Commissions succeed or fail on their charge and composition
Evidence
Some who support reparations may nevertheless oppose creating a PtSD Commission because they argue that commissions are places where good ideas go to die. They provide elected leaders with plausible deniability. Biden’s Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, which he created in April 2021 via executive order, is the perfect example. Commissions can definitely be useful stalling tactics. But the CWRIC was not, and a PtSD Commission could similarly be designed to succeed. You can tell which commissions will be productive from those that will not by two important metrics: their charge and their composition. President Biden’s Supreme Court Commission was doomed by both. Its charge did not allow for it to make recommendations, as its sole function was to produce a report. Second, it was composed of too many academics. (In my opinion, academics are good at informing and deliberating but are not so good at politics and getting things done, even if recommendations had been allowed.) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 527
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- QUESTION: Testable claim: is the CWRIC really the right model, given the difference that CWRIC members were ‘politically connected’ insiders at a moment of different congressional dynamics? Worth chasing the historiography.
- CANDY: ‘Commissions are where good ideas go to die’ plus the Biden Supreme Court commission example is a light, quotable observation.