The decision to speak out publicly about the controversy at the Miller Center — a place I have cherished for more than a decade — has been a difficult one. But as this has grown into a national story, I wanted to make my views clear. /1
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I want to add to my comments to the Chronicle, because several partisan groups have been keen to position the opposition to the MC's decision to hire Trump official Marc Short as an issue of left vs. right or conservative vs. liberal. That’s exactly wrong. /2
The Miller Center has long been a place of thriving bipartisan partnerships and rigorous scholarship. My colleagues and I relish working across partisan and ideological lines. As a scholar of conservatism, I particularly value it. /3
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It should, then, be a worrisome sign to those who would dismiss this controversy as a matter of mere partisanship that so many people who thrive in such an environment see Short's hiring as a genuine institutional and moral crisis. /4
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It should clarify that this is not a rejection of bipartisanship, but rather a response to a violation of the norms of both the MC and UVA, both of which are dedicated to defending and promoting an open society. /5
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As political historians and presidential scholars, we at the Miller Center are well placed to observe that the Trump administration represents a significant rupture in American politics, a rejection of modern liberal democracy. /6
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The Trump administration is a powerfully illiberal force in the United States today. That is not a partisan judgment. It is an understanding of the administration shared across party and ideological lines. /7
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People who still view this primarily as a left-right or Republican-Democrat issue have not caught up to the true crisis of our day: The sides are no longer liberalism versus conservatism, but liberalism versus illiberalism. /8
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Hiring a high-level administration official fresh from the White House does far more to validate and normalize that illiberalism than it does to help us understand it. /9
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On those grounds, I oppose the appointment of someone who has, up until today, been a dedicated defender of the Trump administration and its values. /10
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I thus stand with the sentiments in this petition, which I have signed and encourage you to sign as well, if you agree and are a member of the UVA community: change.org/p/uva-communit 11/11
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