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St. Louis County Executive Sam Page will face three challengers in the Democratic primary this August, and Councilman Ernie Trakas also has three challengers for his 6th District seat.

Filing for county, state and federal offices for the Aug. 4 primary began in February and ended Tuesday.

County executive race will be competitive

Page, county Assessor Jake Zimmerman and Ladue businessman Mark Mantovani all filed Feb. 25 for the Democratic nomination for the county executives post. The three had previously announced their candidacies, so that was no surprise. Also filing was Jamie Tolliver, bringing the August primary to four Democrats vying for the countys top job.

Also filing to run on the Republican side were Paul Berry III of Maryland Heights and Ed Golterman of Kirkwood.

Libertarian Theo Brown Sr., who is a perennial candidate for county executive, is also in the running along with Green Party candidate Elizabeth (Betsey) Mitchell.

6th District race sees four contenders

Also up for election are County Council seats in the 6th District of South County, along with the 2nd District and 4th District.

Incumbent Trakas, R-Oakville, filed for re-election to the seat he won in November 2016, which represents most of South County on the County Council.

Trakas will face three Democratic challengers and has no Republican opposition.

The first to file on the Democratic side hoping to represent South County on the County Council was Rep. Bob Burns, D-Affton, who will be term-limited in the Missouri Legislature. Burns had previously announced his candidacy.

Another Democrat, Alex Lange of Lemay, also filed in February to challenge Trakas.

On the last day, former Mehlville Board of Education President Venki Palamand filed to run for the Democratic nomination.

Oakville resident Palamands filing calls back to a previous election for the seat. When the 6th District seat was open following former 6th District Councilman Steve Stengers election as county executive in 2014, Palamand had said he would be interested in running in the special election to replace Stenger. But Stenger backed Kevin OLeary instead, as Palamand bowed out. OLeary ultimately won that special election but declined to run again, paving the way for Trakas election in November 2016.

Burns, Lange and Palamand will face off in the Democratic primary Aug. 4.

Missouri Senate

In the 1st District that represents most of South County, Sen. Scott Sifton, D-Affton, is term-limited and cannot run again.

Rep. Doug Beck, an Affton Democrat like Sifton, was the only candidate to file for the seat on the Democratic side.

Two Republicans filed to replace Sifton: David Lenihan of Oakville and Mitchell Kohlberg of Affton.

In the 15th District that represents Sunset Hills in the Senate, incumbent Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, filed to run for re-election. He was first elected in 2016.

Filing to run against Koenig was Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood.

Koenig and Lavender were both unopposed in their primaries and will face each other in the November general election.

Missouri House

In the Missouri House, up for election are seats held by Democrat Sarah Unsicker of Shrewsbury in District 91, Beck in District 92, Democrat Burns in District 93, Republican Jim Murphy of Oakville in District 94, Republican Michael ODonnell of Oakville in District 95, Republican David Gregory of Sunset Hills in District 96 and Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican, in the 97th District.

Of the South County incumbents, Unsicker, Murphy, ODonnell, Gregory and Coleman have filed for re-election.

Unsicker, of Shrewsbury, is unopposed in the 91st District, where she represents Crestwood, Webster Groves and Shrewsbury. She has no Republican challenger.

With Becks departure in the 92nd District, one Republican and one Democrat are aiming to replace him. Concord Township Republican Committeeman Bill Heisse, who challenged Beck in the 2018 election, is running again. Lakeshire resident Michael Burton is running for the seat as a Democrat. He is most well-known for leading the activism at the council around Tower Tee.

To succeed the term-limited Burns in the 93rd District, Democrat Bridget Walsh Moore of Affton and Republican Gabriel Jones of Affton will face each other in the general election.

In the 94th District, it will be a rematch of the 2018 race. Rep. Jim Murphy of Oakville, a Republican who narrowly edged his opponent in that race, will once again face Mehlville Board of Education member Jean Pretto of Oakville, a Democrat.

ODonnell, a Republican of Oakville, was first elected in 2018 and will run again with one challenger this time. He will face Democratic candidate Ann Zimpfer of Oakville.

Along with Gregory, also filing in District 96 was Democrat Erica Hoffman. No one else filed, so they will also have a rematch this November of their 2018 race.

In the 97th District that spans Jefferson County and parts of South County, Republican incumbent Mary Elizabeth Coleman is unopposed.

U.S. House, 2nd District

U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, filed for re-election the first day.

Filing to run against her as a Democrat was Sen. Jill Schupp. Martin Schulte of Ballwin also filed as a Libertarian.

U.S. House, 1st District

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Lacy Clay filed to run again and will be opposed by his opponent two years ago, Cori Bush of Northwoods, along with Katherine (Kat) Bruckner of St. Louis on the Democratic side.

Two Republicans also filed for the seat: Winnie Heartstrong of St. Louis and Anthony Rogers of St. Louis.

Libertarian Alex Furman also filed to challenge Clay.

Missouri governor

Incumbent Gov. Mike Parson filed for election and will face three Republican challengers: Raleigh Ritter of Seneca, James W. (Jim) Neely of Cameron and Saundra McDowell of Springfield, who previously ran for state auditor in 2018.

On the Democratic side, previously announced candidate Nicole Galloway, the state auditor, is running. She will face four Democratic opponents: Jimmie Matthews of St. Louis, Antoin Johnson of St. Louis, Eric Morrison of Kansas City and Robin John Daniel Van Quaethem of St. Louis.

Filing in other parties were Rik Combs of Lohman, Libertarian, and Jerome Howard Bauer of St. Louis, Green Party.

Missouri lieutenant governor

Incumbent Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, who was appointed to the seat when Parson was elevated to governor following the resignation of Gov. Eric Greitens, filed for election. He will face three GOP challengers: Arnie C. AC Dienoff of OFallon, Aaron T. Wisdom of Williamsburg and Mike Carter of St. Charles.

Missouri treasurer

Incumbent Scott Fitzpatrick of Cassville filed to run as a Republican, along with former Rep. Vicki Lorenz Englund of Sunset Hills, who filed as a Democrat. Nick Kasoff of Ferguson filed as a Libertarian, and Joseph Civettini of St. Louis filed for the Green Party.

Representing the Democrats, Gregory Upchurch of St. Charles and Alissia Canady of Kansas City will face each other in August.

Also filing were Bill Slantz of St. Charles as a Libertarian and Kelley Dragoo of Kansas City for the Green Party.

Missouri attorney general

Incumbent Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed for election. He took over the position when Attorney General Josh Hawley was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, after serving as state treasurer.

Schmitt, of Kirkwood, faces no opposition for the position from the GOP. Democrats Rich Finneran and Elad Gross of St. Louis filed to challenge him. Libertarian Kevin Babcock of St. Louis also filed.

Missouri secretary of state

For secretary of state, incumbent Jay Ashcroft filed for re-election. He will face Democrat Yinka Faleti of St. Louis, Libertarian Carl Herman Freese of Foristell, the Green Partys Paul Lehmann of Fayette and the Constitution Partys Paul Venable of Moberly.

Other open seats on St. Louis County Council

Also filing in February for the County Council were incumbents 2nd District Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway, D-Chesterfield, and 4th District Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray, D-Florissant.

In the 2nd District, where Dunaway just won in a special election in August, she will have a Democratic challenger in former Creve Coeur Mayor Barry Glantz.

The winner of the 2nd District Democratic primary will face Republican Jerry Bowen of Hazelwood, who filed on the last day.

The Libertarian running for the seat is Arnold J. Trembley.

In the 4th District, Gray will have two opponents for the Democratic primary. Hazelwood Board of Education President Mark Behlmann, also of Florissant, filed early to run against her, and Shalonda Webb of Florissant filed on the last day.

Filing on the Republican side was Curtis Faulkner. Libertarian Eric S. Harris will also compete in the race.

Committee members file across county

Republican and Democratic township committee members also filed for office, with offices split by gender and party as township committeewoman and committeeman.

In Concord Township, incumbent Republican Committeeman Heisse of Affton, who replaced former Committeeman Tony Pousosa when he moved out of the township, filed to serve again with no opposition.

For the same seat on the Democratic side, Otto Schoenberg III filed for Concord Democratic committeeman.

For Concord committeewoman, current Republican Committeewoman Casilda (Chris) Struckhoff of Concord filed again. On the Democratic side, Marilyn Beck of Affton, who is the legislative assistant to Dunaway and wife of Rep. Doug Beck, filed for committeewoman. Neither of the two committeewomen have any opposition.

In Gravois Township, Russell Dahmer of Grantwood Village filed to serve as the Republican committeeman. Steve Reed of Sunset Hills filed to run as the Democratic committeeman. Neither have any opposition in their seats.

On the committeewoman side in Gravois, Marjorie Dahmer of Grantwood Village filed to serve as the Republican committeewoman without any opposition. Kelly Kress filed to serve as the Democratic committeewoman, also without opposition.

In the Lemay Township, no one filed for Republican committeeman. Mike Owen of Lemay filed to serve as the Democratic committeeman, without any opposition.

Current Lemay Township Republican Committeewoman Teresa Douglas filed to run again. For the Democrats, Diane Kasten filed as committeewoman.

In Oakville, longtime Republican Committeeman Kurt Witzel filed to run again with no opposition, and current Democratic Committeeman Bob Ford also filed again.

For committeewoman, incumbent Celeste Witzel who is married to Kurt Witzel filed to run again with no opposition.

Former Rep. Joan Barry filed early to serve as the Oakville Township Democratic committeewoman, with no opposition either. She also currently holds the position and serves on the St. Louis County Library Board of Directors.

Former Mehlville Board of Education member Matt Chellis of Concord filed to serve as the Tesson Ferry Township Republican committeeman. The office is currently held by longtime Committeeman John Judd. Chellis has no opposition.

For the Democrats, Thomas Madden of Concord filed as committeeman in Tesson Ferry.

Incumbent Republican Committeeman Christine Hessel of Concord also filed to serve again as the Tesson Ferry committeewoman, with no one opposed.

Laura Metz of Concord filed to serve as Tesson Ferry Democratic committeewoman, with no one opposed.

Other committee races elsewhere in St. Louis County also feature familiar notable officials and candidates.

Gray filed for Ferguson Township committeewoman on the Democratic side, challenged by Teona McGhaw Boure for the position.

Councilman Mark Harder, R-Ballwin, filed unopposed as Republican committeeman for the Lafayette Township.

Councilman Tim Fitch, R-Fenton, filed to serve as the Republican Meramec Township committeeman, a position he held before he was elected to the council. He is unopposed.

Fitchs campaign manager Rene Artman of Fenton filed to serve as the Meramec Township Republican committeewoman, unopposed.

St. Louis County NAACP President John Bowman filed as the Normandy Township Democratic committeeman, unopposed.

Former Rep. Margo McNeil of Florissant filed unopposed as the Northwest Township Democratic committeewoman.

So far, one of the few contested committee races countywide will happen in the race for Norwood Township Democratic committeeman.

So far, former Berkeley Mayor Theodore Ted Hoskins, Elbert Walton Jr. and Terry Wilson have all filed for that office.

Grays former legislative assistant and current county employee Tony Weaver of Florissant filed unopposed as the Spanish Lake Township committeeman on the Democratic side. His wife, Linda Reed Weaver, filed in the same township on the Democratic side and will face Gwendolyn (Gwen) Reed of Florissant.

Frequent county executive candidate Brown filed unopposed to serve as the St. Ferdinand Township Libertarian committeeman.

Former 1st District Councilwoman Hazel Erby, D-University City, who currently serves as one of the heads of the countys diversity initiatives, filed unopposed for University City Township Democratic committeewoman. Also in University City, activist Zaki Baruti filed to serve as the Green Party committeeman.

Harders legislative assistant Anne Gassel of Ballwin filed to serve as the Wild Horse Township Republican committeewoman, unopposed.

See original here:
Page, Trakas file to run again; both will have three challengers - Call Newspapers

Read: How the pandemic will end

Alternatives to originalism have always existed on the right, loosely defined. One is libertarian (or classical liberal) constitutionalism, which emphasizes principles of individual freedom that are often in uneasy tension with the Constitutions original meaning and the founding generations norms. The founding era was hardly libertarian on a number of fronts that loom large today, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion; consider that in 1811, the New York courts, in an opinion written by the influential early jurist Chancellor James Kent, upheld a conviction for blasphemy against Jesus Christ as an offense against the public peace and morals. Another alternative is Burkean traditionalism, which tries to slow the pace of legal innovation. Here, too, the difference with originalism is clear, because originalism is sometimes revolutionary; consider the Courts originalist opinion declaring a constitutional right to own guns, a startling break with the Courts long-standing precedents.

These alternatives still have scattered adherents, but originalism has prevailed, mainly because it has met the political and rhetorical needs of legal conservatives struggling against an overwhelmingly left-liberal legal culture. The theory of originalism, initially developed in the 1970s and 80s, enjoyed its initial growth because it helped legal conservatives survive and even flourish in a hostile environment, all without fundamentally challenging the premises of the legal liberalism that dominated both the courts and the academy. It enabled conservatives to oppose constitutional innovations by the Warren and Burger Courts, appealing over the heads of the justices to the putative true meaning of the Constitution itself. When, in recent years, legal conservatism has won the upper hand in the Court and then in the judiciary generally, originalism was the natural coordinating point for a creed, something to which potential nominees could pledge fidelity.

But circumstances have now changed. The hostile environment that made originalism a useful rhetorical and political expedient is now gone. Outside the legal academy, at least, legal conservatism is no longer besieged. If President Donald Trump is reelected, some version of legal conservatism will become the laws animating spirit for a generation or more; and even if he is not, the reconstruction of the judiciary has proceeded far enough that legal conservatism will remain a potent force, not a beleaguered and eccentric view.

Assured of this, conservatives ought to turn their attention to developing new and more robust alternatives to both originalism and left-liberal constitutionalism. It is now possible to imagine a substantive moral constitutionalism that, although not enslaved to the original meaning of the Constitution, is also liberated from the left-liberals overarching sacramental narrative, the relentless expansion of individualistic autonomy. Alternatively, in a formulation I prefer, one can imagine an illiberal legalism that is not conservative at all, insofar as standard conservatism is content to play defensively within the procedural rules of the liberal order.

Original post:
Beyond Originalism - The Atlantic

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The coronavirus pandemic is now so sprawling that it has revealed the souls of tens of thousands of individuals, from remarkably kind nurses to online sellers seeking to corner the market for hand sanitizers (until finally deciding to donate them). One saga that we should not soon forget involves Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky. On March 16th, out of an abundance of caution, he said, he got an early test. For a week, while waiting for the results, he kept circulating in public, continuing his work on Capitol Hill (where he lambasted and then voted against a bill that would have offered free tests to all Americans), and even working out in the Senate gym and swimming in the Senate pool. The test results came back positive, and Paul then went into self-quarantine.

The reason to focus on this story is not to suggest that Paul is a selfish jerk; he is a medical doctor, for heavens sake. Its because he is the foremost representative of libertarian philosophy in our nations Capitol, and that philosophy has helped produce the world we live in: one in which we struggle to solve both the coronavirus pandemic and the larger climate crisis. Last week, I tried to show how those crises were linked through the variable of time; this week, its social trust thats the issue.

Ayn Rand and her novelsone of which, Atlas Shrugged, was once, according to a survey for the Library of Congress, the second-most influential book in the country helped get this ball rolling. Rands novels are worth thinking about, because theyve shaped the thinking of American leaders since the Reagan era, when Rands acolyte Alan Greenspan became the most powerful economic figure on the planet. This view of the worldthat government is the problem, that we should free individuals and corporations from its clutcheshas made it all but impossible to address global warming. The Koch brothers, for instance, came directly from this milieu; it was after the late David Koch failed in his Vice-Presidential bid on the Libertarian Party ticket, in 1980, that he and his older brother Charles became two of the G.O.P.s biggest funders. Since they were among Americas biggest oil and gas barons, it was no wonder that they opposed restrictions on the fossil-fuel industry, but it wasnt just self-interest: the government action necessary to tackle climate change is incompatible with their belief system. The right-wing syllogism became, I think, the following:

Markets solve all problems.Markets arent solving global warming.Q.E.D.: Global warming is not a problem.

Thats not logical, but it is comforting if youve committed to the basic idea that, as Ronald Reagan once put it, The nine most terrifying words in the English language are Im from the government and Im here to help. But, of course, thats nowhere near the scariest sentence. Try: The hillside behind town is on fire. The subway system is flooded. Your test came back positive. There are no ventilators.

Old impulses die hard. Donald Trumpwho once described himself as a fan of Rands and her book The Fountainhead because it relates to business (and) beauty (and) life and inner emotions. That book relates to... everythinghas been using the pandemic to, among other things, drastically relax what environmental laws remain. Meanwhile, his economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC, I just think the private sector is going to solve this disease. As Charlie Baker, the governor of Massachusetts, said, when informed of Trumps desire to pack churches on Easter, Yeah. No. In fact, the countries dealing best with the coronavirus are precisely those with high levels of social trust: South Korea, for instance, where a comprehensive national health system made sure that no one had to worry about getting a test or paying for treatment. Or the Scandinavian nations, which a United Nations report released on March 20th said are in the best position to deal with such crises. Nations with higher levels of social trust and connections are more resilient in the face of natural disasters and economic crises, it concluded, because fixing rather than fighting becomes the order of the day. Its probably no accident that, in many ways, the Nordic nations also lead the climate fight, or that South Koreas ruling party proposed a sweeping Green New Deal to confront the economic slump that the virus left behind. Working together is what humans are actually built to do.

The fossil-fuel-divestment movement has been one of the most productive fronts in the fight against climate change for nearly a decade, growing into the largest campaign of its kind, with endowments and portfolios worth twelve trillion dollars pledging to sell their fossil-fuel stock. But some of this countrys richest universities, including Yale and Harvard, have declined to join, despite votes showing students and faculty overwhelmingly in favor of divestment. So some Harvard students and alumni started a group called Harvard Forward, which, with a petition drive, managed to get five climate-focussed candidates on the ballot in the universitys Board of Overseers elections, which alumni would have been able to vote in beginning this week. (Harvard announced on Tuesday that, because of the coronavirus, it would postpone the balloting until midsummer.) One of them is Thea Sebastian, who graduated from the college in 2008 and the law school in 2016, and is the policy counsel for an N.G.O. called the Civil Rights Corps, where she coordinates nationwide strategies to address race-based and wealth-based injustices in our criminal-legal system.

Harvard is filled with scholars studying the climate crisis. Why do you think the administration has been so unwilling to follow institutions around the world and divest from fossil fuels?

Harvard has been an incredible leader on many issues, taking difficult stances that challenged accepted norms. Take, for example, our leadership on affirmative action. Take our stance on Dont Ask, Dont Tell.

Where our endowment is concerned, we havent shown this same courage. We only divested from apartheid after the moment had passed. And on climate change, were poised to do the same.

In my view, our reticence stems from a belief that investments and values are separable. If were doing good research and going carbon-neutral, we can make money however we want. Its the same bifurcationa line between profit and purposethat describes much of our economy.

The thing is, this bifurcation doesnt hold. Our investments are a crucial instrument of our values. Thats true both at Harvard and far, far beyond. We wont fix climate changeor solve structural inequitieswithout building an economy where companies act and invest responsibly. I want Harvard to lead this charge. And, in my view, that starts with divestment.

Much of your work is on civil rights and structural inequality. Harvard is as close to the center of the establishment as its possible to get. Can it really play a role in dismantling systems it helped build?

Visit link:
Working Together Is What Humans Are Built to Do: Social Trust Is Key to Stemming the Coronavirus Crisis - The New Yorker

"In this time of global pandemic," Harvard law professor and anti-liberal vanguardist Adrian Vermeule writes in the third paragraph of a much-discussed new Atlantic essay, "it has become clear that a just governing order must have ample power to cope with large-scale crises of public health and well-beingreading 'health' in many senses, not only literal and physical but also metaphorical and social." This aggrandizement of executive power, Vermeule posited, should be constitutionally lubrciated by "anilliberal legalismthat is not 'conservative' at all, insofar as standard conservatism is content to play defensively within the procedural rules of the liberal order."

Italicsand direct warninghis.

As viral fate would have it, Vermeule's philo-Falangist manifesto appeared just one day after the global poster-child for aspirationally illiberal conservatism, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn, was gifted by a parliament he already dominates the power to rule by decree, suspend elections indefinitely, and imprison journalists for up to five years for publishing fake news about the coronavirus.

Vermeule's vision of "ensur[ing] that the ruler has the power needed to rule well" was thus effectuated by the world leader who most embodies the new nationalism that's gaining steam on the intellectual right, in the United States and elsewhere. "You are thinkers, but we are doers," Orbn told a rapt audience two months ago at the National Conservatism Conference in Rome, where conservative intellectuals such as Rod Dreher and Yoram Hazony rubbed elbows with continental nationalists such as Marion Marechal. "Politics is about making decisions, gaining and keeping the trust of the nation, and getting the power and keeping the power."

Orbn, like Vermeuele and other American integralists, is saying the loud part loud. "Liberal democracyis over," he proclaimed in Rome, while swatting around softball how-do-you-do-it questions from former American Enterprise Institute president and Reagan administration official Chris DeMuth. "We need something new. We can call it illiberal, we can call it post-liberal, you can call it Christian democratic, whatever, but we need something new, because on that [former] basis we cannot provide good governance for the people. So we developed a new theory and a new approach: that is Christian democracy. And instead of liberal freedom we use Christian liberty."

The "liberalism" that this new right is fighting is not limited to woke progressivism, fond though they may be of detecting "cultural Marxists" in every bureaucracy, newspaper, and university. No, they mean very directly to smote "classical liberals" as well. Just as the rising left-populists of the Jeremy Corbyn or Sen. Bernie Sanders (IVt.) type despise "neoliberals," their equally rising right-wing counterparts condemn the market-fundamentalist and hyper-individualist shibboleths that for too long (in their view) held sway in the democratic West.

"The Court's jurisprudence on free speech, abortion, sexual liberties, and related matters will prove vulnerable under a regime of common-good constitutionalism," muses Vermeule, before shifting to a more pronounced Bane-like tone. "Theclaim, from the notorious joint opinion inPlanned Parenthood v. Casey, that each individual may 'define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life' should be not only rejected but stamped as abominable, beyond the realm of the acceptable forever after. So too should the libertarian assumptions central to free-speech law and free-speech ideologythat government is forbidden to judge the quality and moral worth of public speech, that 'one man's vulgarity is another's lyric,'and so onfall under the ax. Libertarian conceptions of property rights and economic rights will also have to go."

At some point it becomes wise to take self-declared enemies of liberalism at their word. More still when real-life politicians start acting out those power fantasies.

Sure enough, there has been no shortage this week of western news organizations sounding the alarm bell at right-wing nationalists exercising heightened powers to combat COVID-19 worldwide: Orbn in Hungary, Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Aleksandar Vui in Serbia, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. Usually these pieces come with observation that many of these leaders maintain close relationships with President Donald Trump.

But this is where the conventional narrative about creeping global corona-fascism begins to founder. Because do you know who else gets the Friend of Trump treatment about COVID-19 policy? Politicians, at here and abroad, who take the opposite approach to coronavirus crackdowns.

"In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, Trump's Close Ally, Dangerously Downplays the Coronavirus Risk," goes theNew Yorker headline this week. "How 2 Trump-loving governors are struggling amid the coronavirus crisis," runs today's offering at CNN. There are generally no such dot-connecting ideological/partisan exercises when the laissez-faire governmental responses come from populist lefties, as in Nicragua, Mexico, and (until recently) New York City.

Meanwhile, a whole commentary cottage industry has arisen over outraged non-conservatives urgently demanding that the president they despise wave the presidential wand to control the entire country's behavior. "It is time for a national lockdown," The New York Times editorialized last week. The longtime progressive website Common Dreams had a remarkable headline two days later: "As Trump Snubs Restrictions to Contain Coronavirus, New Poll Shows 3 in 4 Americans Back a National Lockdown."

As ever, it takes libertarians to bring up rights in the midst of a national freakout. "The president doesn't have constitutional authority to issue a national stay-at-home order, so please stop urging him to do so," one of his fiercest critics, Rep. Justin Amash (IMich.) tweeted today. "He can recommend, but he doesn't get to do whatever he wants, even in a crisis. That's the law. That's our Constitution. It exists to secure our rights."

Rights, shmights, says Vermeule.

"Elaborating on the common-good principle thatno constitutional right to refuse vaccinationexists, constitutional law will define in broad terms the authority of the state to protect the public's health and well-being, protecting the weak from pandemics and scourges of many kindsbiological, social, and economiceven when doing so requires overriding the selfish claims of individuals to private 'rights,'" he wrote.

It was heartening to see so many commentators, including a few fellow-traveler nationalists on the right, flag Vermeuele's manifesto as at the least wrongheaded and at the most frightening. But as the great libertarian legal advocate Timothy Sandefur and others have pointed out, utilitarian, will-to-power constitutionalism is a common feature in non-integrationalist legal academia as well.

And I am perhaps most alarmed by the critique that the anti-liberals get most right: that legal frameworks cannot long survive dislocating separations from the broader culture. Put more bluntly, in response to this deadly and terrifying virus, U.S. politicians are imposing, and Americans are accepting, a series of infringements on liberty more extensive and arbitrary than any I thought I'd see in my lifetime.

In order for liberalism's enemies to be bested, there needs to be a robust liberalism left to defend. Right now, whether in politics or intellectual life or our ongoing overlapping lockdowns, there is little momentum on the side of Team Enlightenment. And we're still nowhere close to the apex of dead bodies. As Keith E. Whittington concluded in his Volokh Conspiracy essay about Vermeuele, "Winter is coming."

See the article here:
Coronavirus Gives the Illiberal Right Fever Dreams of Power - Reason

Do you want to know which are Best Asus Routers brand? In addition to having a good VPN network to improve your online security and privacy, it is very important to have a good router at home, which is secure and offers good connectivity. ASUS routers always offer very good functionality and their signatures are the most secure right now.

ASUS routers are one of the best options right now to improve the quality of your local home network. You are going to notice a tremendous difference compared to the m * erd * routers installed by the telephone operators. You are going to take advantage of the 300MB, 400MB or 600MB installed in your fiber connection. Your WIFI connection will fly like never before. Forget about your interference problems.

The truth is that you have to reach a middle ground in quality, performance and price. Some are really expensive (you will not regret buying them) and others are more affordable. In any case, rest assured that you will not be worth paying your operator to install a new router of its own brand. Better buy one yourself and install it at home.

Best Asus Routers

They range from more than 300 euros to 60 euros. The most expensive models such as the ASUS RT-AC88U are perfect for gaming, while the ASUS RT-AC68U or ASUS RT-AC87U are perfect for greatly improving the routers provided by operators in US and in other countries.

-ASUS RT-AC88U AC3100 Dual-Band Gigabit Gaming Router (link aggregation, Aiprotection with TrendMicro, WTFast game accelerator, Nitro QAM)

-ASUS RT-AC87U Dual-Band AC2400 Wireless Router (Gigabit, Access Point Mode, 3G / 4G Dongle Support)

-ASUS RT-AC3200 AC3200 Tri-Band Wireless Router (Gigabit, Repeater, Access Point, USB 3.0, QoS)

-ASUS RT-AC68U AC1900 Dual-band Gigabit Wireless Router (Access Point, USB 3.0, Supports 3G / 4G)

-ASUS RT-AC1200G + Dual-Band AC1200 Gigabit Wireless Router (access point mode, triple VLAN, ASUS router application supported)

Best Asus RoutersModels to Use with VPN Networks or for Gaming:

1. Asus RT-AC5300 Router

The gaming router that we would recommend to everyone, and as it has excellent firmware, also to configure your VPN network throughout your home. The only downside is that it is somewhat expensive, and that the design may not like many, but I can assure you that it impresses. The WIFI signal goes through the thickest walls. Its kind of big and it only has a USB 3.0 port.

-Ultra-fast 4K / UHD resolution and fast file sharing

-Broadcom NitroQAM technology with up to 4334 Mbps

-44 antenna design with AiRadar technology to cover a larger area

-11ac: 2,167Mbps, 802.11n: 600Mbps

-4 x Gigabit Ethernet, 1 x WAN, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0

Asus RT-AC86U Routers

A perfect router for gaming and to connect to your VPN network. You can install a third-party firmware, but the one that comes from the factory is perfect to use with your VPN network. The connection speed will be magnificent and the extension of your WIFI network too. Its design is daring, and it costs to adapt to the firmware if you have not seen it before, but in the end it is worth it.

-AC2900 Dual Band Gaming Router

-AiMesh Compatible: Connect compatible ASUS routers and create a versatile all-home networked mesh Wi-Fi system

-Triple-VLAN functionality, compatible with your operators triple-play services (Internet, IP Voice and TV), offers automatic management of IP addresses, OpenVPN server and client

-Adaptive QoS and WTFast game accelerator for online gaming and 4K streaming without delay

-High-speed wireless connectivity: AC2900 speeds with NitroQAM technology to perform on the busiest home networks

-Expanded coverage area: High-performance antennas, ASUS AiRadar, and Range Boost help cover difficult areas, and MU-MIMO maximizes performance by connecting multiple devices

-Professional grade security: AiProtection with Trend Micro technology protects all connected devices

-Simple administration: configure and manage your device from the ASUS Router app

-5 x Gigabit LAN, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0

-11ac 1734 Mbps

Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000

Like the ASUS RT-AX88U, it supports the latest WIFI standard and has 8 WIFI antennas so that connectivity reaches your entire home. It also has a 2.5GBase-T port, Adaptive QoS to prioritize traffic and is perfect for use with VPN networks.

-High-speed Wi-Fi: 11000 Mbps

-Three ways to speed up games: speed up game traffic between your device and game server

-8 GHz quad-core CPU, and a 2.5GBase -T port

It is an expensive router, but if money is not an issue and you need the best of the best, then this router is perfect. If you are a game that needs the best connectivity, you can not hesitate to get this model.

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What Are The Best ASUS Routers in 2020? - The Libertarian Republic