Opponents can kill a reform by insisting on individual-case exceptions
Evidence
Each disputed case, the speakers were saying, should be decided on its individual merits by the Boardās Bureau of Standards and included as a separate item in the budget, a policy which would not only drag out the hearings indefinitely but would in itself defeat the principle of universal standardization. The Tammany members of the Board said that after careful consideration they didnāt see how any other policy could be adopted; humane considerations, fairness, justiceāthese must not be ignored. They were in favor of standardization, they said, they intended to adopt the Moses plan, but the plan must be modified where individual situations required it. Even pro-Fusion newspapers couldnāt find anything to criticize in that. ā Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 352
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the general pattern in other sources where universalizing reforms (zoning, standardization, entitlements) get gutted via case-by-case exceptions ā echoes Milgrom-style analysis that exceptions defeat principle. ā connects to: Reform succeeds or dies depending on group tolerance of individual dissent. ā Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotatedā¦, 897; A reform organization could win respect for principle while losing every major fight ā Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and theā¦, 583; Reform-minded dissent within a system strengthens rather than threatens it
- DEFINE: Illustrates ādeath by a thousand exceptionsā as a political tactic ā exceptions framed as humane obscuring their function as principle-killers.
Broader Connections
- Reform succeeds or dies depending on group tolerance of individual dissent.
#corroborates(0.95) ā Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotatedā¦, 897 - Reform-minded dissent within a system strengthens rather than threatens it
#corroborates(0.82) - A reform organization could win respect for principle while losing every major fight
#qualifies(0.72) ā Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 583