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The Virtue Of Ordered Conflict: A Defense Of The Adversary System, David R. Barnhizer

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

My underlying thesis is that American society is in increasing danger of falling victim to the tendencies against which Hobbes warned, and that we need to understand and deal with the ultimate implications this holds for our political community. Otherwise, we risk ending up with a severe case of ideological balkanization that will undermine and weaken our social system. My concern is that we are well on the way to a state of ideological civil war. If we succumb further it will mean a political culture in which there is little real communication, but only destructive vilification, jockeying for political …