T. Main - Does Political Theory Matter For Policy Outcomes

North American Philosophical Publications
Does Political Theory Matter for Policy Outcomes? The Case of Homeless Policy in the 1980s Author(s): Thomas J. Main Source: Public Affairs Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr., 1997), pp. 183-201 Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of North American Philosophical Publications Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40435990 . Accessed: 23/04/2013 15:36
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Public Affairs Quarterly Volume11,Number 2, April1997
DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER FOR POLICY OUTCOMES? inthe1980s TheCase ofHomeless Policy
ThomasJ.Main
Introduction forpolicy outcomes?It is now no matter political theory forpoliticalscientists to arguethatideas matlongeruncommon to Americanpolicy ter in this sense. Several recentintroductions to the and have Madisonian, that, contrary pluralist, argued making about ideas of choice traditions behavior, political understanding public on policy effect whatis just and whatis good have an independent But theseanalysts outcomes.1 arguethatthesortsofideas thatmatter are atheoretical. Thus,one of themwrites: ordifferentiated. is There Mostsuchideasarenotvery complex ofdiagnosis from interofendsfrom no clearseparation means, orblame from from demonstrated ofassumptions facts, ventions, orcarefully itis notclearreasoning . . . Moreover, causaleffect. make Rather facts that ideasconvincing. andinterpreted developed in people'sminds illusanchored ideasseemto become through or connections andpictures, trative anecdotes, simple diagrams that nature define human and with broad common-sense ideologies socialresponsibility.2 convincing Developers of this"ideational"model have presented role in accountsof how such simple ideas can play an independent eduin such areas as taxation, immigration, shapingpolicyoutcomes and publicorder. cation,pollution, thatnotjust politicalideas This essay will explorethepossibility I can shape policy outcomes.By politicaltheory butpoliticaltheory meancomplexsets of ideas thathave been long articulated by many for human life. As opposed onwhat collective thinkers implies philosophy 183
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to "ideas," theory and theuse of clear reasoning represents precisely carefulinterpretation to breakthrough anecdoteand commonsense and to arriveat an accountof politicsderivedfrom themostfundamentalrealitiesof theworld. I broachhereis as follows:Publicideas can have The argument that to social movemodelpoint sources. many Developersoftheideational and the social of communities academic scientists, professions, ments, arand in whichpublic ideas are conceived as forums bureaucracies and the media thenfurther ticulated.Policy entrepreneurs simplify is howthey which topoliticalactors, them theseideas and disseminate source another have an impacton policy.Thereis, however, potential This sourceis poof public ideas thathas so farnotbeen considered. litical theory,which, again, is complex sets of ideas with long in whichpolitical forums traditions. To be sure, the contemporary - almost exclusivelyuniversity of departments theoryis developed the transmission access to much less have and politics philosophy and media thatgive some ideas theopbelts of policy entrepreneurs And to further, precisely political theory, portunity impactpolicy. fundamental ofpoliticsfrom itsaccount to derive becauseittries philowith thosegenerated ideas that, compared generates sophicalrealities, to have anyrelevanceforpolicy. by othersources,are too abstract thatcan facilihas othercharacteristics However,politicaltheory of is a tradition tateitsuse as a sourceofpublicideas. Politicaltheory the eduin of a it As such occupies position centrality greatantiquity. of the liberally-educated cation and culturalreferences public that or theeconomicsof taxaorganization disciplinessuch as industrial tioncould neverfill. Political actorswho wish,forwhatever reason, to such a claim can make on ideas that to base their centrality, praxis will findthemin political to a connection withfundamental truths, or rather administration than policyanalysis.And there theory public wishto base are some potentially important politicalactorsthatoften of the ideas. "Public intellectuals" theiraction on such fundamental sortonce associated withPartisanReviewand the New Yorkschool discussedhere are to the history are one such group.More relevant activists. movements and "radical" religious self-consciously political such group The "New Left"of the 1960s was an exampleof thefirst are examples fundamentalists and perhapsright-wing contemporary of thesecond. as a sourceof public To fullydevelop thecase forpoliticaltheory would take an on and therefore as influence ideas, policy outcomes, I want to sketch is availablehere.Forthepresent muchmorespace than a case history of a recentpolicy debate in whichideas thatwere consciouslyin thecase of at least some crucialactors derivedfrom
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had an important influence on theoutcome. The policy politicaltheory debate is thatover homelessnessduringthe 1980s. The public idea thatplayed a crucialrole in thisdebate was thattheapparently dysin fact therefore of be and functional and destitute free, radically may in thestruggle forpoliticalfreedom. The tradition crucialimportance from whichthisidea derivesis thatdescribedby of politicaltheory idea The impactthatthistheory-derived as Kantian Left."3 Yack "the That is, the had on policyoutcomeswas real butlargelyunfortunate. thatunderstood homelessnessin these radical religiouscommunity forCreativeNonviolence(CCNV) and other the Community terms, wereled to adoptpolititheir that embraced activist approach, groups cal tactics that in the shorttermadvanced, but in the long term efforts to influence their frustrated, publicpolicies of concernto the from of thismaterial is different homeless.Finally,myorganization mentioned above in assessingthe thatused by thepoliticalscientists chronicleconinfluence of ideas forpolicy outcomes.These writers look for and in debates pointswherea greatdetail, temporary policy in but not terms of is behavior actor's interests, explicable principle that forgranted of held ideas. Here,I am almosttaking onlyin terms had heldabouthomelessness theideas that activists, CCNV, and other that an impacton policy outcomes.I am concernedto demonstrate a potentheir keyidea of thehomelessas radicallyfreeand therefore and was roots in had force political theory deep tially liberating in theoretical that from least derived(at points by some) consciously is devotednotto the detail of Most of thisessay,therfore, tradition. the thepolicy debate of the 1980s, but to the left-Kantian tradition, role thatthe idea of radical poverty played in it, and how this idea the behaviorof CCNV reallywas knownto and reallydid influence was to orientation ofthis theoretical theimpact I argue that activists. other in debates.4 the Homeless" of and Fall Rise "The hasten policy The Theoretical Tradition of Extreme Poverty as Radical Freedom with extreme ofpoliticaltheory The keyinstances poverty equating saints of are Rousseau's savages, the self-denying radical freedom ofMarx,the"unemployed theimpoverished proletariate Schopenhauer, monks of Marcuse,and themendicant underclass and unemployable" or otherwise lives that homeless the In all these Merton. ofThomas cases, This tradition as radically destitute liberating. peoplelive areinterpreted on the ofCCNV andhadan impact tothefounders was known ofthought But before homelessness. to in which terms tracing sought legitimate they debates. itin contemporary we woulddo wellto anchor thistradition,
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liberalism'5 The communitarian that'deontological gives argument is very withindividuality an accountof moralfreedom incompatible runsas follows:In Kant,thejust familiar. theargument Verybriefly, the man asks whathe oughtto do if he were to view theworldfrom of is which he in of the noumenal world, stripped "every perspective is that accidentaladvantage"(as Schopenhauer putsit). The argument no self wheneveryaccidentaladvantageis stripped remains, away, is trapped, and our moral freedom powerless,in a purelynoumenal to Sandel, Rawls, in his accountof people behind sphere.According falls intothistrap. theveil of ignorance, to let full moralfreedom Kant and Rawls are content stayin the and to arveil of ignorance, noumenalrealm,or behinda theoretical Another know. we need to all and is all we know, suchfreedom gue that response to the gulf deontological liberalism posits between the world and thephenomenal, noumenalrealmof freedom, determined, and mustbe overcome."6 of theindividualis that"...it is intolerable whose projecthas Such is indeedthemove of left-Kantian thinkers, that"...Kant is wrongin to demonstrate been describedas an effort or act as a forcein the itself cannotmanifest thatourfreedom arguing world."7 phenomenal oftheKantian-left Kant,with thetradition beginsbefore Actually, afof Kant's precursor thewritings Rousseau,continues immediately Marx and and runsthrough of Kant's thought, terthe dissemination left and up to the present.Characteristically, the criticaltheorists, and of individual involvesa radicaldevaluation Kantianism efficacy, or disof certain a reinterpretation typesofpersonaldysfunctionality forthe general or at least prerequisites tressas a kindof liberation, of mankind. liberation andthedeveltheendofthestateofnature, In Rousseau,onlywith and themselves do menbeginto differentiate of civil society, opment as individuals: become aware of themselves more sociable.. . . Each to become racecontinued [The]human them tolookathim; others andwanting atthe publooking began whowerethe to those andit went lic esteem cametobe valued, the stronorhandsome, most beautiful the ordancers, bestsingers orthemost themost dexterous, eloquent.8 gest, and ". . . arose vanity of individuation But, withthedevelopment on theone hand,and shameand envyon theother."9 contempt orassuagetheir Men developedtheneedsto stoketheir envy, vanity and each other: on property and so became dependent his beenfreeand independent, manhad previously [W]hereas toallofnature, him insubjection now ofnew needs multitude placed

he men.... If he was rich, to his fellow so to speak,andespecially he neededtheir ifhe was poor, neededtheir services, help. . .10
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Thus as an individualin civil society,man is unfree.What possibility does he have of achieving freedom?Indeed, he would have none, were it not for the fact thateven when all his individuatingcharacteristics are strippedaway- or ratherbefore such individuatingcharacteristics as "wit, beauty, strength,skill, merit, and talent"11 were even conceived of- man exists as a free,and on balance positive, creature,the "noble savage." In the state of nature the savage enjoys the freedom that is lost upon the development of society. Of course, the savage's freedomis dependenton his lack of self-awareness and of any possessions, which specifically includes homelessness: manhadno houses, in that state that The factis, however, primitive he of anykind,so thateveryone huts,or property sleptwherever happenedto be and seldom stayedin the same place morethan one night.12 But these privations are not nearly so bad as one mightthink: forthoseprimitive no greatmisfortune It is therefore men,and no greatobstacle to theirsurvivalthattheygo naked, certainly that we considerso have no houses,and lack all theuseless things or a man who made clothing it is clear thatthefirst necessary.... which for himself with wasproviding himself for something dwelling . . . 13 ittillthen. little he hadvery need,sincehe haddonewithout Rousseau's point is not that we should returnto savagery, but that because we are able to trace our origins to a free,equal, and harmonious state of nature, all bondage, inequality, and strife lack any justificationin natureand are the productof social conventionalone.14 Thus it is vital to Rousseau's hopes for human liberation that savage life be at least not much worse, on balance, than social life, otherwise the freedom of the savage state could not serve as a standard against which to judge the usurpations of civil society. And indeed, Rousseau vigorously denies thatthe naked, ignorant,solitary,and homeless life of the savage is on balance much worse than life in civil society.15 Thus in Rousseau, we have the firstdepiction in political theory of the homeless man as free,and of homelessness, under certain circumstances, as something not only positive, but vital to the process of human liberation. Rousseau's dichotomybetween man in the free,unindividuatedstate of nature,and in the unfree,inegalitarian realm of civil society is reformulatedand expanded by Kant into the dichotomybetween man as of the noumenalrealm beyond necessityand individuality, an inhabitant
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Unlike andmanas an individual in thedetermined world ofphenomena. withforever to let man's freedom remain Rousseau, Kant is content out manifestation in the phenomenal world. But, again, the even left-Kantians took as theircause the achievingof truefreedom in thisworld. of thisaspectof left-Kantian The first clear manifestation thought as a left-Kantian can be understood is Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer because he triesto overcomethe dualityof the Kantiansystemand manifestation thatthereis an "immediate demonstrate properof the In the course of so of the will even in the phenomenon."16 freedom of of theindividual thebodyas thephenomenon doing,he designates accidental of The stripping whichthewill is thenoumena. away every involvesbodily in thisworldtherefore to achieveautonomy advantage saint Thejust manis a mendicant deterioration andphysicalsuffering. who practices: andofall kinfolk; ofevery deep [T]heforsaking dwelling-place with in silent solitude unbroken voluntary contemplation spent mortificafor thecomplete slowself-torture andterrible penance tionofthewill.. . ,17 the Kantiandichotomies, In short,in the course of overcoming like a homelessbegdepictsthejust manas something Schopenhauer gar, althougha saintlyhomelessbeggarto be sure. Once again, the liberalthought indeontological freedom andindividuality gulfbetween is breached by positing a radically eviscerated, and therefore individual as a positivestateof being. homelessness, to Yack, as a left-Kantian. Marx can also be understood According "Marx's indignation at labour'sbeingreducedto a meansof securing the wherewithalto satisfyphysical needs registershis residual overtones because itposhas Kantian This indignation Kantianism."18 its a dichotomy betweenthe "realmof necessity"and the "realmof ofhuto thenature freedom." The realmsare distinguished according manlabor within them: labor In fact, therealm of freedom onlywhere begins actually consideration and mundane whichis determined by necessity thesphere ofthings itliesbeyond inthevery nature ceases;thus ofactual material production.19 Undercapitalism, man's entire lifeis givenoverto the"sphereof above and actualmaterial for whatever valuehe produces production," to keephimalive is expropriated beyondwhatis absolutely necessary intensias surplusvalue by the capitalist.As capitalistcompetition and the is expropriated, fies,moreand moreof theworker's production existence: worker a less andless satisfactory laborsharder andharder for

becomesall thepoorerthemorewealthhe produces, The worker increasesin powerandrange.The worker themorehisproduction he the more commodities becomes an ever cheapercommodity theincreasing value of theworldof things creates.With proceeds in directproportion to thedevaluationof theworldof men. . . . thatthe So muchdoes labor's realization appearas loss of reality to death.20 to thepointof starving worker looses reality
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The worker on the point of starving to death holds a position in Marx's politics of human liberation roughly analogous to that of the savage in Rousseau and the saint in Schopenhauer.But obviously,Marx is not recommendingthe lot of the impoverished worker,nor even romanticizing it. It must also be said thatwhile Rousseau's savages and Schopenhauer's saints are supposed to be radically free, the pauperized proletariateof Marx is radically unfreeunder capitalism. But the impoverished workerdoes representfor Marx the only hope of mankind for breaking out of the constraintsof capitalism, and realizing the realm of freedom in actual productive conditions under communism. The lot of the proletariate,for all the unvarnished misery with which Marx depicts it, is nonetheless a positive force in world history, as it does the seedbed of a radical liberatingmovement.21 representing Marx's account of the process of human liberation also displays Thus, the left-Kantiancharacteristicof identifyingan apparently radically distressed population as the champion of human emancipation in the realm of the conditioned world.22 The idea of radical freedom in extreme poverty continues in the workof Marcuse. In characteristicleft-Kantian fashion,Marcuse seeks to overcome the Kantian dualities and demonstratethatfreedomfrom determinationis possible in the phenomenal world of the individual. In Marcuse, the phenomenon of the individual is described in sociological, but nonetheless empirical, terms. Thus in Marcuse, "...such (individual) consciousness is an empirical one, which includes the supra-individual experience, ideas, aspirations, of particular social groups."23 But sociological phenomena, like all phenomena in a Kantian-based system,are entirelydetermined,and thereforeunfree: is determined towhich consciousness To thedegree bytheexigencies it is 'unfree';to the deof theestablishedsociety, and interests theconsciousness societyis irrational, greeto whichestablished becomes free for the higherhistoricalrationality only in the of the freedom The truth and the established society. against struggle in thisstruggle.24 andreason havetheir ground thinking negative What, thendo people who stripaway fromtheirconsciousness "the exigencies and interestsof the established society" to achieve the "the higher historical rationality,"look like? Marcuse describes them as follows:
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underneath theconservative base is thesubstratum However, popular oftheoutcasts andoutsiders, andpersecuted ofother theexploited races and othercolors, the unemployed and the unemployable. They exist outsidethedemocratic process;theirlife is themost and conditions intimate and mostreal need forendingintolerable even if their institutions. Thus theiroppositionis revolutionary consciousnessis not.25
In this and otherpassages, Marcuse produces a portraitof bearers of freedom in the conditioned world that looks remarkablylike what mainstreamsociety would consider to be a dysfunctionalor criminal homeless person.26 This is because Marcuse's left-Kantianismleads him to see in the underclass a liberating potential where most of us see only dysfunction. To see how the dilemmas of left-Kantianismwere reproduced in early discourse on homelessness we have to look at the history of CCNV. CCNV was foundedin 1970 by a Paulist priest,Edward Guinan. The idea that what appear to the rest of society as dysfunctionalities can in fact be a kind of spiritual fulcrumwith which to overturnthe established order was known to Guinan (who by the late 1960s was writinghis masters thesis in theology at St. Paul's College in Washington D.C.) through the later writings of Thomas Merton. Indeed Merton's theology of nonviolence was the subject of Guinan's neverto-be-finished mastersthesis. It was Mertonwho developed a theology of nonviolence thatincorporatedthe Marcusan concepts we have discussed above, and who therefore passed them on to CCNV's founder. Thomas Merton had become famous in 1948 when, as a young Trappist monk his autobiography,The Seven StoreyMountain, became an internationalbest seller. By the mid-1960s Merton, whose prose writing now centered on social criticism, had become disillusioned with the theological assumptions of The Seven Storey Mountain. "I was still dealing in a crude theology that I had learned as a novice, a clean-cut division between the natural and supernatural,God and the world, sacred and secular."27 From the early 1960s up until his death in 1968 Mertonstroveto develop a theologythatbroke withthe "cleancut divisions" thatclose spirituallife up in themonetary, and thatwould offera guide to how spiritually-centered action could make a difference on the worldlyproblems thathe dealt within his social criticism. The sources Merton drew on in developing his theology of nonviolence were very diverse. But towards the very end of his life, the writingsof Marcuse, especially One Dimensional Man, were particularly influential. Merton's late theology of nonviolence attemptedto turnwhat seems to be the povertyand weakness of monastic life into a liberating force. Merton does so by emphasizing the attributesthat
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- especiallytheir themonkshareswiththeLumpenproletariat and poverty the practice of begging and depictingthe monk as an apparentlymarginal force that nonetheless has revolutionary potential similar to Marcuse's underclass. Merton discusses what he saw as the theological implications of Marcuse's thoughtin the lecture, "Marxism and Monastic Perspectives." There Merton writes: is theworkof Herbert Marcuse,who mybackground Specifically in Neo-Marxist thinker student circles.And I is a veryinfluential himas a kind and brutally, thatI regard wouldadd, quitebluntly thinker. So if you wantedto be completely of monastic irresponon themonastic sible,you could say thisis a lecture implications moment.28 of Marcuseat thepresent Merton draws monastic implications fromthe seemingly unlikely source of Marcuse by identifyingthe monk with what Marcuse described as the political forces outside of society whose role was to bring about a transcendence of Nature. someonewho takesup a criticalattitude The Monkis essentially . . . [H]e musthave in some towardtheworldand its structures. of critical conclusionabout the some kind reached or other way validityof certainclaims made by secularsocietyand its structureswithregardto theend of man's existence.In otherwords, thatthe who says, in one way or another, themonkis somebody claims of theworldare fraudulent.29 But how is the monk to make any headway against the fraudulent claims of the world?Accordingto Merton,themonk's display of poverty and dependencewill bringabout a "change in man's consciousness."30 Begging is particularlyimportantin this respect: theo... theultimate bowl of theBuddharepresents The begging to beg,butin openness logical rootof thebeliefnotjust in a right of theinterdependence to thegiftsof all beingsas an expression thelaymanand of all beings. . . .Thus whenthemonkbegs from it is notas a selfishpersongetthelayman, receivesa giftfrom himself else. He is simply from somebody opening tingsomething in which thismutual in thisinterdependence, they interdependence, in illusiontogether, but all recognizethattheyall are immersed thatthe illusion is also an empiricalrealitythathas to be fully empiriaccepted,and thatin thisillusion,whichis nevertheless ifyoubutsee it. ... andit is all there, is present callyreal,nirvana ... is behindour monasticism I am just sayingthatsomewhere is someand transcendence thebelief thatthiskindof freedom how attainable.31 This passage resonates with many of the themes we have discussed above, and with those thatwould be developed by CCNV.
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Merton is tryingto place monks in the same ontological category as that of Schopenhauer's saints and Marcuse's Lumpenproletariat outsiders who seem weak or dysfunctional from the perspective of mainstreamlife, but who have the potential to transcendthatlife. And they have the potential to cause others to transcend that life. of Marcuse. The Here, Merton makes an importantreinterpretation praxis of Marcuse's outsiders is violent,32 whereas that of Merton's monks consists primarilyin a public display of their need. The layman confrontedwith the sight of the begging monk is to break free of "this illusion" and glimpse the radical freedom of nirvana. In other words, while Marcuse's underclass will rely on violence to enlighten mainstreamsociety, Merton's will achieve this end by making public their condition, throughbegging. Below we will see that in its practice of Merton's theology, CCNV found the transitionfromviolence to nonviolence to be not so clear cut. For example, Guinan wrote: "Non-violence is expressed in militant and confrontative ratherthanpassive terms."33And who is it thatis to in theirnonviolence? Guinan describes be militant and confrontative follows: of CCNV as the membership ... ... is constituted corecommunity The forty-person bychildren and former single politicized), (political prisoners couples,priests, and those who have brokenfromthe students workers, parents, Life in thesehousesis further in theprocessof liberation. streets whodeserted, fathers welfare of enriched the mothers, by presence and the poor,the men and womenreleased fromincarceration, of Washington.34 and sick lefthomelesson thestreets broken, If this self-descriptionmakes the membershipof CCNV sound like Lumpenproletariat, thatis because the membershipthoughtof themselves in nearlythose terms.An interviewwithGuinan in 1976 contains the following passage about CCNV: to be on a collision Here is a place wherethey believethemselves - notthe for 'in his the underclass with total Marx, contempt path thebodies thatare but thepeople lefton the streets, proletariat, seen as lumps,butnotpeople.' 'We refuseto sacrificea class of people,' says Guinan,'because theydo not have an organizing abilityor can be partof seizing poweror of even sensingtheir own dignity.'"35 Just so. Schopenhauer's saints, Marcuse's Lumpenproletariat, Merton's mendicant monks, and CCNV's homeless- and this is what - lack distinguishesthemfromKant's just man and Marx's proletarian a sense of dignity,a lack born of dependence and dysfunctionality. forthe purposes of this essay is that And what is especially important
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thepoliticalethicthathas its rootsin thistheoretical tradition, sysat least in lack of dignity as a positiveattribute, tematically presents forall of society. thesense thatit has liberating potential Homeless Policy in the 1980s ofCCNV passed theunofficial As the1970s progressed, leadership Guinanto MitchSnyder.Rader quotes a contemporary from judgein 1974: "'Guinan was toughbut mentof thetwo men's relationship hadchutzpa Bothweretakecharge people.Attimes, classy.Snyder this As observation be tense.'"36 could suggests, Snyderwas a things than more authentic Guinan, havingserved two Lumpenproletarian Before his for car theft. in federal arrest, Snyderhad prisons years of cashingbad checks,and, by his own account,had had a history A radicalembrace of a wifeand twochildren.37 his family abandoned a change in leadershipfromthatof a of the "underclass"brought and priestto thatof someonewitha morecheck"classy" theologian eredbackground. called "prophetic CCNV developedwhatthey politics,"whichdisof the same scenario the mutatis mutandis, extremely poor as plays, followtradition. The the left-Kantian runs free that through radically he of some months the describes in which period Snyder ingpassage, forthe of Washington, D.C., is important spentlivingon the streets of the"two separate, struck Kantianovertones parby its description and thehoused: allel realities"of thehomelessness exist. realities andunequal twoseparate, It is as though parallel, is alien of theworld therest ofus whoarehomeless, Forthose or noneofourconcerns onesshared The 'housed* andirrelevant. frusand their their and their fears, expectations priorities; hopes toourown.38 ornoresemblance borelittle trations of "two,separate, Now,notonlydoes CCNV's recognition parallel of a Kantiantone,butits call forthebreaking-down realities"strike all calls forovercoming resemblespast left-Kantian thatseparation dichotomies: whohaveno ourselves andthose We havebuilta wallbetween andit must comedown, heads.Thatwallmust placeto laytheir now.39 comedown And thatwall is overcomewhenthe images of the homelessbecomes visible to mainstream society.In Homelessnessin America, of theearly1980s,therole thehomeCCNV's influential publication less can play in liberating societyis describedas follows:
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thehomelesshas changedmarkedly toward [T]he public attitude mediahave in thepast year(i.e.: 1981). The pressand electronic allies in recentmonths, to be worthy dutifully provengenerally forthepublicscandalit is. ... theshameof thestreets depicting comes intoplay. One of themore a deeperfactor Here, I think, citiis theeagernessofordinary of thiseffort features impressive care couldn't that the zens to give lie to thedominant public myth to escape thenotionthat,in some small way, less. It is difficult thisgesture helps combatthepervasivealienationof thesecular sense thenumbing fearofnuclearannihilation, therecharged city, orken.40 one's control offorces atthemercy ofbeingutterly beyond
Thus when those who live in the reality of the housed are forced throughthe effortsof advocates and their media allies to confront the reality of homelessness, the housed break free of the "numbing sense of being utterlyat the mercy of forces beyond one's control" and the homeless are freed fromtheiroppressive need. In other words, social liberation is achieved when a radically deprived and apparentlydysfunctionalpopulation ceases to be relegated on the world of to a separate, powerless, sphere and makes its imprint mainstreamreality.Thus Rader's historyof Snyderand CCNV, reports that Snyder dares the housed: worldof thestinking [T]o decreasetheir personaldistancefrom in to It's a difficult admits, do, 'Everything Snyder thing poverty. yourbiologyis tellingyou to runin theoppositedirection.'But thespecCCNV believesthat once thesocial distanceis reduced, intoconcerned tatorswill be transformed actors,and thatis their ultimate goal. . . . ofpeople therecalling CCNV calls thisprocessprophetic politics, one values. Out of seculardistinctions, to theirdeepestspiritual returns to the commonhumanexperience, images as old as the Clothethenaked.ShelterthehomeFeed thehungry. scriptures. dramasfeed CCNV's prophetic less. Whyhas Americaforgotten? . . .41 routines than for a reality a hunger inAmerica everyday deeper Again, in this passage, we can see the left-Kantianresonances of CCNV's political ethic. To recognize a "reality deeper than everyday routines," one must overcome the cries of "everythingin your biology," and enter the "stinking world of poverty," whereby one "overcomes secular distinctions"and makes contact withthe "deepest spiritual values." CCNV's homeless resemble Marcuse's underclass more than the proletariateof Marx. While Marx expects theproletariateitselfto liberate society,CCNV regardsthe homeless, like Marcuse's underclass,as consciousnessis not."That is to say, even iftheir being ". . . revolutionary of in theprophetic politicsof CCNV, thehomeless lack theunderstanding
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an incursionupon mainstream how theworldworksnecessaryto perform society themselves. Their advocates do thatforthem.That advocates, not the homeless, will play the active role in narrowingthe distance between the realities of the homeless and the rest of society is apparent fromthe following description of a CCNV "performance": members to the and cameracrewsfollowCommunity Reporters the steamgratesbecause CCNV invitesthemthere.... At first a freakshow or walking audiencefeels detached,like watching of thehomeless a House of Horrors. Yes, theconditions through as he motions thecamerascloser are disgusting, agreesSnyder, all the matted the lice hair, climbing rags, you will see thefilthy over. The audience had always avertedits eyes afraidto really to a kneelsdownand mummers look. The camerastillsas Snyder youngman, takes offthe worntennisshoe coveringthe man's - one can see infected sores footto reveal dozens of ulcerated, man thepuss oozing.Whenthecameramovesup again,theyoung is smilingsweetlyat Snyder, askingfora smoke.Now beneath humanbeing; and they the freak,the audience sees a suffering witnessthe pain theydid not wish to feel. All of a sudden,the fresh areseenwith denialandone's pastindifference official eyes.42 The intrusionof a vision of pain into the mass media is supposed to free the audience of its indifference,and make them see the world afresh. But note that the homeless, though the vision of them is crucial, play a completely passive role in the performance.The media goes out to see the street-dwellersonly because "CCNV invites them there." Snyder directs the cameras, decides what will be shown, and how to most effectivelydisplay it. The advocate, in CCNV's politics, comes to displace the homeless almost altogether and take upon himself the role that other radically deprived groups have played in left-Kantianschema. We have noted how Schopenhauer's saints and Marx's workers come to the brink of starvation in fulfillingthe role as the champions of freedom in the world. In the prophetic politics of CCNV, the homeless are assumed to be starving,but their pain is not a liberating force, because they lack the ability to bringit to the attentionof the rest of society. Therefore the advocates for the homeless flirtwith starvation, and their is supposedly liberating,because it is calculated to force itsuffering self on the notice of the housed throughthe mass media. Snyder's use of self-imposed hunger as a tactic in his prophetic politics has been described as follows: kindof action,to themostdramatic CCNV's fastsare, perhaps, and thecura value between contradiction the spiritual highlight he is doingtheater. one to admit is thefirst . . . Snyder rent reality. ... He dressesand lives like a street person,He begs and yells,
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PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY he carries around thecremated ashesofa homeless he pours friend, blood on cathedral altersand praysin themiddleof thestreet and If theaudiencestilldoes notrespond, he starts starvgetsarrested. to death,always,always,in front of thecamera.43 ing himself
Snyder stripshimselfof "every accidental advantage" to overcome the "contradiction between a spiritual value and the currentreality." But in so doing, Snyderis hoping to achieve somethingthatthese other champions of freedomnever manage to achieve fullyin "currentreality," that is, an impact on policy outcomes. One CCNV member described the "success" of a fast that Snyder undertook in 1984 to obtain more funds for the homeless shelter the communityoperated, and that was publicized in a television report: The timing was crucial.Mitchwas in seriouscondition just when Minuteswas beingreleasedand all so close to theelections. Sixty If Mitchhad died and Sixty Minutes paintedhimlike a saint,how have looked?44 would theAdministration For a time, CCNV's propheticpolitics seemed to work. Snyder did manage to procure fromfederal officials a promise to make repairs on CCNV's shelter estimated to be worthbetween two and five million dollars.45 Coverage of the homeless issue by national media also went up dramatically over the course of the 1980s, and the causes of homelessness generally being attributedto structuralfactors. How much of this trendin media coverage was the result of CCNV's activities in particular is impossible to say, although advocacy groups, including CCNV, did receive frequentand generally positive coverage, with the homeless themselves generally being portrayed in a positive light, and their personal problems rarely being marked as causes of homelessness.46 However, the 1984 hungerstrikeappears to have been thehigh water mark of CCNV's influence. Immediately after the strike, questions in the arose as to how farsuch tactics could be pushed. A commentary WashingtonPost representedthe most negative press coverage CCNV had received in a long time: Unless societystopscelebrating withdeath, Snyder'sflirtations there'salwaysthethreat of another strike overissues that hunger thistactic simplyaren'tworth dyingfor.. . . Eventually, though, will pall and Snyder will have to findother our waysof grabbing attention. Whatis CCNV to do foran encore. . .?4? returns of CCNV's tactics,therewas a probBeyond the diminishing lem with its leadership. As we have seen, CCNV openly boasted of the "disreputable" background of its followers, which was seen as a sign of their liberating potential. It was inevitable that in an organization
197
with members conventional and that excluded deliberately management of the earth,"and inpoliticalexperience, soughtout the "wretched that"In the process of liberation sisted of its morestable members that leaders must change. . . ourveryidentity,"48 everything potential out.In short, CCNV's veryorganizaof anycharacter wouldbe sifted toprophetic tionandcommitment politics helped"theworst geton top." no means "the worst" in the sense of being was by ThoughSnyder unstable.In he does seem to have been rather dishonest,49 criminally to discuss political strategy, wherea the midstof a CCNV meeting to amend or in the view the D.C. Council to "gut" response plansby - thedistrict's to law shelter was oftheadvocates discussed, right being monastery plans to takea sabbaticalin a Trappist Snyderannounced of fasting, in Virginia,wherethe monks,". . . adhereto a regimen such a decisionwas silence,and manuallabor . . ."50In and of itself, butcomingas it did unexpecta signof anything problematic, hardly edly in themidstof whatCCNV consideredto be a crucial political confused. it leftmanyin theorganization's membership struggle, indeed vote to D.C. Council did after the On July 5, 1990, shortly was found shelter amendthedistrict's law, Snyder hangedin his beda failedrelationship, A suicidenotelamented roomattheCCNV shelter. over thatSnyder'sdespondence maintained CCNV members although A leaderless theCouncil'svotemayhaveplayeda rolein thesuicide.51 law. theCouncil'srepealof theright-to-shelter CCNV was leftto fight in a balthe Council's voters and not successful were repeal upheld They to hadadopted measures discourage lotinitiative. By 1996atleast42 cities outofdesirable andto prodthehomeless neighborhoods.52 vagrancy Conclusion and destitute Did the idea thatthe dependent may be a forcefor have an impacton homeless policy? The cases of radical freedom worked citiesin whichhomelessactivists D.C. and other Washington, in of the activists It it did. painstrategy pushing encouraged suggests homelessbeforethepublic withthe ful images of the dysfunctional expectationthat the public's view of povertywould be radically changed.The muchmoreplausible scenario,thatthehomelesswere unlikely to engage public sympathyover the long term, that and that wouldcome to be seen as undeservingness, dysfunctionality not was considthan limited rather be then extended, publicaid would whichdid in fact ered.The questionis whythismorelikelyoutcome, The answeris thatadvocatesforthe was notanticipated? materialize, radicaland/or at leastmore homeless, amongthem, religiously-oriented want idea thatextreme counterintuitive werein thegripof thehighly
198
could be a liberating common force.The idea was farfrom sense,but it did seemdescendedfrom tradition. a venerable anddeep theoretical Here thenis an example of theory being the source of an idea that in thesense thatit foiled mattered butmattered forpolicy outcomes, rather thanadvancedits advocatesaims. can be the The conclusionto be drawnfrom thisis notthattheory sourceof publicideas, butonlybad publicideas. We have considered The important hereonlyone rather unusualcase history. pointis that in policy outcomes.Futureresearchshould consider matters theory how and whenit can matter forthegood.
NOTES
View 1. See, for PublicPolicy:A Hopeful Steven Kelman, Making example, B. Robert York: Basic Government American Books, 1987), p. 248; (New of Harvard Massachusetts: ThePowerofPublicIdeas (Cambridge, Reich,editor, The A. Levin,editors, Press,1988),p. 3; MarcK. LandyandMartin University The Johns NewPoliticsofPublicPolicy(Baltimore: Press, University Hopkins 1995),pp. 291-293. 2. MarkH. Moore,"WhatSortof Ideas BecomePublicIdeas?,"in Reich, J. ThePowerofPublicIdeas,p. 79. Thispassageis cited byTimothy approvingly ModelsandPolitical T. Wrightson, David R. Bean,andMargaret Conlan, "Policy in LandyandLevin,editors, from thePassageofTax Reform," Change:Insights 133. TheNewPoliticsofPublicPolicy, p. of the KantianLeft,"in The 3. BernardYack, "The Social Discontent Sourcesof Social Discontent from Longing for Total Revolution: Philosophic ofCalifornia RousseautoMarxand Nietzsche California; University (Berkeley, Princeton New Jersey: Press, Press,1992 [first Princeton, University published, 1986]),pp. 89-132. TheWeekly 4. Andrew "TheRiseandFall oftheHomeless," Thomas, Peyton Standard, April8, 1996,pp. 27-31. 5. Michael J. Sandel, Liberalismand the Limitsof Justice(London: Press,1982),p. 1. Cambridge University 6. Yack, TheLonging forTotalRevolution, p. 100. 7. Ibid.,p. 106. 8. Jean Discourseon theOrigin and Basis ofInequality Rousseau, Jacques The Essential Rousseau AmongMen, in Lowell Bair, editorand translator, (New York:Penguin Books,Meridian, 1975),p. 187. 9. Ibid.,p. 178. 10. Ibid.,p. 183. 11. Ibid.,p. 183.

12. Ibid.,p. 157. 13. Ibid.,pp. 151-152. 14. Ibid.,pp. 200-201. 15. Ibid.,p. 162.
199
Translated 7/jeWorld as WillandRepresentation, 16. Arthur Schopenhauer, 1969),p. 388. (New York:DoverPublications, byE. F. J.Payne, 17. Ibid.,p. 388. 18. Ibid.,p. 292. 19. Karl Marx,Capital,Vol. Ill, in The Marx-Engles Reader,RobertC. & Company, editor 1972),p. 320. Tucker, (New York:W.W.Norton andPhilosophic Economic 20. KarlMarx, Manuscripts of1844,in TheMarxin the 57-58. Reader, Tucker, editor, (Italics original.) pp. Engles in 21. KarlMarxand Frederick Party, of theCommunist Engles,Manifesto TheMarx-Engles editor, Tucker, Reader, p. 344. 22. Yack, TheLonging forTotalRevolution, p. 283. 23. HerbertMarcuse, One Dimensional Man, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1964), p. 208. 24. Ibid.,p. 222. 25. Ibid.,pp. 256-7. and Revolt Counterrevolution 26. Herbert Marcuse, (Boston:Beacon Press, 1972),pp. 46-47. 27. Quoted in, James Thomas Baker, Thomas Merton: Social Critic Pressof Kentucky, 1971),p. 23. University Kentucky: (Lexington, in The Asian and MonasticPerspectives," "Marxism 28. ThomasMerton, 327. York: New Merton Thomas Journal Directions, 1973), (New p. of 29. Ibid.,p. 329. 30. Ibid.,p. 330. 31. Ibid.,pp. 341-342. 32. In One DimensionalMan, Marcuse describes the tactics of the andunemployable": "unemployed not andis therefore from without hitsthesystem Theiropposition forcewhichviolates it is an elementary deflected by thesystem; therulesof thegameand,in doingso, revealsit as a riggedgame, (pp. 256-257). the that theclash between Marcuseis moreexplicit In Essay on Liberation willbe violent: oftranscendence order andtheforces established - thepositive, enforceThe old story: codified, right right against unwritten of theexistingsocietyagainstthenegative, able right
200

exunenforceable of transcendence whichis partofthevery right istenceofmanin history: on a less compromised, theright to insist less guilty, mustcome less exploitedhumanity. The two rights into violentconflict as long as the establishedsocietydepends, forits functioning, and guilt,(p.71). on exploitation
NewCatholic NonCreative 33. Edward Means Violence," Guinan, "Community World, 1974,pp. 159-162. 34. Ibid.,p. 159. 35. Bob Sabath, March,1976,pp. 30-33. "Commonlife," Sojourners, andAmerica's 36. Victoria theFlames:Mitch Rader, Snyder SignalThrough MO: SheedandWard,1986),p. 65. Homeless (Kansas City, of the Defender The Strident and Fasting, 37. Michael Kernan, "Battling Street 11, 1984,p. Dl; J.Y. Smith, Post,January "Snyder People,"Washington ofHomeless," 6, 1990,p. Bl. Post,July Washington Symbolized Plight A Forced Homelessin America: 38. MaryEllen Hombsand MitchSnyder, forCreative D.C.: Community Edition(Washington, Third Marchto Nowhere, Non-Violence, 1986),pp. 115-116. 39. Ibid.,pp. 130-131 Poorin New YorkCity, "A QuietViolence:The Homeless 40. KimHopper, inAmerica, Homelessness 1982,"in Hombsand Snyder, p. 67. theFlames,p. 7. 41. Rader, SignalThrough 42. Ibid. 43. Ibid.,pp. 3-5. 44. Ibid.,p. 230. HomelessShelter," 45. SandraG. Boodman, "ReaganAgreesto Refurbish Post,November 5, 1984,p. Al. Washington was 46. National printand broadcastmedia coverage of homelessness Media "The Poor: Visible Center for Media and Public Affairs, analyzedin, Media Monitor, Vol. Ill No. 3, March Coverageof theHomeless1986-1989," newsbroadcasts network 1989. Overthestudy evening majortelevision period, on newsmagazines ran26 stories devoted 103 stories to homelessness. National and advocates, thesubject. The mostquotedsources werehomeless individuals rather than or government The National Coalition officials. policyprofessionals for theHomeless those of itscitations doubled was themost quoted organization; sourcesfrom and thefederal of Housingand UrbanDevelopment Departments Health andHuman A more "Mitch Services combined. wasthat finding equivocal was more often on this than either Ronald Snyder quoted topic Reagan or GeorgeBush." Moststories onthe focused characteristics ofthe homeless rather than personal on thecausesofhomelessness. ofpersonal characteristics weremainly Coverage a "... sympathetic of peoplein trouble rather thanan arenaof policy portrayal debate. Forexample stories on homeless thoseon outnumbered advocacy groups suchproblematic as panhandling ofmentally ill andtheinstitutionalization topics
20 1
'streetpeople'" (p. 3). Among stories thatdealt with causes of homelessness, 4 percentattributed theplightof thehomeless to their personaldisabilitiessuch as to housingmarket substanceabuse or mentalillness,44 percent forces,26 percent blamed governmentinaction, the remaining 26 percent were evenly divided forcesand de-institutionalization. betweenlabor market 47. Michael Berenbaumand Judith Rosenfield,"Snyder's Suicide Tantrum," Post, November 11, 1984, p. D5. Washington Means Creative Non-Violence," p. 160. 48. Guinan, "Community 49. After his death, it transpiredthat the Internal Revenue Service was demandingfromSnyder$91,251 in taxes and fines on $150,000 he received in 1985 and 1986 fromtheproducersof thetelevisionmovie "Samaritan,"who had purchased the rightsto Snyder's life story.But Snydermaintainedthat he had contributed all of his earningsto CCNV, whichby 1989 had an operatingbudget no evidence thatSnyderever of $570,000 a year. Beyond this equivocal report, his has come to light. from activities monetarily personallyprofited 50. Chris Spolar and Saundra Torry, "CCNV s Snyder to Take Leave," Post, March 29, 1990, p. Dl. Washington 51. Chris Spolar and Mareia Slacum Green,"Mitch SnyderFound Hanged in CCNV Shelter,"Washington Post, July6, 1990, Al. 52. AndrewPeytonThomas discusses in "The Rise and Fall of theHomeless," the turn of local policies in Washington D.C. and in San Francisco against advocates forthe homeless. For similaraccount of New York City see, Thomas Main, "Hard Lessons on the Homeless: The Education of David Dinkins," City Journal,Summer,1993, pp. 30-39.

T. Main - Does Political Theory Matter For Policy Outcomes

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North American Philosophical Publications

Public Affairs Quarterly Volume11,Number 2, April1997

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER?

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER?

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER?

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER?

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER?

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER?

PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER?

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