Best of the Transparent Hummingbird
Americans see constitutionalism as synonymous with liberal constitutionalism (the adjective would be superfluous to them) and constitutional law as being about the security of individual rights and freedoms against the state. (Americans never say “constitutional” without the next word being “rights” do they?) But to think that constitutionalism pivots on liberal values is surely misguided.
It’s not that I don’t myself prefer the autonomist, expressive values I identify myself as liberal, my world is — but I appreciate Singaporean-style communitarianism and ‘green light’ administrative law approach.
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can we not prioritise — American liberalism — And, why should it not be possible for us to prioritise education, economic development, social stability, and community welfare, healthcare, sensible taxation policy, public services,
It is difficult sometimes, when you step aside - to say — why are you lecturing us on liberalism, when we run our country in a better
– that is a way of reading cons that impoverises its meanings.
if they were synonymous, then nonconstitutionalist illberalism, but in fact — non liberal constittuionalims — effect limtis on comunity norms and instituions derive from communities how we frame our publci life
constitutionalism pvitos on liberal values. this is nonesen –
cosmopolital, autonomist, expresive but progressvisit
NL Constittuionalism L Constittuional L non-constitutionalism NL NC
Wherever people value some aspect of communal –
we should be able to — and I think to a great extent Singapore has — crafted these values into a constitutionalist structure — so that they have public status but do not infringe overly into
And it would be folish to divide up aainst — we have liberal and illiberal (or should i say non-liberal) elements I do not go as far as to say that the liberal state is a form of covert coercion — but how we create a framework for states to operate — – philosophical basis that any government needs to be constrained
and to use community and cultural values to constraint the state, rather than liberal ideals to constrained the
collectivist dangers — and, Singapore has had that tendency, up till the 90s. But To Americans, constitutionalism means liberal constitutionalism, which leaves no room other forms of constitutions– theocratic constitutions, for instance, (but not theocracies) - or more communitarian constitutions like Singapore’s. It’s misguided — we are not a tyranny, we are not even, come to that, authoritarian, as characterised by Western media, because that suggests we do not abide by the rule of law. We do, but we are more instrumentalist about law. We govern on the basis of rule BY law, if you will, if not entirely rule OF law.
Because really, Westerners (perhaps I only mean Americans) make such a fuss about voting and elections, but I don’t see that they have much trust in who they do elect. And really, what is the point of electing people to do things if you end up having to scrutinise what they do yourself?! I only have American politicians to compare them to, but on the whole I find Singaporean politicians satisfactory — yes, some (many) of them hold values and views that are very different from mine, some of them say stupid things that make you wonder about their EQ, but you understand that they are earnestly doing what they believe they should, by their own lights, and I have no sense that any of them are self-serving or self-glorifying. (This is completely what I’d enver think in America.)
This morning the lecturer spoke in passing about the Government White Paper on Shared Values — and skimming it I note the reiteration that those who govern should be ??, ??
To me that is a lot more
When people talk about Singapore and neo-Confucianism the detractors tend to reduce the argument to “what’s so good about a benevolent dictatorship”? But it seems to me that
it is not so much the alleged communitarianism (i think Westerners tend to read communitarian as synonymous with collectivist), it is not even that we
because it is absurd to say singapore does not abide by the rule of law — we are patently the –