Fitz File

            What I enjoy the most about reading Presidential biographies is the glimpse it provides into the lives of truly great people.  The United States has been an exceptional country from the moment of our inception in 1788.  The leaders of this country have been proud examples of hardworking, considerate, and intelligent individuals to match this exceptionalism.  On top of the hard powers of the office, the President also has incredible influence on the national mood and predominate values of the country.  Even in tiny ways, JFK was the first President to not wear a hat to his inauguration, and after, the national style for men lost the hat.  FDR said the office is “pre-eminently a place of moral leadership”, and when those holders do not live up to the moral responsibility, it tends to degrade the entire nation.  Unfortunately, this piece is about three Presidents who have had the most majo...

                    While I try to keep my posts factual and center the argument around introductions of policy, today I want to rant about morality. This inspiration came from two books I had finished this week, His Truth is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope by Jon Meacham, and Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America by Cody Keenan. While both are incredible stories in history of actions taken by an impassioned civil rights leader and inspired speech writer respectively, these books highlighted the continued moral struggle of America.  Their stories, battles, and beliefs are why I love this country.  Both stories made the fights of the past a framing device for the struggles of the present.  That we are fighting now was not an indictment of our society, but an ongoing symbol of the transforming America.  The struggle itself is the true representation: we are not perfect,...

          Chief Justice Marshall had laid out the foundations of the way in which we now treat sovereign Indian territories in the United States in an 1832 case, Worcester v. Georgia.  Shortly after, it was reported that President Andrew Jackson, in his known scorn for the Native American tribes, said “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!”  Jackson was confident the sovereignty of the tribes would never be solidified because the courts only had the ability to define and rule of laws, not enforce them.  This presidential outburst encapsulates an important and often overlooked point: courts only have as much power as the citizens give them.           The court system of the United States is often seen as the gold standard of the world.  Our lawyers, judges, and arbiters are often brought into other nations as they build their legal systems.  We have built a system that handles more...

          Former President Trump did not create the self-interest or isolationism sweeping the Republican party, he merely took advantage and exacerbated it.  Yet his attitude and mannerisms shined and even greater light on those that came before him.  Searching through the spotlights show two figures in particular, highlighting their greatest attribute: their compassion.  These past few months, as I finished law school, two biographies have truly touched my spirit: David L. Roll's George Marshall, and Ron Chernow's Grant.  Extracted from these tomes were two stories from the lives of George Marshall and Ulysses S. Grant that highlighted this unique trait.           In 1953, George Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  While this was met with some controversy, it is his speech which truly displayed his larger vision for the world, buttressed by compassion.  As Chief of Staff, and la...

               Cartoons may be silly, but often they host talented writers who can really turn a phrase.  Seeing the sudden and alarming uptick in Covid cases in Michigan brought back a memory from the early 2000s.  As Bender from Futurama speaks to a massive, galaxy-spanning entity on the morality of his recent destruction of an entire civilization living on his backside, the entity consoles him.  Concerned that he never knew how to effectively play god, the entity urged a “light touch”, saying “when you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”           The morality and inherent good-ness of humanity aside, the line reminds me of the principles of governing.  It is often a thankless job and a favorite punching bag of the conservative right and apathetic left alike.  Yet the very nature of essentially social maintenance is designed to prevent things from happe...

Reparations.  Even saying the word brings up strong feelings to both those who support and oppose the idea.  I have always thought reparations were a good idea in the United States for two reasons.  First, we are somewhat unique in the world of racial justice for our concerted effort to claim “there is no racial problem” or “maybe there was, but it’s over now”.  Second, we have the ability to make amends, so why wouldn’t we?  When discussing this idea, it is important to understand what reparations are, what they are meant to do, and what the actual proposal is.           Reparations are a catch-all term that is applied to government action to “make up” for past wrongs.  Similarly to general tort procedures in court, the remedy is designed to make the victim whole.  This could take the form of many different things, money, special treatment in some situation, an apology.  What is most important is the...

     Perhaps an addition to a previous post, The Application, Not the Idea, this post is a reflection on the shortcomings of privatization. There can be no doubt that for some systems in our society, privatization can be good and productive. Yet others are clearly best served by remaining in public hands. Systems that are unnecessarily privatized can lead to disasters and backlogs like we have all witnessed in Texas over the past week.      Both our country and the world have been well served with privatization. While it is debatable whether advancements would have ever come, had R&D remained in public hands, the current history is clear. Privatization has allowed for enormous advancements in public health, technology, industrialization, and market efficiencies. The very act of privatization incentivizes technological advancements, decreases in pricing to benefit the consumer, or a mix of the two. This results in more widespread prosperity, growth, jobs...