Ideological Drift

[Mark Graber]

I'm not sure "ideological drift" is the right expression.  As Quentin
Skinner has noted, "the courses of action upon to any rational agent
must in part be determined by the range of principles which he can
profess with plausibility" (James Boyd White makes a similar point as
do I in my free speech book).  Thus, in seeking to publicly justify
their actions, all groups must rely heavily on the rhetorical moves
their society makes available.  Really new arguments don;t exist
(and if they did they would not be understood).  If one group makes
arguments that are successful, one is likely to see rival groups
claiming that those arguments, properly understood, really support
their cause. In this light I should note that one of my major themes
when I teach the critical race and feminist thought of the 1840s is
how much Elizabeth Cady Stanton and allies sound like Andrew Jackson
and how little like MacKinnon.

Mark A. Graber
mgraber at bss2.umd.edu