Does the 14th Amendment bar those who involved in the takeover of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, from holding office? Does that include the former president who incited behavior that has been punished by the courts as seditious conspiracy?
The legal questions apparently are going to be answered in Colorado. This note is a reminder that the philosophical questions were debated a couple of generations ago.
In theory, democracy is a form of government in which all voices must be heard and tolerated. But what about voices of political parties whose goals are to destroy the democracy? Must a democracy allow Nazi Party members to participate in elections? What about Communist Party members?
Nazis were out of fashion when I was in school, but Communists were not. Some interesting thinkers in America had been Communists during The Depression.
Should they be barred from holding security clearances? Should their views — current or former — bar them from teaching at universities? And aside from the rights of individuals, don’t universities have the right to find experts who can understand and teach and even sympathize with all political views?
One firebrand in the debate was Sidney Hook, who was still writing when I was in school. Here’s The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy summary of his views:
Hook sought to resolve this dilemma in a controversial book titled Heresy, Yes – Conspiracy, No. The line that Hook sought to draw was the granting of full cultural and political freedom to any heretical anti-democratic views. At the same time, if holders of such views were organized as a disciplined cadre which could represent a threat to national security or as a doctrinally controlled movement which could exercise coercive influence in a free marketplace of ideas, then the activities of such groups could be limited.
One version of this argument: It’s OK to talk about storming the Capitol and undoing reversing an election. It’s OK to believe that the world would be better if the U.S. Capitol were stormed and free elections were overturned by mobs. It’s not OK to do any of that.
The courts set the logic for this debate when they found some of the rioters guilty of seditious conspiracy. A protest or political demonstration would have been OK. But what happened Jan. 6, 2021 was a seditious conspiracy, a threat to the country.
• Sources: David Sidorsky and Robert Talisse, “Sidney Hook,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). It’s online here:
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