message was clearer and more focused as he answered genuine concerns and questions from the audience. But to what extent he was able to calm down the prevailing anxiety in the country at large still remains to be seen. Outside the town hall, two groups of irate citizens on the opposite ends of the political spectrum confronted each other, yelled and shook their fists, but the police were able to restrain them without much effort.In spite of the turbulent TV images that have inundated the airways this week, the majority of the electorate in this country is still moderate, rational and centrist. They want health care reform and they want it to include a government-run option, which they may or may not buy into, but which they see as an important way to spur competition, in the understanding that it is competition and not monopolies that help control costs. They also want reform of the way private insurance companies ration care, for example, by denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. They are appalled at the crazies on the right, with their false claims about a bill they have not read, and their outrageous claims of Socialism and Nazism, which they merge into one demonic ideology. They are tired of their pseudo-religious zeal and self-righteousness, their insistence on rejecting Darwin's theory of evolution along with global warming, climate change and stem cell research, their violent outbursts, and their tendency to speak in terms of Good (themselves) and Evil (the rest). And they are embarrassed at the subtext of racism that underlies most of the extremists' demented claims, and which becomes crystal clear in their assertion that President Obama is not an American citizen.On the other hand, most citizens are also wary of ultra-liberals on the left, who want to use the Democrats' prevalence to entrench new vast social programs, over-regulate the financial system and corporate pay, and raise taxes to levels that would choke growth and productivity; they are afraid they will forever bankrupt the government and the country.Six months into his presidency, Obama faces sinking approval numbers and the possibility of a major defeat. After a string of solid successes that included, among others, passing an 800 billion dollar economic stimulus plan, expanding children's health insurance, and rescuing the banking system, his agenda may get bogged down in the politics- as- usual Washington culture he promised to change. It will take all his will power and discipline to stay focused, get back on message and resist the blows. His ambition will have to be tempered by patience, caution and political skill. As his aura wears off, the coming battles will be the final test of his courage and determination to succeed. Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

One year after a national election in which the Democrats won not only the presidency but 18 congressional seats and 9 new senators, the party lost two major gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, but won an unexpected congressional seat in upstate New York. Clearly, Obama's coattails did not prove strong enough to bring out the two groups that helped him go over the top in last year's election, namely, the youth vote and the African American votes. There are many lessons to be learned by both parties from this past week' s elections, but there is also the risk of over interpreting results as a prequel of next year's mid-term elections. First, in an "off-off" year, most of the electorate was indifferent to the elections, worried as they are about more pressing issues such as higher taxes, the ever-expanding deficit and more than anything else, about unemployment, which has just surpassed the 10% mark in spite of reported GDP growth of 3.5% this quarter. Second, the state gubernatorial races were played out at the local level and had more to do with the candidates themselves than with the voters 'discontent with the President. Indeed, in a Virginia exit poll, 60% of the voters said that they had based their vote on state issues, while only 24% of those polled said they had used their vote to express their dissatisfaction with the President and 20% to express their support for him. On the other hand, Congressional elections reflect more of the national mood, and here the Democrats were winners: due to an inner brawl among Republicans, they unexpectedly won a seat the Republicans had held since the 1870s in the twenty-third district of New York. still, just as it would be a mistake to give national significance to the state races, it would also be silly to miss the obvious: the preponderant mood in the country is anti-incumbency, and this affects both parties. But clearly, independents who voted for Obama are re-directing their votes toward the Republicans and becoming savvier, more issue specific voters. In addition, both parties have base problems: the Democrats need to figure out how to get their base to the polls during off-year elections, and the Republicans must find ways to control their base so that it does not destroy the party. Turnout was the definitive factor in both gubernatorial races: it fell from 3.7 million to under 2 million in Virginia, and from almost 4 million to 2.3 million in New Jersey. The Republicans and Independents were more energized than the Democratic base, so they voted in larger numbers. Young voters between 18 and 29 years of age represented only 10% in Virginia and 9% in New Jersey. In contrast, in the 2008 presidential race they represented 21% and 17% respectively, and are credited for delivering the states to Obama in both cases. In New Jersey, an unpopular Democratic incumbent, albeit an Obama ally, lost to a new Republican face that ran on a fiscally conservative platform. Obama's appeal was apparently weaker than the voters' aversion for Jon Corzine, so U.S district attorney Chris Christie won, becoming the first Republican to win that position in 12 years. In Virginia, Bob McDonnell underplayed his extreme socially conservative views and his connection to Christian Right leader Pat Robertson. Instead, he ran a positive campaign based on job creation, quality of life for Virginians and fiscal responsibility. His opponent, Creigh Deeds, ran a negative TV ad campaign based on his opponent's social conservatism and his ideology as reflected in a misogynist twenty-year old thesis. In a calculation that backfired, Deeds distanced himself from President Obama for most of his campaign, only to turn to him towards the end. It proved to be too late. On that sunny autumnal day, Democratic voters, especially African Americans and young voters, the two groups than gave Obama his victory in Virginia, were absent from the polls. After eight years of two outstanding Democratic governors, the Executive Mansion in Richmond reverted to Republicans. Unlike Governor Warner who in 2005 prepared the way for his successor, Tim Kaine had spent most of 2009 out of the state, in his new national role as chairman the Democratic National Committee, and did very little to help Deeds. Kaine's national ambition seems to have gotten in the way of his local role as Deeds' promoter and cheerleader, and he became, in the words of Professor Larry Sabato, more of a "partisan rather than a unifying figure" at home. However, the apathy of Democratic voters has deeper roots than just civic irresponsibility or lack of engagement. It is also a reflection of disillusion and even rage with the failure of the Obama administration to create jobs and to deal with Wall Street in stricter terms, for example by breaking up the "too-big-to-fail" banks, introducing stricter regulation of derivatives trading and by reducing of CEO's compensation. Again, in spite of all the rhetoric, Obama seems to have bailed out Wall Street at the expense of middle-class tax payers and small businesses. In sum, Obama's young followers and liberals stayed home because Obama is moving too slowly in crucial issues; independents switched parties because of their own fears of losing their jobs and facing higher taxes, as well as to punish the Democrats for too much government spending with little results for higher employment; and McDonnell benefited as much from a weak, erratic opponent who ran a terrible campaign as he did from his own smart strategy and pragmatic style.While the main problem then for Democrats is how to energize the base so that they can fulfill their civic duty and vote, the Republicans have the opposite problem: how to control their base so that it does not get in the way of allowing the party to field moderate candidates that can get the Independent vote. In this sense, what happened in New York 23rd district may be a blessing in disguise for the Republicans, as it will teach them a lesson in time for next year mid-term election. In this previously little known congressional district near the Canadian border, the Republican Party nominated moderate Assemblywoman DeDe Scozzafava in a special election called to fill the seat of Representative JohnMcHugh (R-NY) who had been appointed Secretary of the Army by President Obama. This was regarded as a safe Republican seat given that the party had held it for over 100 years. However, in a twist of events that took both parties by surprise, Conservatives rebelled against the party nominee, whose social values were deemed too liberal, and fielded their own candidate, Doug Hoffman, with the support of talk show celebrities Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Sarah Palin. The Club for Growth, main supporter of Tea Partiers and Birthers, poured a lot of money in support of Hoffman, and consequently Scozzafava, the official Republican Party nominee, started training in the polls. On the weekend before the election, Scozzafava abandoned the race and endorsed the Democratic candidate! The Right was jubilant, confident of a victory in this rural district, which has very few immigrants and is 93% white. Indeed, Fox news insisted on predicting a "tidal wave" in favor of the Conservative candidate all throughout Election Day, only to be forced to concede at past midnight that instead, the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, had won. The election in the 23rd district, then, served as a warning to Republicans of whatnot to do in 2010. While the two Republicans that won the gubernatorial races did so by moving to center, thus appealing to Independents and moderates, the main losers in New York state were the Tea Partiers and Birthers who have taken advantage of the vacuum of leadership at the top, have hijacked the Republican Party and made the country at times seem ungovernable. Let it be noted here that both conservative candidates then- to- be governors elect, Chris Christie in New Jersey and Bob McDonnell in Virginia, had rejected Palin's offer to campaign for them. Recognizing the relevance of this kind of wisdom, as well as his good looks and ability to persuade, McDonnell is already being touted as a possible candidate for the 2012 national ticket.2009 will be remembered as the year of anti-incumbency, but this anti-incumbent mood is not so much about Obama, who still enjoys close to 60% of popularity, as it is about government in general. Indeed, every special Congressional election since Obama assumed the presidency has been won by Democrats even in seats previously held by Republicans. In politics, one year is an eternity, so it is difficult to extrapolate the November 3rd results to next year's mid-term election. It all depends on whether the economic stimulus starts to work more consistently and is translated into jobs. The passage of health care reform by the House is undoubtedly a victory for Democrats, but it was a narrow one, with 39 Democrats voting against it, in spite of serious compromises by House Speaker Pelosi, including one amendment that prohibits the use of federal money for abortion and that is already under fire by the party's liberals. If the so-called Stupak amendment is not taken out in House-Senate conference, then the Party may see a huge backlash by women and other groups. Still, health care reform will be a reality by year's end, and once it passes it will become sacred: voters will embrace it (as they did with Medicaid and Medicare, as well as Social Security) and, together with job recovery, it may become the basis of a better mid-term election for Democrats than most pundits are predicting now.Finally, while the two gubernatorial races were won by the Republicans, and can be read as a warning to incumbent governors everywhere in next year's elections, it is clear that the largest group that went to the polls were mainly McCain voters, as well as disgruntled independent voters who shifted to the right. And while this trend is good news for the Republicans, the inexorable weight of demographics is against them: these races were won by an overwhelmingly white and older, more male than female, electorate who constitute at the same time an increasingly smaller percentage of the population as a whole. The fastest-rising voting groups do not vote for the Republican Party, which they consider the party "without ideas". To win next year, the GOP needs to regroup fast, get rid of the Palin-Limbaugh baggage and find new leadership. A year has gone by since their huge electoral loss and they have yet to find it. Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Most post-modern societies are being challenged by a widening gap that divides their populations by the classic cleavages of age, class, region and religion. Exacerbated by the forces of globalization and the immediacy of technology, they result in constant clashes that cause an exponential increase in social tensions and insecurity. Even if the Norwegian killer was insane and can not be used as example, he was still a member of the dominant culture failing to accommodate to post-modern circumstances. In the United States this gap is vividly evident in the current debt ceiling debate, which is only a symptom of much serious divisions that threaten the country's social unity and political future.A brief look at recent headlines in the United States can give outsiders and idea of the country's social and political environment.On Sunday July 24th, a new law approving gay marriage came into effect in New York, making it the sixth and largest state in the nation (plus the District of Columbia) to have legalized same-sex marriage. In Manhattan, people celebrated on Fifth Avenue, singing and dancing to the music and well-suited lyrics of New York, New York ("If we can make it here, we'll make it anywhere…"). On July 0th, Republican candidates Michelle Bachman and Rick Santoro a "Marriage Vow" swearing fidelity to their spouses, promising they would "vigorously oppose any redefinition of marriage" and would take steps to amend welfare legislation that did not reinforce conventional marriage. This is only a sample of the extreme polarization the country is facing both economically and socially. It is a critical moment in United States history, one that may require a deep reflection on the basic principles the nation was founded upon and a renewal of the social compact.Prodded by the Tea Party leaders, who presently wield an amount of power disproportionate to their numbers, Republican candidates have been signing pledges on an array of different topics in order to prove their conservative credentials. Both Michelle Bachman and Mitt Romney also signed a no-new-taxes pledge, together with a "cut, cap and balance pledge" to amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget and congressional super majorities to raise taxes. These two pledges, albeit non-enforceable and thus largely symbolic, are now the single most important obstacle to reach a deal in Congress about balancing the budget and avoiding default on the national debt. Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips has threatened to recruit candidates to mount primary challenges against any GOP member that votes for a compromise on the debt ceiling that involves any type of revenue increases to balance the budget. The GOP Congressional leadership has been hijacked by intransigent ideologues, represented in the House by 87 freshmen with disproportionate power over the more established professional politicians who understand that democratic governance requires give and take, and that politics in a pluralistic society is the art of the achievable.This country was founded on the premise of compromise, negotiation and cooperation, as it is evident from the history of the Constitution and the layers of governmental power devised mainly to counterbalance one another: states versus federal, legislative versus executive, Senate v. House, and an independent judiciary. It was clear even then, that solutions in what promised to be a huge, diverse society with deep regional and religious cleavages would require compromise. But today, in the "worst Congress ever" as Norman Ornstein calls it in his recent article in Foreign Policy, compromise is a bad word. The House is controlled by a GOP freshmen class that owes its seats to Tea Party ideologues and is refusing to raise the debt ceiling even as President Obama has agreed to cuts in spending that include cuts in entitlements, in exchange for ending subsidies on ethanol and other corporate subsidies (he has even given up on the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts he had included in his first proposal). This package that would represent over 3 trillion dollars in cuts from the federal budget, including reductions in Medicare and other social programs, would have allowed the debt ceiling to be raised so that the US could avoid defaulting on its debt by August 2nd. It was on the table last week and close to being signed on by House Speaker John Boehner but he refused it at the last minute because of pressure from his own caucus. The Tea Party is pushing professional legislators toward the abyss, and with them, the whole country. The Tea Party is a social movement that was born out of frustration and disappointment with government spending over the last twelve years. President George W. Bush inherited a budget surplus from the Clinton-Gingrich years. But that surplus quickly vanished as Bush proposed and got passed serious tax cuts on the wealthy and then embarked on two wars that are still going on today. In response, a large coalition of Independents, Republicans and a few former Democrats formed a protest movement that defines itself for what it is against: big government, big media, big banks, unsustainable deficits and intrusive federal regulation. In spite of some evident intrinsic contradictions in their philosophy (for example some the new regulations they so vehemently oppose such as the Dodd-Frank legislation are meant to constrain the actions of "big banks" they so strongly abhor), the Tea Party has been very successful in focusing the public's attention on the federal budget deficit and on the federal debt that has ballooned in the last two decades. Those are its core concerns, together with a deep-seated contempt for and rejection of, everything the well-educated elites are for the most in favor of: environmental sustainability, a foreign policy based on multilateralism, gay rights and immigration reform legislation that recognizes the realities of the estimated twelve million undocumented workers in the country. After two months of wrangling, neither side has managed to get what it wanted, the US credit rating is about to be downgraded (with the subsequent increase in interest rates and damaging effects on an already slow economy) and the vitriolic Washington environment is alienating people on the Right and on the Left. Pressured by the Tea Partiers and their anti-tax obsession, Republicans have refused to compromise to avoid a default, and in so doing they are sabotaging their own chances for 2012. Most Americans are appalled at the GOP's refusal to endorse Obama's proposal that would cut the deficit by $3.7 trillion through a mix of spending cuts, entitlement reform and ending some corporate subsidies and tax deductions. In so doing, the GOP is alienating independent voters that want to avoid default and are ready for a deal. A new political center of gravity is forming. The number of registered voters that identify themselves as Independent is growing (40% in latest poll), while the numbers of Republicans and Democrats are sinking and there is a new online movement from the grassroots to form a third party.Paradoxically, out of all this Byzantine intrigue in the hallways of Congress, and given the outcome of no deal announced on Monday night, President Obama may come out as the winner. To the dismay of his most progressive base, Obama, intent on finding some common ground with the opposition has shifted to the center-right of the political spectrum on his proposals, daring to sacrifice some cuts on entitlements in exchange for revenue increases, only to see them rejected by the Republicans. He is close to winning a stand-alone debt ceiling increase while having proven to be the only reasonable adult in this struggle. This would gain him the support of many independents and help him avoid a confrontation within his own party. It would also allow him to focus on unemployment, the real immediate crisis that most directly impacts people's lives. However, Democrats in the House and Senate are afraid that concessions on reducing some Medicare benefits, for example, or postponing the eligibility age, would ruin the clarity of their message to seniors during the election. Conversely, Tea Partiers see a compromise involving any sort of revenue increases by the government, even non-tax measures such as ending corporate subsidies, as a betrayal of their principles. The Tea Partiers have brought into focus the spending crisis that has been growing unchecked for a long time, and one the country cannot obviously tax its way out of. Some facts cannot be denied: debt is the result of spending not backed by revenue. Total government spending at all levels has risen to 37% of the GDP today from 27% in 1960. It could reach 50% by 2038. The debt-to-GDP ratio has reached 100% today, from 42% in 1980. The big moral struggle is still ahead. There is no question that the government is spending too much, but the real debate is about priorities and the philosophies that underlie those priorities. The President has recognized that the budget deficit is important to voters, most of which have come to the conclusion that since the stimulus spending did not solve the problem of unemployment, deficit reduction appears to be a better way to improve the economy than investing in education, infrastructure and new energy technologies. Obama must acknowledge this, and make it part of his discourse.But the President must also continue to make a case for the common good ("there are things we can still do together", he said in his last speech), the social safety net and America's future. He can do this by personalizing the budget battles the way Clinton did. Are budget battles about choices or necessities? Why give more tax cuts to the wealthy if their wealth has grown through the recession while the rest saw their wealth diminish? Why subsidize corporate agriculture and ethanol production? Social programs like Medicare serve all Americans, why focus on cutting it while giving a pass to the upper income- and- wealth echelon? General elections are won from the center. Strong strident advocates make for weak candidates. Undoubtedly, the 2012 election will be about money, about fiscal discipline, but it will also be about a more equal distribution, and it will require strong leadership from the two respective philosophical corners to come to a consensus. That is why the Republican establishment is so worried about the lack of gravitas in their field of candidates. That is why some yearn for budget whiz Paul Ryan, or Governor Chris Christie or Rick Perry….or anybody really, that looks and sounds as if he can take on Obama in the intricacies of the budget, the debt ceiling, and social programs reform. That may also be why Jeb Bush was asked on Fox News about his intentions to run for President again two days ago. This time his response was more nuanced: he said that while he doesn't anticipate it, he hasn't ruled it out ("but, he added, "I haven't ruled out being in Dancing with the Stars, either").In the meantime, the Wall Street Journal today announced that, based on the Pew Research Center tabulations of SIPP and Census date, the wealth gap between America's whites and its two largest minorities, Blacks and Hispanics, has widened to unprecedented levels due to the housing crisis and the Great Recession. Alan Greenspan, former President of the Federal Reserve has said repeatedly that the wealth gap that has grown consistently for the last decade is a threat not only to our country but to capitalism itself. Poverty and unemployment are a combustive mix: if fiscal responsibility ends up being based on the back of the poor, social conflict will erupt. It is unconscionable, for example, to think that hedge fund managers pay significantly less taxes than their secretaries.Some Republicans want to abolish every piece of social legislation and re-litigate every progressive judicial decision since the New Deal. As part of pledge game, Michelle Bachman and four other candidates also signed the "Susan B. Anthony pledge "promising to appoint abortion opponents to their cabinets and to deny all funding for Planned Parenthood when they become presidents. The bizarre "Marriage Vow "pledge signed by Bachmann and Santoro not only opposes same-sex marriage and includes a personal promise to be faithful to their spouses, but (most peculiarly yet redundantly) it also rejects Sharia Law (which, by the way, like Bachman, also opposes gay marriage and female adultery, which it punishes by death!)The only candidate that has refused to sign any pledge is Jon Huntsman, who understands the perils of siding too closely with the rebellious Tea Party. Even if some of its main points have successfully brought into focus the deficit issue, the Tea Party is still supported by a minority and resented by most Republicans. Its anti-technocratic, anti-Washington message has resonance, but it may have pushed the GOP too far into a corner. Its message is also becoming blurred when it steps into the social arena: its racist and homophobic overtones do not reflect the spirit of the times and are offensive to the "millenials", the youngest generation of voters born in the 80s and 90s, which Republicans still hope to attract in 2012. Social movements are major vehicles of participation and can re-energize a worn out party. They reflect the spirit of the times, often in an extremist way that is what gives them prominence: their passion for the cause, their original approach, are all important, but their message has to resonate with the public if they are to succeed. They emerge, coalesce, grow and achieve some successes. However, once their main point is made, three things can happen: they can become a party, their main ideas can be incorporated into mainstream politics, or they dissipate and be quickly forgotten. The Tea Party brought into focus the issue of fiscal responsibility, it infused conservatism with new energy and found a natural home in the Republican Party, which had become profligate, and will have to prove from now on that it is sincere about austerity. Its impact is undeniable: it has also attracted Independents and in so doing, has per force moved the Democratic Party to the center-right. Mimicking the "big tent" approach of Republicans, the Tea Party has lately been focusing strategically on fiscal responsibility, limited government and free markets and its main groups have avoided divisive social issues when speaking to the general public. But their demands of ideological purity from their candidates, their emphasis on returning to the strict meaning of the Constitution and the values of the Founding Father, their defense of states rights and gun rights, belie their claims of inclusiveness for all Americans; in its coded language, its contempt for immigrants and its not-so- veiled racism, one senses a strongly reactionary sentiment bordering on uncontainable fanaticism which is completely out of step with most Americans and which will make it very difficult to widen its appeal beyond what it has already achieved.To paraphrase deceased Republican leader Barry Goldwater, the Tea Party's aim isnot to streamline government or make it more efficient, but to get rid of every piece of social legislation and economic regulation passed since the New Deal. Their purpose is not to share the burden of the weakest members of society, nor to educate their children so they can have equality of opportunity, but to defend the individual freedoms of those who can stand on their own. In sum, they are extremists for whom tolerance and moderation are vices, not virtues, and therefore they have no place in a democracy.Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

"The news from Delaware is crystal clear: it's Sarah Palin's party now." Senator John Kerry The Tea Party insurrection against the establishment is causing some headaches for the Republican leadership. Republican primary elections everywhere are being won by Tea Party candidates, some of which are credible and electable in national contests (Marco Rubio in Florida, Joe Miller in Alaska), but many of which are an embarrassment to the party. Christine O'Donnell, who won the Delaware primary, last week, falls into the latter category. The Republican Party had fielded a very strong candidate, Mike Castle, who had already been elected seven times to Congress, and would most likely have won the coveted seat in the national election. But he was considered "too liberal" and "too wedded to the establishment" by the Tea Party. Instead, victory went to Tea Party candidate O'Donnell, who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin. During her campaigning the 41-year old O'Donnell, fresh faced and attractive, adopted the dress style, body language and folksy speech of her flashy mentor, lending some credence to Senator John Kerry's claim that the GOP "is Sarah Palin's party now." O'Donnell had been signed out as not credible by the GOP: not only does she lack any experience and qualifications, but she has a questionable personal finance history and a bizarre background that includes having "practiced witchcraft" before becoming a Christian youth counselor and defender of sexual abstinence. She had run for a House seat twice before and lost, getting only about 4.5% of the vote statewide. Her story brings into focus the dire position the GOP finds itself in: by stirring up the anger and frustration of a public deeply affected by the Great Recession and worried about their economic future, and by using the Tea Party movement's energy and populism to mobilize the electorate, Republicans now find themselves in the awkward situation of having to support and fund fringe candidates for the November election. The Tea Party upheaval has been compared to the Reagan Revolution of 1980. Ronald Reagan transformed the Republican Party by creating a new coalition of social and fiscal conservatives and foreign policy hawks. He brought in the Southern Democrats and the Christian Right, and many moderates from the North East were purged from the party. He forged a new majority, renewed the party's cadre and dominated the national political agenda at least for a decade. Similarly, the Tea Party is imposing a "purity test" on Republicans that includes long-held party principles such as fiscal discipline, balanced budgets and low taxes. But it also demands adherence to more intrusive social dogmas such as opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and blatantly reactionary ideas against immigration and free trade, and in favor of the right to carry guns. With its populist, nativist rhetoric it is feeding the frenzy and anger prevalent in certain sectors of the country today to the point of rendering it ungovernable. Indeed, in order to win, Republican candidates everywhere find that they have to adopt Tea party language and principles even when some of these run counter to the realities of governing. In deep contrast with their extreme views of closed borders, Reagan gave amnesty to a huge mass of illegal immigrants, and was a staunch supporter of free trade, a central tenet of the conservative business class that is anathema to the Tea Party insurgents. Their brand of rampant populism was quite absent from the Reagan revolution: he was a leader who understood where the country was historically and emotionally, and he had the convictions and the policies to move it forwards. His philosophy of hard work, sacrifice, fiscal responsibility and smaller government has endured and influenced many conservative and moderate politicians around the world. In addition, he had the great gift of communication and persuasion, and knew how to use history and logic to back up his actions. Few would compare the Great Communicator with the grammatically challenged elements that lead the Tea party: they tend to speak in sound bites, have poor syntax and grammar, and make obscure, often absurd references that few people are able to follow (for example, Sarah Palin's 2008 comment that "as Putin rears his head and enters U.S airspace, the first thing he sees is Alaska" as an justification of why being governor of that state gave her some foreign policy experience; or Christine O'Donnell's "mice with human brains" reference when explaining her opposition to stem cell research). Their inexperience, rampant populism, and contempt for intellect and knowledge do not bode well for next Congress. Others consider late Senator Barry Goldwater, a blunt-spoken conservative libertarian from Arizona, as the predecessor of the Tea Party. Goldwater, who ran for president in the 1960s against Lyndon Johnson, wanted to abolish the whole welfare state established by the New Deal, and advocated the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam. He lost to LBJ by a landslide, bringing the Republican Party down with him. But he was a libertarian and this put him at odds with the Christian right agenda of the 1970s. Although it is true that there is a libertarian, Goldwater-like element in some groups of the Tea Party, most of its members embrace an ultra-conservative social agenda of government intrusiveness into people's lives, and that is already a source of contention and conflict within the movement. Given its grassroots, decentralized approach, its platform is a hybrid of sometimes conflicting ideas, but at its core, it is an anti-federalist movement. It officially appeared in the political map on tax-filing day, April 15 of 2009, when "tea parties" were organized in several states to protest against government spending. It grew as a bottom-up organization but, as it gathered strength, it was courted by the GOP as an instrument to revive the party and mobilize its supporters. The Tea Party in its nature and its approach to politics is more reminiscent of the movement that coalesced around Ross Perot in the 1990s. He was against the expansion of the federal government, against free trade and open borders, against Washington "insiders" of both parties, and in favor of balanced budgets and lower taxes. The main difference is that the Tea Party is trying to transform the Republican Party from the inside, instead of running against it as a third party, as Perot did in 1992, thereby preventing the re-election of President Bush senior, and delivering a victory to the Democrats. The question is whether the Tea Party movement will succeed and, whether, by moving the party to the Right, it will have a "corrective" effect, or whether, due to its populist excesses, it will self destroy and bring the party down with it. The Perot movement dissolved because of its internal dissent and lack of leadership, and the Tea Party may encounter the same fate. What the Tea Party movement has in vigor and energy, it lacks in logic, organization and cohesiveness. They would most certainly not have been so successful if they had had to find their own moneys to fund their campaigns. Unfortunately for the GOP, there are at least two Political Action Committees (PACs) that are giving financial support to these fringe-quality candidates: Sarah Palin's own PAC, and the Tea Party Express run by old Republican political operative and entrepreneur Sal Russo, who identifies "promising" candidates that can attract contributions and bring treasure into his own formerly moribund PAC. A third PAC, FreedomWorks, run by former Representative Dick Armey, has been more selective in the Tea Party candidates it supports. It refused to fund Christine O'Donnell, who instead received substantial campaign funds from the other two. Some serious conservative voices are being raised against the Tea Party, but it may be too late. Charles Krauthammer, one of the leading conservative intellectuals, called O'Donnell's triumph a "stunning but pyrrhic victory" that will prevent the Republicans from regaining control of the Senate. While conceding that the Tea Party itself was "the most vigorous and salutary grass-roots movement of our time" and a "source of electoral energy", he still cautioned Republicans that they had to be selective. He said that O'Donnell was problematic and most likely unelectable. Showing his frustration with the defeat of Mike Castle, he stated that the so-called "Buckley rule"-"Support the most conservative candidate that is electable" -had been violated. Also, Karl Rove from his new column in the Wall Street journal called her "unfit for office" and "not a credible" candidate. O'Donnell was the seventh Tea Party candidate to defeat an incumbent, so now the National Republican Committee will most likely have to fund their national campaigns. Not all are unelectable, but the question is, once in power, will they follow the party line or their own? As the GOP moves to the extreme Right to please the Tea Party supporters, it is the moderates that are left out of place. In Florida, the unstoppable Senate race of Tea Party candidate Marco Rubio has forced his opponent Charlie Crist, whom Rubio defeated in the primary, to leave the GOP and run as an Independent. Unlike O'Donnell, Rubio is a very credible candidate who may some day run for president, while Crist has been too much of a moderate for the present political climate, and as governor has supported several of Obama's initiatives. Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller, who beat incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska primary, is also a candidate with solid credentials (WestPoint graduate, then Yale Law), but he is still outside the mainstream on basic issues such as Social Security, which he considers "unconstitutional, because it is not in the Constitution". This is what most worries the party moderates: that a huge part of the electorate, frustrated with the expansion of US government, debt and deficits, will feel so disgruntled as to elect a Republican Congress majority populated with extremist candidates that will ignore the party line, and will try to impose their simplistic, atavistic views of government, turning the clock back one or even two centuries. Unquestionably, not all is said and done in this election, and the Republican primary results are cautiously being watched by Democratic candidates who now see an opening to regain the moderate Independents' vote. But the generalized anger against incumbents in the electoral may very well lead many of them to vote for Tea party newcomers all the same, no matter how extreme and erratic they may seem. Objectively, one can understand and respect philosophical differences and the traditions of this country's two-party politics. In order to survive in the post-Bush era, the Republican Party needed to undergo a correction towards smaller government and balanced budgets, which are the core principles of their ideology. During his eight years in power, Republican George Bush oversaw the biggest expansion of the federal government since the 1960s; he made the decision to fight two wars while at the same time lowering taxes across the board and deregulating private financial institutions. It should thus come as no surprise that his course of action brought about the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and that a public backlash against government spending ensued. A year and a half of frantic efforts by the Obama White House and Congress, which obviously demanded more government spending for the short-term, have not delivered palpable results and, although the Recession has officially ended, unemployment is still at 10%. The popular outcry against big government is to be expected. But some groups have used this opportunity to propose hare-brained schemes based on ignorance, nescience and prejudice. Whether they are railing against immigrants, taxes and social welfare programs, or in favor of armed insurrection against the federal government, quite often, to legitimize their demands, they refer their critics to the US Constitution of 1787. To the extent that the Constitution established the federal government and its relative power over the states, their claims have little merit. Perhaps they confuse it with the Articles of Confederation that preceded it and vested power in the states. In any case, the infantile worship of a three centuries old document in an era of globalization, interdependence and a communications revolution speaks for itself: the Tea Party is reactionary, regressive, and irritating to mainstream Americans. But given the level of anger and disenchantment with Washington, they may linger in the political landscape longer than initially predicted. Tea Party supporters tend to confuse their candidates' folksiness with authenticity, their simple- mindedness with sincerity and their populist slogans with serious policy proposals. The truth is that the United States, for all its failures, has governmental institutions that have endured, and is governed by the rule of law and not by mob rule. It is normal and healthy in a democracy to protest against an unresponsive government. It is quite a different thing to put opportunistic, unproven, inexperienced people at the helm in order to role back institutions that took years to build and that the newcomers in their ignorance scorn upon. There is no telling that they would be less greedy or more competent than those they replace. More likely, a Tea-Party-dominated Congress would be a complete disaster as they focus on their petty interests and ideological vendettas; they repeal existing social legislation and refuse to fund the federal government; they start handing out subpoenas to investigate made-up claims against the Executive, and they do not address any of the real problems facing the country. Their narrow-mindedness, their disdain for the realities of democracy and their disinterest in the welfare of others is quite alarming. It may come back to haunt the other Republicans in Congress, who will realize too late that they have to rely on Democrats in order to pass any spending bill and that anger cannot be turned into an agenda for governing. Ironically, this week has been proclaimed Education Week in America, as the White House unveils its new plan to reform the public school system and to bring American students up to par with other advanced democracies. Although the new emphasis will be on science, math and a longer school year, one can only hope there is room in the curriculum for more civic education, a better understanding of American History and a greater appreciation for democracy and its institutions. Only when that happens will this kind of movement be forever confined to the fringes of society, where it belongs. Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

As President Obama's popularity numbers continue to drop, Republicans are still struggling to find the right candidate that can deliver the final blow to the incumbent and sweep the GOP back into the White House. Rick Perry was to be this man just three weeks ago, but after less than stellar performances in the last debates, and once his record had been scrutinized by his challengers and the press, he has fallen out of grace. The Texan governor was perceived as the man that could attract Tea Partiers and base primary voters, while at the same time satisfy deep-pocketed Republican donors with his solid conservative views on the economy and the role of government. However, the GOP establishment and its largest donors are uncomfortable with some of his public statements (for example, referring to Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, voicing his creationist and anti-science views, and his reactionary pro-gun position) which would make him less electable in the national race. Many of these rich donors and Wall Street executives are economic conservatives but quite liberal on social issues. Paradoxically, Mitt Romney, who is still first in all the polls, has the right mix for Wall Street, but his religious affiliation (Mormon), his lack of charisma and his "plastic" "salesman-like" persona raise questions about whether he can connect with the base and win the primary election.In this theater of the absurd that have been the candidate debates, Perry did well at first, but then stumbled last week in Florida, when confronted with his own record as governor of Texas. He has been severely criticized by Michelle Bachman for issuing an executive order to vaccinate middle school girls against HPPV in Texas, and in his second debate he was mobbed by his fellow candidates for allowing the children of undocumented immigrants to attend state universities paying the lower "in-state" tuition rate, just like any other Texan legal resident. Even though 70% of the national electorate supports Immigration Reform and the Dream Act (which includes a provision exactly like the one Perry took), and even though the Latino vote will be fundamental in the next election, he was pilloried over it. This is the kind of wedge issue that candidates on the Right can use successfully during the primary but will work against them in the national election.Perry's confidence seemed shaken for the rest of the debate: he dodged several questions, mumbled responses and looked down at his notes several times. In contrast, Romney, smooth, fresh- faced and articulate, seemed to be having a great time delivering sharp retorts that threw the Texan off balance. From Perry's demeanor one could tell he was unpleasantly surprised by the aggressive questioning of his policies and the mocking tone of his opponent. Clearly, he is a man of authority who is not used to having his decisions and beliefs openly criticized by others. He defended himself as best as he could, but the damage had been done. Consequently, Rick Perry, the GOP's "knight in shining armor" who was urged to run by the GOP establishment and was supposed to deliver the ultimate blow to Obama, lost his appeal overnight and is now struggling to keep his campaign alive. Aware of this great opportunity to win the White House, the GOP establishment continues second-guessing its own field, looking for perfect contender that can lead them into a new era. Romney, still the de facto front-runner, has become a much better candidate in the last four years, but his inner restraint, his lack of emotion, his failure to connect makes Republicans uneasy. He is a technocrat, the type of candidate the voters can't "fall in love with", and while he can take on Obama as an equal, it is not clear whether he can beat him. So the GOP moved ahead in its inexorable quest for the unbeatable candidate, all but destroying former favorites on its way. The new favorite last week was for a while Chris Christie, the first-term governor of New Jersey and a former state prosecutor. In deep contrast with Mitt Romney the "salesman", Chris Christie, the "Jersey big guy" had a certain quality of authenticity that heightened GOP expectations and made them dream of winning again. Some hefty figures in the party establishment (former statesman Henry Kissinger and conservative intellectual William Kristol among them) were putting enormous pressure on Christie to run. He quickly has become a favorite among conservatives because of his stunning achievements: a Republican governor in a "blue" state who managed to pass budget reform, take on the teachers' unions and reform the state pension system during his first two years in office. He is a big man who speaks bluntly, a terrific governor, a leader at a time when leadership is hard to find. But after ten days of high drama and speculation, Christie announced in a one-hour press conference last Friday that he was not running.There were three main reasons for his refusal to become a candidate for the highest office in the nation: First and foremost, his decision would have come too late. At the time, there were only ninety days until the first caucus in Iowa; Florida has set an earlier-than-expected date for its primary and with that, it has pushed back all other dates in the calendar so that voting may start even earlier than expected. The order of primaries is traditionally set and the privileged states (Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina) would be loath to change it. Governor Christie's campaign would have had to scramble to get his name on the ballot of all 50 states (each state has different procedures, from the very simple to the very complex). Most agreed that he would have been a very strong candidate, but such a late entry may have harmed future prospects for him. Second, Christie is still an unknown to most of the electorate, and probably would not have had the support of rural and Southern voters. Would the wealthy New Yorkers and party pundits who were promising him huge donations ultimately have delivered and stayed with Christie for the long-term if he lost some of the early caucuses and primaries? And finally, there was the question of whether he would ignite the primary base once some of his views became known. His record is clear on management of state finances and on standing up to public unions. But there has been scarcely any scrutiny about his views on immigration. Speaking to a Latino group in 2008, he said for example that undocumented immigrants should not be classified as "illegal" since: being in this country without proper documentation was not a crime." He is a moderate on abortion, he has banned drilling for oil off the coast of New Jersey, and his energy plan resembles Obama. These are all core concerns of the base which has been driven by mainly primordial instincts in the last four years. Would Christie's blunt leadership style and reform zeal, his sincerity about the depth of the challenges and the difficulties of the solutions have carried the day? Now, it seem we will never know, but it is the phenomenon itself that is worth pondering: the establishment is unhappy at the prospects of Perry in the national election, and worried about Romney's chances in the primary. In their quasi-irrational frenzy to find the perfect candidate they may be undermining their own chance to win.Republicans seem to be looking for the anti-Obama, and Chris Christie fitted the bill: he is a heavy, no nonsense guy (a lot has been said about his overweight condition, with one NBC journalist going as far as asking the question: "Should there be a weight limit for presidential candidates?") who speaks in a very direct way, does not shirk away from difficult decisions, is ready to take on opponents and do whatever is required to get the country's economy back on track. There is nothing Hamlet-like about him, except perhaps in his hesitancy about running for president. He is also a very bright policy wonk who completely "gets" New Jersey problems and knows what needs to be done to "fix" them. On the other hand, although flattered by all the attention and support for his candidacy, his decision was due to a sincere self-appraisal: he is not ready to be President of the United States in 2012, and prefers to wait until 2016 if his aura has not worn out by then.In the meantime, Obama is trying to persuade Congress to pass his jobs bill and to show that in spite of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles he has faced at every turn of the road, he has the strength to solve at least one problem, unemployment, and the courage to tax those that make over a million a year. His jobs bill includes many Republican ideas. It proposes a combination of shot-term tax cuts, investment incentives and job creation through infrastructure projects, with long-term strategy of tax reform including ending tax loopholes for corporations which would reduce the deficit by raising the government's revenue levels. He still strikes an optimistic note, but he has already recognized that, if the economy doesn't pick up by early next year, he will be running as the underdog. In other words, he has admitted that the solution is really out of his control and in the hands of what John M. Keynes called "animal spirits". Only by restoring confidence will investors start spending the 2 trillion dollars they are allegedly stashing away in wait of better times. But Obama has now a new challenge: the Occupy Wall Street protest movement that is expanding its base and spreading to other cities. It is the unemployed youth counterpart of the populist Tea Party on the right. Both are angry at Washington, but the reactionary Tea Party blames the government for everything gone wrong, while the radical OWS blames big banks and corporations, or said otherwise, it blames the 1% that have gotten richer even during the Recession, while the 99% got poorer. With its protest movement, the Young Left has declared its independence from the establishment Democratic Party. It is Obama's base delivering Obama himself an ultimatum to either take the side of the 99% or lose their support forever. Since Obama's dreams of bipartisanship are close to over, one hopes his campaign advisors will interpret the OWS movement as an opportunity to harness their energy towards support for real reform. But it is unclear whether OWS, a diverse, amorphous, leaderless movement, will allow itself to be organized by Washington insiders with clear policy goals.The GOP frustration must be disheartening. Its establishment saw the enormous potential of Governor Christie to win the center-right of the political spectrum and with it, the national election. His remarkable success at striking bipartisan deal to reform New Jersey's finances proves his bona fide credentials as a problem solver and a leader. His irreverent, unscripted yet incisive responses to the press and the public, his indubitable charisma and his authenticity all worked in his favor. However, his refusal to run is now a fact, and as the deadline looms nearer, the GOP will have to reconsider whether to anoint as its candidate Mitt Romney, the Mormon, affable yet one-dimensional former governor of Massachusetts, the most progressive state in the nation, or Rick Perry, the less articulate yet pragmatic and successful governor of Texas, the biggest and most conservative state. Of course, unexpected outcomes are always a possibility, as shown by Herman Cain's case. The African American candidate and former Godfather's Pizza executive who has never held public office, won the "straw" primary poll in Florida last week and saw his popularity soar in national polls after a very well-received debate performance in which he repeated over and over again his simplistic 9-9-9 tax reform program, his plan to privatize pension funds, and his anti-Washington mantra. "Salesmanship", then, is not a bad asset in politics, after all, unless you are also a Mormon millionaire.Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

This paper starts with a dilemma. How to ensure the adequate protection of individual health data and privacy in a global pandemic, which has intensified the use of digital applications for the purposes of data sharing and contact-tracing? There is no simple answer to this question when choosing between the protection of public health and individual privacy. However, the history of the existing case-law regarding infectious diseases control, both Polish and European, teaches about numerous examples in which health data and privacy were not adequately protected, but, on the contrary, were misused leading to human rights infringements. In light of this case law and public health ethics, this paper argues radically that the use of digital applications to fight the Covid-19 pandemic has not been sufficiently justified at least in the Polish context. Especially, unconvincing benefits from the use of these tools do not outweigh the likelihood of human rights infringements with far-reaching consequences for political, social and economic rights now and in the future. In its novelty, this article combines a historical-legal method with the concept of public health ethics and a human rights-based approach and to foster further research and discussion. The text also responds to the pressing need to analyze those human rights issues embedded in the Polish reality. ; Patrycja Dąbrowska-Kłosińska - Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland ; Agnieszka Grzelak - Kozminski University in Warsaw, Poland ; Agnieszka Nimark - Cornell University, United States of America; Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), Spain ; Patrycja Dąbrowska-Kłosińska is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences at the Warsaw University of Technology and Research Fellow at the School of Law, Queen's University Belfast. ; Agnieszka Grzelak is Associate Professor at the College of Law, Kozminski University, Warsaw. ; Agnieszka Nimark is a Visiting Scholar at the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflct Studies, Cornell University and Associate Senior Researcher at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB). ; Patrycja Dąbrowska-Kłosińska: p.dabrowska@qub.ac.uk ; Agnieszka Grzelak: agrzelak@kozminski.edu.pl ; Agnieszka Nimark: an355@cornell.edu ; 61 ; 94 ; 3 ; Alston P., Does the past matter? On the origins of human rights, "Harvard Law Review" 2013, vol. 126, no. 7. ; Annas G.J. and Mariner W.K., (Public) Health and Human Rights in Practice, "Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law" 2016, vol. 41, no. 1. ; Annas G.J., Worst Case Bioethics, Oxford/New York 2011. ; Aplikacja "Kwarantanna domowa" budzi wątpliwości obywateli. Rzecznik pisze do premiera, 13.11.2020, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/rpo-do-premiera-aplikacja-kwarantanna-domowa-budziwatpliwosci. ; Bradford L. Aboy M. and Liddell K., COVID-19 contact tracing apps: a stress test for privacy, the GDPR, and data protection regimes, "Journal of Law and the Biosciences" 2020, vol. 7, no. 1. ; Chałubińska-Jentkiewicz K. and Nowikowska M., Bezpieczeństwo, tożsamość, prywatność – aspekty prawne, Warsaw 2020. ; Commission Implementing Decision amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/253 as regards alerts triggered by serious cross-border threats to health and for the contact tracing of passengers identified through Passenger Locator Forms, 25.03.2021, no ref. yet. ; Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. A new EU Framework to strengthen the Rule of Law (COM(2014) 158 fi nal). ; Coronavirus contact tracing reignites Polish privacy debate, "Deutsche Welle", https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-contact-tracing-reignites-polish-privacy-debate/a-53600913. ; Coronavirus Pandemic In The EU – Fundamental Rights Implications: With A Focus On ContactTracing Apps, 21 March – 30 April 2020, https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-coronavirus-pandemic-eu-bulletin-may_en.pdf. ; COVID-19 App, https://worldhealthorganization.github.io/app. ; Dąbrowska-Kłosińska P., Stosowanie unijnych przepisów o transgranicznych zagrożeniach dla zdrowia, a ochrona danych osobowych w UE, "Przegląd Prawa i Administracji Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis" 2016, vol. 107. ; Dąbrowska-Kłosińska P., Tracing Individuals under the EU Regime on Serious, Cross-border Health Threats: An Appraisal of the System of Personal Data Protection, 'European Journal of Risk Regulation' 2017, vol. 8, no. 4. ; De Hert P. and Gutwirth S., Data Protection in the Case Law of Strasbourg and Luxemburg: Constitutionalisation in Action, (in:) S. Gutwirth, Y. Poullet, P. De Hert, C. de Terwangne and S. Nouwt (eds.), Reinventing Data Protection?, Dordrecht 2009. ; Deloitte, Privacy and Data Protection in the age of COVID-19, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/be/ Documents/risk/be-risk_privacy-and-data-protection-in-the-age-of-covid-19.pdf. ; Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal off ences or the execution of criminal penalties, and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA (O.J. L 119, 4.5.2016). ; Disclosure of the test for SARS-CoV–2 by Marta Lempart – complaint of the Polish Ombudsman to the Provincial Administrative Court, 18 February 2021, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/sprawa-ujawnienia-przez-panstwo-testu-na-sars-cov-2-marty-lempart-skarga-rpo-do-wsa. ; Do rządu popłynął strumień danych o lokalizacji osób poddanych kwarantannie, 16.4.2020, https://www.rp.pl/Koronawirus-SARS-CoV–2/200419545-Do-rzadu-poplynal-strumien-danych-olokalizacji-osob-poddanych-kwarantannie.html. ; Domańska M., People with Disabilities as a Vulnerable Group. The Concept of Protection of the Rights of Vulnerable Groups, "Białostockie Studia Prawnicze" 2018, vol. 4, no. 23. ; Drinóczi T., Bień-Kacała A. (eds.), Rule of Law, Common Values, and Illiberal Constitutionalism. Poland and Hungarywithin the European Union, Abingdon/New York 2020. ; eHealth Network, Mobile applications to support contact tracing in the EU's fi ght against COVID-19, Common EU Toolbox for Member States, https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/ehealth/docs/covid-19_apps_en.pdf. ; European Commission, Communication from the Commission Guidance on Apps supporting the fight against COVID 19 pandemic in relation to data protection, 2020/C 124 I/01, C/2020/2523 (O.J. C 124I, 17.4.2020). ; European Data Protection Board (EDPB), Guidelines 04/2020 on the use of location data and contact tracing tools in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, 21.4.2020, https://edpb.europa.eu/sites/edpb/files/files/file1/edpb_guidelines_20200420_contact_tracing_covid_with_annex_en.pdf. ; European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), EU Digital Solidarity: a call for a pan-European approach against the pandemic, 06.4.2020, https://edps.europa.eu/sites/edp/files/publication/2020–04-06_eu_digital_solidarity_covid19_en.pdf. ; Expert team of the Polish CHR, "Osiodłać pegaza" report, September 2019, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/osodlac-pegaza-inwigilacja-propozycja-niezalezna-instytucje-do-nadzoru-sluzbspecjalnych (accessed 29.4.2021). ; Florczak-Wątor M., Komentarz do art. 51 Konstytucji, (in:) P. Tuleja (ed.), Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Komentarz, Warsaw 2020. ; FRA and Council for Europe, Handbook on European Data Protection Law, Luxembourg 2018. ; Fundamental Rights Agency, Coronavirus Pandemic in the EU – fundamental rights implications: with a focus on contact-tracing apps, https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/ fra-2020-coronavirus-pandemic-eu-bulletin-may_en.pdf. ; Garlicki L. and Zubik M. (eds.), Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Komentarz, Tom I, Warsaw 2016. ; Grzelak A. (ed.), Ustawa o ochronie danych osobowych przetwarzanych w związku z zapobieganiem i zwalczaniem przestępczości, Warsaw 2019. ; Grzelak A., Ochrona danych osobowych we współpracy państw członkowskich UE w zwalczaniu przestępczości, Warsaw 2015. ; Jackowski M., Ochrona danych medycznych, Warsaw 2011. ; Joined statement on the right to data protection in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by A. Pierucci and J.-P. Walter, 30.3.2020 https://rm.coe.int/covid19-joint-statement/16809e09f4. ; Kędzior M., The right to data protection and the COVID-19 pandemic: the European approach, 'ERA Forum' 2021, no. 21. ; Koronawrius. Czy premier nakazał telekomom przekazywanie danych lokalizacyjnych osób chorych i w kwarantannie, 17.4.2020, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/koronawrius-rpo-czy-premier-nakazal-przekazywanie-danych-lokalizacyjnych. ; Koschalka B., Uptake of Covid contact tracing app under 2% in Poland, among the lowest rates in Europe, 11.9.2020, https://notesfrompoland.com/2020/09/11/uptake-of-covid-contact -tracing-app-under-2-in-poland-among-the-lowest-rates-in-europe. ; Kotschy W., Comment on Article 6, (in:) Ch. Kuner, L.A. Bygrave and Ch. Docksey (eds.), The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A commentary, Oxford 2020. ; Kusat Kaya E., Safety and privacy in the time of covid-19: contact tracing applications, https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep26089?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents. ; Lakoff A., Two Regimes of Global Health, "Humanity" 2010, vol. 1, no. 1. ; Łakomiec K., Konstytucyjna ochrona prywatności. Dane dotyczące zdrowia, Warsaw 2020. ; Lucivero F., Hallowell N., Johnson S., Prainsack B., Samuel G. and Sharon T., COVID-19 and Contact Tracing Apps: Ethical Challenges for a Social Experiment on a Global Scale, "Journal of Bioethical Inquiry" 2020, no. 17. ; Mariner W.K., Annas G.J. and Glantz L.H., Jacobson v Massachusetts: It's Not Your Great-GreatGrandfather's Public Health Law, "American Journal of Public Health" 2005, vol. 95, Issue 4. ; Mariner W.K., Annas G.J. and Parmet W., Pandemic Preparedness; A Return to the Rule of Law, "Drexel Law Review" 2009, vol. 1, no. 2. ; Mariner W.K., Mission Creep: Public Health Surveillance and Medical Privacy, "Boston University Law Review" 2007, vol. 87. ; Mariner W.K., Reconsidering Constitutional Protection for Health Information Privacy, "Journal of Constitutional Law" 2016, vol. 18, no. 3. ; Marta Lempart on leading Poland's abortion rights protests, "Financial Times", 02.12.2020, https://www.ft.com/content/b6012449–0c11–419a-b439–6e3320f47e86. ; MC zapewnia: aplikacja mobilna "Kwarantanna Domowa" - zgodna z wymogami RODO, 30.11.2020, https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/mc-zapewnia-rpo-aplikacja-kwarantanna-domowazgodna-z-rodo. ; McClain C., Of Medicine, Race, and American law: The Bubonic Plague Outbreak of 1900, "Law and Social Inquiry" 1988, no. 13. ; Michałowicz A., Stosowanie aplikacji mobilnych podczas pandemii COVID-19 z perspektywy ochrony danych osobowych, "Europejski Przegląd Sądowy" 2020, no. 6. ; Murphy T., Health and Human Rights' Past: Patinating Law's Contribution, "Health and Human Rights Journal" 21 November 2019. ; Norwegian Infection Stop, https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3675/theres-app-coronavirus-apps. ; O'Manique C. and Fourie P., Security and Health in the Twenty-First Century (in:) M.D. Cavelty and V. Maure (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Security Studies, Abingdon/New York 2010. ; O'Neill P.H., Ryan-Mosley T. and Johnson B., A flood of coronavirus apps are tracking us. Now it's time to keep track of them, "MIT Technology Review", 7 May 2020, https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/07/1000961/launching-mittr-covid-tracing-tracker. ; Obem A., ProteGO Safe: instalować czy nie?, 3.8.2020, https://panoptykon.org/czy-instalowacprotego-safe. ; OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19), Ensuring data privacy as we battle COVID-19, 14.4.2020 http://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/ensuring-dataprivacy-as-we-battle-covid-19–36c2f31e/#section-d1e690. ; Pagliari C., The ethics and value of contact tracing apps: International insights and implications for Scotland's COVID-19 response, "Journal of Global Health" 2020, vol. 10. ; Parmet W.E., Dangerous Perspectives. Th e Perils of Individualizing Public Health Problems, "Journal of Legal Medicine" 2009, vol. 30, no. 1. ; Privacy leaders, https://iapp.org/resources/article/privacy-leaders-views-impact-of-covid19-on-privacy-priorities-practices-programs. ; Protection of health-related data – Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)2 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, 27.3.2019. ; Ram N. and Gray D., Mass surveillance in the age of COVID-19, "Journal of Law and the Biosciences" 2020, vol. 7, no. 1. ; Regulation (EU) No. 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (O.J. L 119, 4.5.2016). ; Report from the audits of the ProteGO Safe, https://www.gov.pl/web/protegosafe/audytbezpieczenstwa--zobacz-raport. ; Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, The right to privacy in the digital age, 3.8.2018, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DigitalAge/Pages/ReportDigitalAge.aspx. ; Report on the rule of law - Adopted by the Venice Commission at its 86th plenary session, Venice, 25–26 March 2011. ; Roberts S.L., Big Data, Algorithmic Governmentality and the Regulation of Pandemic Risk, "European Journal of Risk Regulation" 2019, vol. 10, Issue 1. ; Rojszczak M., Nieograniczone programy inwigilacji elektronicznej a koncepcja państwa autorytarnego, "Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis - Studia nad Autorytaryzmem i Totalitaryzmem" 2020, vol. 42, no. 2. ; Rojszczak M., Ochrona prywatności w cyberprzestrzeni z uwzględnieniem zagrożeń wynikających z nowych technik przetwarzania informacji, Warsaw 2019. ; Sadurski W., Poland's Constitutional Breakdown, Oxford 2019. ; Safjan M., Bosek L. (eds.), Instytucje Prawa Medycznego. System Prawa Medycznego. Tom 1, Warsaw 2017. ; Safjan M., Bosek L. (eds.), Konstytucja RP. Tom I. Komentarz do art. 1–86, Warsaw 2016. ; Sekala S., Dagron S., Forman L., and Meier B.M., Analyzing the Human Rights Impact of Increased Digital Public Health Surveillance during the COVID-19 Crisis, "Health and Human Rights Journal" 2020, vol. 22, no. 2. ; Sroka T., Ograniczenia praw i wolności konstytucyjnych oraz praw pacjenta w związku z wystąpieniem zagrożenia epidemicznego, "Palestra" 2020, no. 6. ; Świtała K., Interoperacyjność i bezpieczeństwo danych medycznych w systemach e-zdrowia i telemedycynie, (in:) I. Lipowicz, M. Świerczyński and G. Szpor (eds.), Telemedycyna i e-Zdrowie. Prawo i informatyka, Warsaw 2019. ; Theme 3: Covid-19, privacy rights and cyber security risks, 'Covid-19 Resources', Pinciples for Responsible Investment, 7.9.2020, https://www.unpri.org/covid-19-resources/theme-3-covid19-privacy-rights-and-cyber-security-risks/6343.article. ; There's an app for that: Coronavirus apps, 20.4.2020, https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3675/theres-app-coronavirus-apps. ; Tracking and tracing COVID: Protecting privacy and data while using apps and biometrics, 23.4.2020, OECD, https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/tracking-and-tracing-covidprotecting-privacy-and-data-while-using-apps-and-biometrics-8f394636. ; Tuleja P., Komentarz do art. 31 Konstytucji RP, (in:) P. Tuleja (ed.), Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Komentarz, Warsaw 2020. ; Van Kolfschooten H. and de Ruijter A., COVID-19 and privacy in the European Union: A legal perspective on contact tracing, "Contemporary Security Policy" 2020, vol. 41, Issue 3. ; Van Zeben J. and Kamphorst B.A., Tracking and Nudging through Smartphone Apps: Public Health and Decisional Privacy in a European Health Union, "European Journal of Risk Regulation" 2020, vol. 11, Issue 4. ; Wałachowska M., Ochrona danych osobowych w prawie cywilnym i medycznym, Toruń 2008. ; Wiewiórowski W.R., Profilowanie osób na podstawie ogólnodostępnych danych, (in:) A. Mednis (ed.), Prywatność a ekonomia: ochrona danych osobowych w obrocie gospodarczym, Warsaw 2013. ; Wiewiórowski W.R., Rola Unii Europejskiej w koordynacji zastosowania narzędzi informatycznych do walki z pandemią, "Europejski Przegląd Sądowy" 2020, no. 6. ; This research was in part supported by the project THEMIS (2018–2021; Principal Investigator: Patrycja Dąbrowska-Kłosińska) of the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 746014, which is hereby acknowledged. ; 26