RAWLS AND THE DEMS. I have no clue who in the Democratic Party is wandering around justifying their policies based on Rawlsian appeals, but if any such people do indeed exist, Linda Hirschman is right that they should probably stop. But I don't think they exist. References to Rawls are the sort of rhetorical approach I associate with libertarians more than actual political types. Democrats were fighting for an expanded social safety net and a more equal society before the 1971 publication of Rawls' A Theory of Justice, and they were fighting for much the same things, in much the same terms, after 1971. Indeed, Mike Tomasky's "Common Good" approach, which Hirschman identifies as an alternative to the tired Rawlsian rhetoric of yesteryear, is actually a throwback to rhetoric from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, something Mike acknowledges explicitly in his article. There's lots to criticize about Democrats, to be sure. But an over-reliance on on philosophical first principles just ain't on the list. --Ezra Klein
