3-9-89 In what many commentators consider a major blow to the Bush administration, George [Herbert Walker] Bush’s nominee for defense secretary, John Tower, was rejected today by the United States Senate. The vote was fifty-three to forty-seven. Had the senators voted along party lines, it would have been fifty-five to forty-five against Tower. Three Democrats (Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, and Howell Heflin of Alabama) voted to confirm, while one Republican (Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas) voted to reject. For the past couple of days there has been debate on the floor of the Senate. I watched part of it on C-SPAN, the public-affairs network. Political junkie that I am, it was great. I saw ordinarily calm senators such as Robert Dole and George Mitchell raise their voices and make accusations. I saw old friends agree to disagree. I even saw personal criticism, especially when someone discussed confidential matters. You see, the FBI did a background check on Tower. Senators had access to the FBI file, but members of the press and public did not. So we can only speculate about what it contained. Some senators described it as “hearsay” and “innuendo”, while others announced that it was damaging and dispositive against Tower. I wonder who will be the new nominee. Bush has lost his first major fight with Congress.
I do a fair amount of complaining in these pages, so let me shift gears and express pure joy about today’s weather. It was warm, sunny, and dry—and for the first time in ages there was no wind. I’d love to get a day like this on a Sunday, when I ride my bike. Naturally, I thought of Tucson as I went about my business. Specifically, I thought of Tucson as an oasis in a desert of heat and drought. This was brought home to me during my trip from Tucson to College Station this past August, when I realized just how far Tucson is from other cities. Imagine a vast desert; then drop cities here and there. In each city, thousands of people gather to erect structures, roadways, and institutions. It becomes home to them. And if they live there long enough, they forget where they live. That’s precisely what happened to me. In part, it was because I drove in during the night with Mom and Jerry. We made our way across western New Mexico and Arizona at night, when all we could see were shapes against the horizon. The idea of an oasis has always attracted me—the thought of being surrounded by, and yet isolated from, danger. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed my weekly excursions by bike into the desert. It was my way of staying in touch with the earth, with nature, and with danger. Cities in other parts of the country do not give one this opportunity. Tucson does.
When Texas A & M University closed its doors on 6 February because of the ice storm, it “cost” me three classes. I decided to make only one of them up, the two-and-a-half-hour philosophy of law class. Today was the scheduled makeup day, and I was pleased with the student turnout. We discussed contract law this evening, using Jules Coleman’s discussion as the point of departure. First we examined Charles Fried’s theory of contract as promise; then we contrasted it to Anthony Kronman’s theory that contract law can serve distributive purposes. This led to a general discussion of distributive justice, which got the students riled up. They, like all of my other students, are vehemently opposed to the idea of redistributing wealth from one sector of society to another. In particular, they oppose affirmative-action programs such as quotas. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. As late as 1980, while at Wayne State University, I was a card-carrying libertarian who argued that individuals have a right to retain whatever they earn in the marketplace. I was utterly insensitive to the concerns of the downtrodden. So perhaps there’s hope for my students yet. Perhaps I planted a seed in their minds, a seed that will grow in years to come.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 