Revered as the "People's Attorney," Louis D. Brandeis concluded a
distinguished career by serving as an associate justice (1916-1939)
of the U.S. Supreme Court. Philippa Strum argues that
Brandeis--long recognized as a brilliant legal thinker and defender
of traditional civil liberties-was also an important political
theorist whose thought has become particularly relevant to the
present moment in American politics.
Brandeis, Strum shows, was appalled by the suffering and waste
of human potential brought on by industrialization, poverty, and a
government increasingly out of touch with its citizens. In
response, he developed a unique vision of a "worker's democracy"
based on an economically independent and well-educated citizenry
actively engaged in defining its own political destiny. She also
demonstrates that, while Brandeis's thinking formed the basis of
Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom," it went well beyond Wilsonian
Progressivism in its call for smaller governmental and economic
units such as worker-owned businesses and consumer
cooperatives.
Brandeis's political thought, Strum suggests, is especially
relevant to current debates over how large a role government should
play in resolving everything from unemployment and homelessness to
the crisis in health care. One of the few justices to support
Roosevelt's New Deal policies in the 1930s, he nevertheless
consistently criticized concentrated power in government (and in
corporations). He agreed that the government should provide its
citizens with some sort of "safety net," but at the same time
should empower people to find private solutions to their needs.
A half century later, Brandeis's political thought has much to
offer anyone engaged in the current debates pitting individualists
against communitarians and rights advocates against social welfare
critics.
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