T. Main--Does Political Theory Matter for Policy Outcomes

7/30/2019 T. Main--Does Political Theory Matter for Policy Outcomes

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PublicAffairsQuarterlyVolume 1,Number ,April 997

DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTERFOR POLICY OUTCOMES?TheCaseofHomeless olicynthe1980s

ThomasJ.MainIntroduction

politicaltheorymatter orpolicyoutcomes? t is now nolonger ncommonor olitical cientists oargue hat deasmat-ter n this sense. Several recent ntroductions o Americanpolicymakinghave argued hat, ontraryo theMadisonian,pluralist, ndpublic hoicetraditionsfunderstandingolitical ehavior,deasaboutwhat s just andwhat s good have an independentffect n policyoutcomes.1 ut these nalysts rgue hat he orts f deas thatmatterare atheoretical. hus,one ofthemwrites:Most uch deas renotvery omplexrdifferentiated.heresno clear eparationfends rommeans,fdiagnosisromnter-ventions,f ssumptionsrom emonstratedacts,r lame romcausal ffect.. . Moreover,t s not lear easoningrcarefullydevelopedndnterpretedacts hatmakedeas onvincing.atherideas eem obecome nchorednpeople'smindshroughllus-trativenecdotes,imple iagramsndpictures,rconnectionswith road ommon-sensedeologieshat efine umanaturendsocialresponsibility.2

Developersof this "ideational"modelhavepresented onvincingaccountsof howsuchsimple deas can play an independentole inshaping olicyoutcomesn such areasas taxation,mmigration,du-cation,pollution,ndpublicorder.This essaywill explore hepossibilityhatnot ustpolitical deasbutpoliticaltheoryan shape policyoutcomes.Bypoliticaltheorymeancomplex etsofideas thathave beenlongarticulated y manythinkersnwhat hilosophymplies or umanollectiveife.Asopposed

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184 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYto"ideas,"theory epresentsrecisely heuse of clearreasoningndcareful nterpretationo breakthroughnecdote nd common enseand to arrive t an accountofpoliticsderivedfrom hemostfunda-mental ealities ftheworld.Theargumenthat broachhere s as follows:Public deascan havemany ources.Developers fthe deationalmodelpoint o socialmove-ments, ommunitiesfacademic ocialscientists,heprofessions,ndbureaucracies s forumsnwhichpublic deas are conceived ndar-ticulated.Policyentrepreneursnd the mediathenfurtherimplifythese deas anddisseminatehemopolitical ctors,whichs howtheyhave an impact npolicy.There s,however,nother otentialourceofpublic deas thathas so farnotbeen considered. his source s po-litical theory,which,again, is complex sets of ideas withlongtraditions. o be sure,thecontemporaryorumsn whichpoliticaltheorys developed almostexclusivelyuniversity epartmentsfphilosophy ndpolitics havemuch ess access to the transmissionbeltsofpolicyentrepreneursnd media thatgivesome deas theop-portunityo impactpolicy.And further,oliticaltheory, reciselybecause ttries o derivets ccount fpolitics romundamentalhilo-sophicalrealities, eneratesdeasthat, omparedwith hosegeneratedbyother ources, retooabstracto haveanyrelevance orpolicy.However,politicaltheory as other haracteristicshat an facili-tate tsuse as a sourceofpublic deas. Political heorys a traditionfgreat ntiquity. s such toccupiesa position fcentralitynthe du-cation and culturalreferences f theliberally-educatedublic thatdisciplines uch as industrialrganizationrtheeconomicsoftaxa-tioncould neverfill. Political actorswhowish,forwhatever eason,to base their raxison ideas that an makea claimto suchcentrality,to a connectionwithfundamentalruths, ill find hem n politicaltheory atherhanpublicadministrationrpolicyanalysis.Andtherearesomepotentiallymportantolitical ctors hat ftenwishtobasetheir ction on such fundamentaldeas. "Public ntellectuals" f thesortonce associatedwithPartisan Review nd theNew Yorkschoolare one suchgroup.More relevant o thehistory iscussedhereareself-consciouslyradical"politicalmovementsndreligious ctivists.The "New Left"ofthe 1960s was an exampleof thefirst uchgroupandperhapsright-wingontemporaryundamentalistsre examplesof the second.To fully evelopthecase forpoliticaltheorys a sourceofpublicideas, and therefores an influence npolicyoutcomes,would takemuchmore pacethans availablehere.Forthepresentwant osketcha case history f a recentpolicydebate n which deas thatwereconsciously nthecase of at least some crucial ctors derived rom



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 185political heory ad an mportantnfluence n theoutcome. hepolicydebate s thatover homelessness uring he 1980s. The public ideathat layeda crucialrolein thisdebate was that heapparentlyys-functionalnd destitutemay n factberadically ree, ndthereforefcrucial mportancenthe truggleorpoliticalfreedom. he traditionofpoliticaltheory romwhich his dea derives s thatdescribedbyYackas "theKantian eft."3The impact hat his heory-deriveddeahadonpolicyoutcomeswas realbut argely nfortunate.hat s, theradicalreligiouscommunityhatunderstood omelessness n theseterms, heCommunityorCreativeNonviolence CCNV) and otheractivist roups hat mbraced heir pproach,were ed toadoptpoliti-cal tactics that n the shortterm dvanced,but in the long termfrustrated,heir ffortsoinfluence ublic policiesof concern o thehomeless.Finally,myorganizationf thismaterial s differentromthat sedbythepolitical cientistsmentioned bove inassessingtheinfluence fideas forpolicyoutcomes.These writers hronicle on-temporaryolicydebates ngreatdetail, ndlook forpointswhereprinciple ctor'sbehavior s explicablenot n terms finterests,utonly nterms fheld deas. Here, amalmost aking orgrantedhatthe deasthat CNV,and other ctivists, eldabouthomelessness adan impacton policyoutcomes. am concerned o demonstratehattheir ey dea ofthehomeless s radically ree nd thereforepoten-tiallyliberating orcehad deep roots in political theory nd wasconsciously erivedat leastbysome)from oints nthat heoreticaltradition.Mostof thisessay,therfore,s devotednotto thedetail ofthepolicydebateof the1980s,but to the eft-Kantianradition,herolethat he dea of radicalpoverty layed n it,and howthis deareallywas known o andreallydid influence he behavior f CCNVotherctivists.arguehathempactf his heoreticalrientationas tohastenTheRiseandFalloftheHomeless"npolicy ebates.4

The Theoretical Tradition ofExtremePoverty as Radical FreedomThekey nstances fpolitical heory quating xtremeoverty ithradicalfreedomre Rousseau's savages, theself-denyingaints ofSchopenhauer,he mpoverishedroletariatefMarx, he unemployed

andunemployable"nderclass fMarcuse, nd themendicantmonksofThomasMerton.nall these ases,the ives hat omeless r otherwisedestituteeople ive are nterpreteds radicallyiberating.his traditionofthoughtasknown othe oundersfCCNV andhadanimpact nthetermsnwhichheyoughto egitimateomelessness.utbeforeracingthis radition,e woulddowellto anchort ncontemporaryebates.



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186 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYThecommunitarianrgumenthatdeontologicaliberalism'5 ivesan accountof moralfreedomncompatible ith ndividualitys veryfamiliar. erybriefly,heargumentuns s follows: n Kant, he ustmanasks whathe ought o do ifhe were toview theworldfrom heperspective f thenoumenalworld,nwhichhe is strippedf"everyaccidental dvantage"as Schopenhaueruts t).Thearguments thatwhenevery ccidental dvantage s strippedway,no selfremains,and ourmoral freedoms trapped, owerless, n a purelynoumenalsphere.According o Sandel,Rawls, n his account fpeoplebehindtheveil of gnorance, alls nto his rap.Kant and Rawls are content o let fullmoralfreedomtay n thenoumenal ealm, r behind theoretical eil of gnorance,ndtoar-guethat uchfreedoms allweknow,ndallwe needtoknow.Anotherresponseto the gulfdeontologicalliberalismposits betweenthenoumenal ealmoffreedom,ndthephenomenal, etermined, orldof the ndividual s that ...itis intolerablendmustbe overcome."6Such is indeedthemoveof left-Kantianhinkers, hoseprojecthasbeendescribed s an efforto demonstratehat ...Kantis wrongnarguinghat urfreedomannotmanifesttself ractas a forcen the

phenomenalworld."7Actually, he raditionf theKantian-lefteginsbeforeKant,withthewritingsf Kant'sprecursor ousseau,continuesmmediatelyf-terthe disseminationfKant'sthought,ndruns hroughMarxandthecriticaltheorists,nd up to thepresent.Characteristically,eftKantianismnvolves radicaldevaluation f ndividual fficacy,nda reinterpretationf certain ypes fpersonaldysfunctionalityrdis-tress s a kind of liberation,r at leastprerequisitesor hegeneralliberation f mankind.InRousseau,onlywith he ndofthe tate fnature,ndthedevel-opment f civil society, o menbegin o differentiatehemselvesndbecomeaware ofthemselvess individuals:

[The]humanacecontinuedobecomemore ociable. . . Eachbeganookingtthe thersndwantinghem o ook thim; ub-lic esteem ame o bevalued,nd twent o thosewhowere hebest ingersrdancers,hemost eautifulrhandsome,he tron-gest, hemost exterous,rthemost loquent.8But,with hedevelopmentf individuation. . . arosevanity ndcontemptntheonehand, ndshame ndenvyontheother."9Mendeveloped heneedsto stoke heir anity rassuagetheirnvy,andso becamedependentnpropertynd eachother:

[W]hereasmanhadpreviouslyeenfree nd ndependent,ismultitudefnew eeds ow laced imn ubjectiono llofnature,



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 187so tospeak, ndespecially o hisfellowmen. .. If he wasrich, eneeded heirervices,fhe waspoor, e needed heir elp . .10

Thus as an individual n civil society,man is unfree.Whatpossibilitydoes he have ofachievingfreedom? ndeed, he would have none,wereit not forthefactthat even when all his individuatingcharacteristicsare stripped way or rather eforesuch individuatingcharacteristicsas "wit, beauty, strength, kill, merit,and talent"11were even con-ceived of manexists as a free, nd on balance positive, creature,the"noble savage." In the state of naturethe savage enjoys the freedomthat s lost upon thedevelopmentof society. Of course, the savage'sfreedom s dependentonhis lack of self-awarenessand ofanyposses-sions, which specifically includes homelessness:

The fact s,however,hatnthat rimitivetatemanhadnohouses,huts, rpropertyfanykind, o that veryone leptwherever ehappened o be and seldomstayed n thesameplace more thanonenight.12But theseprivationsare notnearlyso bad as one mightthink:

It is thereforeo greatmisfortuneorthoseprimitivemen, ndcertainly o greatobstacleto their urvival hat heygo naked,have nohouses, nd ackall theuselessthingshatweconsider onecessary....t is clearthat hefirstman whomadeclothing r adwellingor imself asprovidingimself ithomethingorwhichhe hadveryittle eed, incehe haddonewithoutt till hen. . . 13Rousseau's point is not that we should return o savagery,but thatbecause we are able to traceouroriginsto a free,equal, and harmoni-ous state of nature, all bondage, inequality, and strife lack any

justification n nature nd are theproductofsocial conventionalone.14Thus it is vital to Rousseau's hopes for human liberationthatsavagelifebe at least notmuchworse, on balance, thansocial life,otherwisethefreedomof the savage state could not serve as a standardagainstwhichto udge theusurpationsof civil society.And indeed, Rousseauvigorouslydenies thatthenaked, ignorant, olitary, nd homeless lifeof the savage is on balance much worse than life in civil society.15Thus in Rousseau, we have the firstdepiction in political theoryofthehomeless man as free,and ofhomelessness, under certaincircum-stances, as somethingnot only positive, but vital to the process ofhumanliberation.Rousseau's dichotomy etweenman nthefree,unindividuated tateofnature,and in theunfree, negalitarianrealm of civil society is re-formulated nd expanded byKant into thedichotomybetweenman asan inhabitant fthenoumenalrealmbeyondnecessity nd individuality,



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188 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYand man s an ndividualnthedeterminedorld fphenomena.nlikeRousseau,Kant s contento let man's freedom emain oreverwith-out manifestation in the phenomenal world. But, again, theleft-Kantiansook as their ause theachieving f truefreedomveninthisworld.The first learmanifestationfthis spectof eft-Kantianhoughtis Schopenhauer. chopenhauer an be understoods a left-Kantianbecause he tries o overcome heduality f theKantian ystem nddemonstratehat here s an "immediatemanifestationroper fthefreedom f the will even in thephenomenon."16n the courseof sodoing,hedesignates hebodyas thephenomenonf the ndividual fwhich hewill s thenoumena. hestrippingwayofevery ccidentaladvantage oachieve utonomyn thisworld hereforenvolves odilydeteriorationndphysical uffering.he ustman s a mendicantaintwhopractices:

[T]heforsakingfevery welling-placendofallkinfolk;eepunbrokenolitudepentn silent ontemplationith oluntarypenancend erriblelow elf-tortureor he omplete ortifica-tion fthewill. . ,17In short, n thecourse of overcoming heKantiandichotomies,Schopenhauer epicts heustman s somethingike a homelessbeg-gar,although saintlyhomelessbeggartobe sure.Once again,thegulf etween reedomnd ndividualityndeontologicaliberal houghtis breached by positing a radically eviscerated, and thereforehomelessness,ndividual s a positive tateofbeing.Marx can also be understoods a left-Kantian.ccordingoYack,"Marx'sindignationt labour'sbeingreduced o a meansofsecuringthe wherewithal o satisfy physical needs registershis residualKantianism."18his ndignationas Kantian vertones ecause tpos-its a dichotomyetween he "realmofnecessity" nd the"realmoffreedom." he realms redistinguishedccordingo thenature f hu-man aborwithinhem:

In fact, herealm ffreedomctually egins nlywhere aborwhich s determinedy necessitynd mundaneonsiderationceases;thusnthe ery aturefthingst iesbeyondhe phereofactualmaterialroduction.19Under apitalism,man's entire ife s givenover to the"sphere factualmaterial roduction,"orwhatever alueheproduces boveandbeyondwhat s absolutely ecessary okeephim liveis expropriatedas surplusvalue bythecapitalist.As capitalist ompetitionntensi-fies,more nd more ftheworker's roductions expropriated,ndtheworkeraborsharder ndharder or less and esssatisfactoryxistence:



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 189Theworker ecomes ll thepoorer hemorewealthheproduces,themorehisproductionncreasesnpower ndrange.The workerbecomesan evercheapercommodityhe more commodities ecreates.With he ncreasing alueof theworld fthings roceedsindirect roportiono thedevaluation f theworldof men. . .So muchdoes labor's realization ppear s loss ofreality hat heworker ooses reality othepoint fstarvingo death.20

The worker on the point of starvingto death holds a position inMarx's politics of human liberationroughly analogous to that of thesavage in Rousseau andthe saint n Schopenhauer.Butobviously,Marxis notrecommending helot of the mpoverishedworker,noreven ro-manticizing t. It must also be said thatwhile Rousseau's savages andSchopenhauer's saints are supposed to be radically free,the pauper-ized proletariateof Marx is radically unfreeundercapitalism. But theimpoverishedworkerdoes representforMarx the only hope of man-kind forbreakingout of the constraintsof capitalism, and realizingthe realm of freedom n actual productive conditions under commu-nism.The lot of theproletariate,for all the unvarnishedmiserywithwhich Marx depicts it, s nonethelessa positive force n worldhistory,representing s itdoes theseedbed ofa radical liberatingmovement.21Thus,Marx's account of theprocess of human iberation also displaysthe left-Kantiancharacteristicof identifying n apparentlyradicallydistressedpopulation as the champion of humanemancipation in therealm of the conditionedworld.22The idea of radical freedomin extremepovertycontinues in theworkofMarcuse. In characteristic eft-Kantian ashion,Marcuse seeksto overcome theKantian dualities and demonstrate hat freedomfromdetermination s possible in thephenomenal world of the individual.In Marcuse, thephenomenonof the individual is described in socio-logical, but nonetheless empirical, terms. Thus in Marcuse, "...such(individual) consciousness is an empirical one, which includes thesupra-individual experience, ideas, aspirations, of particular socialgroups."23 But sociological phenomena, like all phenomena in aKantian-based system, re entirelydetermined, nd therefore nfree:

Tothe egree owhich onsciousnesssdeterminedy he xigenciesandinterestsf theestablished ociety,t is 'unfree';to thede-greetowhich stablished ociety s irrational,heconsciousnessbecomes freefor thehigherhistoricalrationality nly in thestrugglegainst he stablishedociety.he truthnd he reedomfnegativehinkingavetheir roundndreasonnthis truggle.24What,thendo people who strip way from heir onsciousness "theexigencies and interests f the established society" to achieve the "thehigherhistorical rationality," ook like? Marcuse describes themasfollows:



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190 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYHowever,nderneathhe onservativeopular ase sthe ubstratumof the utcasts ndoutsiders,he xploited ndpersecutedf otherraces and other olors,theunemployednd theunemployable.Theyexist outsidethe democratic rocess;their ife s themostintimate nd most eal need for ndingntolerableonditionsndinstitutions. hus their pposition s revolutionaryvenif theirconsciousness s not.25

In this and otherpassages, Marcuse produces a portrait f bearersof freedom n the conditioned worldthat ooks remarkably ike whatmainstreamsociety would consider to be a dysfunctional r criminalhomeless person.26This is because Marcuse's left-Kantianism eadshim to see in the underclass a liberating potential wheremost of ussee only dysfunction.To see how the dilemmas of left-Kantianismwere reproduced inearly discourse on homelessness we have to look at the historyofCCNV. CCNV was founded n 1970 bya Paulistpriest,EdwardGuinan.The idea thatwhat appear to therest of society as dysfunctionalitiescan in fact be a kind of spiritualfulcrumwith which to overturn heestablished orderwas known to Guinan (who by the late 1960s waswritinghis mastersthesis in theologyat St. Paul's College in Wash-ington D.C.) throughthe later writingsof Thomas Merton. IndeedMerton's theologyof nonviolence was the subject of Guinan's never-to-be-finishedmastersthesis. It was Merton whodeveloped a theologyof nonviolence that ncorporatedthe Marcusan concepts we have dis-cussed above, and who therefore assed them on to CCNV's founder.Thomas Merton had become famous in 1948 when, as a youngTrappistmonkhis autobiography,The Seven StoreyMountain,becamean internationalbest seller. By the mid-1960s Merton,whose prosewritingnow centered on social criticism,had become disillusionedwith the theological assumptions of The Seven StoreyMountain. "Iwas still dealing in a crude theologythat had learned as a novice, aclean-cut division between the natural and supernatural,God and theworld, sacred and secular."27 From theearly 1960s up untilhis deathin 1968 Mertonstrovetodevelop a theologythatbroke withthe "clean-cutdivisions" that lose spiritual ifeup inthemonetary,ndthatwouldoffer guide to how spiritually-centered ction could make a differ-ence on theworldlyproblemsthathe dealt with n his social criticism.The sources Merton drew on in developing his theologyof nonvio-lence were very diverse. But towards the very end of his life, thewritingsofMarcuse, especially One Dimensional Man, wereparticu-larly influential. Merton's late theologyof nonviolence attempted oturnwhat seems to be thepovertyand weakness of monastic life intoa liberatingforce.Mertondoes so by emphasizing the attributes hat



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 19 1themonk hareswith heLumpenproletariat especiallytheir overtyndthepracticeofbegging and depictingthemonkas an apparentlymar-ginal force that nonetheless has revolutionarypotential similar toMarcuse's underclass. Merton discusses what he saw as the theologi-cal implications of Marcuse's thought n the lecture, "Marxism andMonastic Perspectives." There Merton writes:

Specificallymybackgrounds thework fHerbertMarcuse,whois a verynfluentialhinkernNeo-Marxist tudent ircles.Andwouldadd,quitebluntlyndbrutally,hat regardhim s a kindof monastic hinker.o ifyouwanted o be completelyrrespon-sible,youcouldsaythis s a lecture n themonasticmplicationsof Marcuseat thepresentmoment.28Merton draws monastic implications fromthe seemingly unlikelysource of Marcuse by identifying he monk with what Marcuse de-scribed as the political forces outside of society whose role was tobringabout a transcendenceof Nature.

TheMonk s essentially omeonewhotakesup a critical ttitudetoward heworld nd itsstructures.. . [H]e musthavein somewayor other eached ome kindof critical onclusion bout thevalidity fcertain laimsmadebysecularsociety nd its struc-tureswithregard o the endof man's existence. n otherwords,themonk s somebodywhosays, n one wayoranother,hat heclaimsof theworld refraudulent.29

But how is themonkto make any headway against the fraudulentclaims of theworld?According oMerton, he monk'sdisplayofpovertyand dependencewill bringabout a "change inman's consciousness."30Begging is particularly mportantn thisrespect:Thebegging owlof theBuddharepresents.. theultimateheo-logicalroot f thebeliefnotust na rightobeg,but nopennessto thegifts f all beings s an expression f the nterdependenceof all beings. . .Thuswhen hemonk egsfrom he ayman ndreceives gift rom he ayman,t is not as a selfishpersonget-ting omethingromomebodylse. He is simply pening imselfinthisnterdependence,hismutualnterdependence,n which heyall recognize hat hey ll are immersedn illusiontogether,utthat he llusion s also an empirical eality hathas to be fullyaccepted, nd that n this llusion,which s neverthelessmpiri-callyreal,nirvanas presentnd t s all there,fyoubut ee it. ..I am ust saying hat omewhere ehind urmonasticism.. isthe beliefthat hiskindof freedom ndtranscendences some-how attainable.31

This passage resonateswithmanyof the themeswe have discussedabove, and withthose thatwould be developed by CCNV.



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192 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYMerton is trying o place monks in the same ontological categoryas that of Schopenhauer's saints and Marcuse's Lumpenproletariatoutsiders who seem weak or dysfunctionalfrom the perspective ofmainstream ife,butwho have thepotentialto transcendthat ife.And theyhave thepotential to cause othersto transcendthat ife.Here, Merton makes an importantreinterpretation f Marcuse. Thepraxis of Marcuse's outsiders is violent,32whereas thatof Merton'smonks consists primarily n a public display of their need. The lay-man confrontedwith thesightofthebeggingmonk s to break freeof"this illusion" and glimpse the radical freedomof nirvana. In otherwords,while Marcuse's underclass will relyon violence to enlightenmainstreamsociety,Merton's will achieve thisend bymaking publictheircondition, throughbegging. Below we will see that n its prac-tice of Merton's theology,CCNV found the transitionfromviolenceto nonviolence to be not so clear cut.For example, Guinanwrote:"Non-violence is expressed inmilitantand confrontative ather hanpassive terms."33And who is it that s tobe militant and confrontativen theirnonviolence? Guinan describesthemembershipof CCNV as follows:

Theforty-personorecommunity.. is constitutedychildren. .couples,priests, ormerrisonerspolitical ndpoliticized), ingleparents,workers,tudentsnd thosewho havebroken rom hestreetsntheprocessof iberation. ife nthesehouses s furtherenrichedythepresence fwelfaremothers,athers hodeserted,menand womenreleasedfromncarceration,nd thepoor,thebroken, ndsick efthomeless n the treets fWashington.34If thisself-descriptionmakes themembership f CCNV sound likeLumpenproletariat, that s because themembership hought fthem-selves innearlythose terms.An interviewwithGuinan n 1976 containsthefollowingpassage about CCNV:

Here s a placewhere hey elievethemselvesobe on a collisionpathwithMarx, in histotal ontemptor heunderclass not heproletariat,ut thepeople lefton thestreets,hebodiesthat reseen as lumps, ut notpeople.' 'We refuse o sacrifice class ofpeople,' says Guinan, because theydo not have an organizingabilityor can be partof seizing poweror of even sensing heirowndignity.'"35Just so. Schopenhauer's saints, Marcuse's Lumpenproletariat,Merton's mendicantmonks,and CCNV's homeless and this is whatdistinguishesthemfromKant's just man and Marx's proletarian lacka sense of dignity, lack born of dependence and dysfunctionality.And what is especially important orthepurposes of thisessay is that



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 193thepoliticalethicthathas its roots n thistheoreticalradition,ys-tematically resentsack ofdignitys a positive ttribute,t leastinthe ense that thas liberatingotential or ll ofsociety.

Homeless Policy in the 1980sAs the1970sprogressed,heunofficialeadership fCCNV passedfromGuinan to MitchSnyder.Raderquotes a contemporaryudge-ment f the twomen'srelationshipn 1974: "'Guinan was toughbut

classy. nyder adchutzpa Bothwere ake harge eople.Attimes,things ouldbe tense.'"36As thisobservationuggests, nyderwas amore authentic umpenproletarianhanGuinan,havingservedtwoyears n federalprisonsforcar theft. eforehis arrest, nyderhadhad a history f cashingbad checks,and,byhis own account,hadabandonedhisfamilyfa wife ndtwochildren.37 radicalembraceof the "underclass"brought changein leadershipfrom hat of a"classy" theologian ndpriest o that fsomeonewith more heck-eredbackground.CCNV developedwhat hey alled"propheticolitics,"whichdis-plays,mutatismutandis,hesame scenarioof theextremelyoorasradically ree hat uns hroughhe eft-Kantianradition. hefollow-ingpassage, n which nyder escribes heperiodof some months espent ivingon thestreets fWashington,.C., is importantortheKantian vertonestruck y tsdescriptionfthe"twoseparate, ar-allel realities" f thehomelessnessnd thehoused:It s as thoughwo eparate,arallel,ndunequal ealitiesxist.Forthose fuswho rehomeless,he est ftheworld s alienand rrelevant.he housed*nes hared one four oncernsrpriorities;heir opes ndfears,heirxpectationsnd heirrus-trationsore ittlernoresemblanceo our wn.38

Now,notonlydoesCCNV's recognitionf"two, eparate, arallelrealities" trike Kantian one,but ts call for hebreaking-downfthat eparation esembles ast left-Kantianalls forovercominglldichotomies:Wehavebuilt wallbetweenurselvesndthosewhohavenoplaceto aytheir eads. hatwallmust omedown,nd tmustcome own ow.39And thatwall is overcomewhenthe magesof the homelessbe-comes visible to mainstreamociety. n Homelessness nAmerica,CCNV's influentialublicationf the arly1980s,therole thehome-less canplay nliberatingociety s described s follows:



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194 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLY[T]hepublicattitude oward hehomelesshas changedmarkedlyinthepast year i.e.: 1981). Thepressand electronicmediahaveprovengenerally o be worthyllies in recentmonths, utifullydepicting he hameof the treets or hepublicscandal t s. ...Here, think, deeperfactor omesintoplay.One of themoreimpressive eaturesfthis fforts the agerness fordinaryiti-zens togive ie to thedominantmythhat hepubliccouldn't areless. It is difficulto escape the notion hat,n somesmallway,thisgesture elpscombat hepervasive lienation f thesecularcity, herechargedear fnuclear nnihilation,henumbingenseofbeing tterlyt themercyfforces eyondne'scontrolrken.40

Thus when thosewho live in therealityofthehoused are forcedthroughthe efforts f advocates and theirmedia allies- to confrontthe reality of homelessness, the housed break free of the "numbingsense of being utterly t the mercyof forces beyond one's control"and the homeless are freedfrom heiroppressive need.In otherwords, social liberation is achieved when a radically de-privedand apparentlydysfunctional opulation ceases to be relegatedto a separate, powerless, sphereand makes its imprint n theworldofmainstream eality.Thus Rader's history fSnyderand CCNV, reportsthatSnyderdares thehoused:

[T]o decreasetheir ersonaldistancefrom hestinking orldofpoverty.t's a difficulthing odo,Snyderdmits,Everythingnyourbiology s tellingyoutorun n theoppositedirection.'Butoncethe ocial distance s reduced, CNV believesthat he pec-tatorswillbe transformednto oncernedctors, ndthat s theirultimate oal. . . .CCNV calls thisprocesspropheticolitics, herecalling fpeopleto their eepest piritual alues.Out ofseculardistinctions,nereturns o the commonhuman xperience,magesas old as thescriptures.eed thehungry. lothethenaked.Shelter hehome-less.WhyhasAmerica orgotten?CNV's propheticramas eeda hungernAmerica or reality eeper han verydayoutines. .41

Again, in this passage, we can see the left-Kantianresonances ofCCNV's political ethic. To recognize a "reality deeper thaneverydayroutines," one must overcome the cries of "everything n yourbiol-ogy," and enter the "stinking world of poverty," whereby one"overcomes secular distinctions"andmakes contactwiththe"deepestspiritualvalues."CCNV's homeless resemble Marcuse's underclass more than theproletariate fMarx.While Marx expects theproletariate tself o liber-ate society,CCNV regardsthehomeless, like Marcuse's underclass,asbeing". . . revolutionaryven if their onsciousness s not."That s tosay,intheprophetic oliticsofCCNV, thehomeless ack theunderstandingf



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 195how the worldworksnecessary operformn incursion ponmainstreamsocietythemselves.Their advocates do that forthem. That advocates,not thehomeless, will play the active role in narrowingthe distancebetween therealities of thehomeless and the rest of society is appar-ent from hefollowingdescriptionof a CCNV "performance":

Reportersnd cameracrewsfollowCommunity embers o thesteamgratesbecauseCCNV invites hem here. .. At first heaudiencefeelsdetached, ikewatching freak how orwalkingthrough House of Horrors. es, theconditions f the homelessaredisgusting,greesSnyder,s he motions he ameras loseryouwill see thefilthy ags, hematted air, he ice climbing llover. The audiencehad alwaysaverted ts eyes afraid o reallylook.The camera tills s Snyder neelsdown ndmummersoayoungman,takesofftheworntennis hoe covering he man'sfootto reveal dozensof ulcerated,nfected ores one can seethepussoozing.When he ameramovesup again, heyoungmanis smiling weetly t Snyder, skingfor smoke. Now beneaththefreak, heaudiencesees a sufferingumanbeing;and theywitness hepain theydid not wishto feel.All of a sudden, heofficial enial ndone'spast ndifferencereseenwith reshyes.42The intrusion f a vision ofpain into the mass media is supposed tofree the audience of its indifference, nd make them see the worldafresh.But note thatthehomeless, thoughthe vision of them s cru-cial, play a completely passive role in the performance.The mediagoes out to see the street-dwellers nlybecause "CCNV invites themthere." Snyderdirectsthe cameras, decides what will be shown, andhow to most effectivelydisplay it.The advocate, in CCNV's politics, comes to displace thehomelessalmost altogetherand take upon himselftherole thatotherradically

deprived groups have played in left-Kantian chema. We have notedhow Schopenhauer's saints and Marx's workerscome to thebrinkofstarvation n fulfillingthe role as the champions of freedomin theworld. In the propheticpolitics of CCNV, thehomeless are assumedto be starving,but theirpain is not a liberatingforce,because theylack theabilitytobring t to theattention f therest of society.There-fore the advocates for the homeless flirtwith starvation,and theirsufferings supposedly liberating,because it is calculated to forceit-self on thenotice of thehoused through he mass media. Snyder's useof self-imposedhungeras a tactic in his propheticpolitics has beendescribed as follows:

CCNV's fasts re,perhaps, hemostdramatic indofaction, ohighlighthe ontradictionetween spiritual alueand thecur-rent eality. . . Snyders thefirst netoadmit e s doing heater.... He dresses ndlives like a street erson,He begs andyells,



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196 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYhecarries roundhe rematedshesofa homeless riend,epoursblood oncathedral lters ndprays nthemiddle fthe treetndgets rrested.f the udience tilldoes notrespond, e starts tarv-inghimself odeath, lways, lways, nfront f thecamera.43

Snyderstripshimself of "everyaccidental advantage" to overcomethe "contradiction between a spiritualvalue and the current eality."But in so doing, Snyder s hopingto achieve something hat heseotherchampions offreedomnevermanage to achieve fully n "current eal-ity," that is, an impact on policy outcomes. One CCNV memberdescribed the "success" of a fast that Snyder undertook n 1984 toobtain more funds for the homeless shelter the community perated,and that was publicized in a television report:

Thetimingwas crucial.Mitchwas in serious onditionustwhenSixtyMinuteswasbeingreleased nd all so close to the lections.IfMitchhad died andSixtyMinutes aintedhim ikea saint,howwouldtheAdministrationave ooked?44For a time,CCNV's propheticpolitics seemed to work.Snyderdidmanage to procurefromfederal officialsa promiseto make repairson

CCNV's shelter estimatedto be worth between two and five milliondollars.45Coverage ofthe homeless issue bynationalmedia also wentup dramatically over the course of the 1980s, and the causes ofhomelessness generally being attributedto structuralfactors. Howmuchofthis trend nmedia coverage was theresult of CCNV's activi-ties in particular is impossible to say, although advocacy groups,including CCNV, did receive frequentand generally positive cover-age, with the homeless themselves generally being portrayedin apositive light, and theirpersonal problems rarely being marked ascauses of homelessness.46However,the 1984 hunger trike ppears to have been thehighwatermark of CCNV's influence. Immediately after the strike,questionsarose as to how far such tactics could be pushed. A commentaryn theWashington ost represented he mostnegativepress coverage CCNVhad received in a long time:Unless society tops celebratingnyder'sflirtations ithdeath,there's lwaysthe hreat f another ungertrike ver ssuesthatsimply ren'tworth ying or. . . Eventually, hough,his acticwillpall andSnyderwillhaveto find therwaysofgrabbingurattention.What s CCNV to do for n encore . .?4?

Beyondthediminishing eturns f CCNV's tactics, herewas a prob-lem with ts leadership.As we have seen, CCNV openlyboasted of the"disreputable" backgroundof its followers,which was seen as a signof their iberatingpotential. It was inevitable that n an organization



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 197that eliberatelyxcludedmembers ith onventional anagementndpoliticalexperience, ought ut the "wretched ftheearth," nd in-sistedof its morestable members hat In theprocessof liberationeverythingust hange . . ourvery dentity,"48hat otentialeadersofanycharacter ouldbe sifted ut. n short, CNV's very rganiza-tion ndcommitmentopropheticolitics elped theworst etontop."Though nyderwasbyno means theworst" n the ense ofbeingcriminallyishonest,49edoes seem to have been rather nstable.nthe midstof a CCNV meeting o discusspoliticalstrategy, hereresponse oplansbytheD.C. Councilto amend or"gut" n theviewofthe dvocates thedistrict'sightoshelterawwasbeingdiscussed,Snyder nnounced lansto takea sabbatical n a TrappistmonasteryinVirginia,where hemonks, . . . adhereto a regimen f fasting,silence, ndmanual abor . ."50 n andof tself, ucha decision washardly signofanything roblematic,utcoming s itdidunexpect-edly n themidst f whatCCNV considered o be a crucialpoliticalstruggle,t eftmanyntheorganization'smembershiponfused.OnJuly , 1990,shortlyfter heD.C. Council didindeed vote toamend hedistrict'shelteraw,Snyderwas found anged n his bed-room t theCCNV shelter. suicidenote amented failed elationship,although CNV membersmaintainedhat nyder'sdespondence vertheCouncil'svotemayhaveplayed role n the uicide.51 leaderlessCCNV was left ofightheCouncil'srepealof theright-to-shelteraw.Theywerenot uccessfulndvoters pheld heCouncil's epeal n a bal-lot nitiative.y1996 t east 2 cities ad doptedmeasuresodiscouragevagrancyndtoprod hehomeless utofdesirable eighborhoods.52

ConclusionDid the dea that hedependentnd destitutemaybe a forceforradicalfreedom ave an impacton homelesspolicy?The cases ofWashington,.C. andother ities n whichhomeless ctivistsworkedsuggestst did. tencouragedctivistsnthe trategyfpushing ain-ful magesof thedysfunctionalomelessbefore hepublicwith heexpectation hatthepublic's view of povertywould be radicallychanged.The muchmoreplausiblescenario, hat he homelesswereunlikely to engage public sympathyover the long term,that

dysfunctionalityouldcome tobe seen as undeservingness,nd thatthen ublic idwouldbe limited atherhan xtended,wasnot onsid-ered.Thequestion s why hismore ikely utcome,whichdidinfactmaterialize,wasnot nticipated?he answer s that dvocatesfor hehomeless,t eastmore adical nd/oreligiously-orientedmong hem,were nthegripofthehighly ounterintuitivedea that xtremewant



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198 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYcould be a liberatingorce.The idea was farfrom ommon ense,butit didseemdescended rom venerable nddeeptheoreticalradition.Here then s an exampleof theory eingthesource of an idea thatmatteredorpolicyoutcomes, utmatteredn the sensethat t foiledrather han dvanced tsadvocates ims.The conclusion o be drawn rom his s notthat heoryanbe thesourceofpublic deas,butonlybadpublic deas. We haveconsideredhereonlyonerather nusual ase history.he importantoint s thattheorymattersn policyoutcomes.Future esearch houldconsiderhowand when t can matter or hegood.

NOTES1 See,for xample, teven elman,Making ublicPolicy:AHopeful iewofAmericanGovernmentNewYork: Basic Books,1987),p. 248; RobertB.Reich, ditor, he PowerofPublic deas (Cambridge, assachusetts: arvardUniversityress,1988),p. 3; MarcK. Landy ndMartin . Levin, ditors, he

NewPolitics fPublicPolicy Baltimore: he Johns opkinsUniversityress,1995),pp.291-293.2. MarkH. Moore, What ort f deas BecomePublic deas?," nReich,ThePower fPublic deas,p.79.Thispassage s cited pprovinglyyTimothy.Conlan, avid R.Bean, ndMargaret.Wrightson,PolicyModels ndPoliticalChange:nsightsromhePassageofTaxReform,"nLandy ndLevin, ditors,TheNewPolitics fPublicPolicy, . 133.3. BernardYack, "The Social Discontent f the KantianLeft," n TheLonging orTotal Revolution:hilosophic ourcesofSocial DiscontentromRousseau o Marx ndNietzscheBerkeley, alifornia; niversityf CaliforniaPress,1992[firstublished,rinceton,ewJersey:rincetonniversityress,1986]),pp.89-132.4. Andreweytonhomas,TheRiseandFallof heHomeless," heWeeklyStandard, pril , 1996,pp.27-31.5. Michael J. Sandel,Liberalism nd the Limitsof Justice London:Cambridge niversityress, 982),p. 1.6. Yack,TheLongingorTotalRevolution,. 100.7. Ibid.,p. 106.8. JeanJacquesRousseau, iscourse n theOriginnd Basisof nequalityAmongMen,in Lowell Bair,editor ndtranslator,heEssentialRousseau(NewYork:Penguin ooks,Meridian, 975),p. 187.9. Ibid.,p. 178.10. Ibid.,p. 183.11. Ibid.,p. 183.



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 19912. Ibid.,p. 157.13. Ibid.,pp. 151-152.14. Ibid.,pp.200-201.15. Ibid.,p. 162.16. Arthurchopenhauer,/jeWorld s Will ndRepresentation,ranslatedbyE. F. J.Payne,NewYork:DoverPublications,969),p. 388.17. Ibid.,p. 388.18. Ibid.,p. 292.19. KarlMarx,Capital,Vol. Ill, in TheMarx-Engles eader,RobertC.

Tucker,ditorNewYork:W.W.Norton Company,972),p. 320.20. KarlMarx, conomicndPhilosophic anuscriptsf1844, nTheMarx-EnglesReader, ucker, ditor,p.57-58. Italics n the riginal.)21. KarlMarx nd Frederickngles,ManifestoftheCommunistarty,nTheMarx-Engleseader, ucker,ditor, . 344.22. Yack,TheLonging orTotalRevolution,. 283.23. HerbertMarcuse,One DimensionalMan, (Boston: Beacon Press,1964),p. 208.24. Ibid.,p. 222.25. Ibid.,pp.256-7.26. Herbert arcuse, ounterrevolutionnd RevoltBoston:BeaconPress,1972),pp.46-47.27. Quoted in, JamesThomas Baker, ThomasMerton: Social Critic(Lexington,entucky:niversityress fKentucky,971),p. 23.28. ThomasMerton,Marxism nd MonasticPerspectives,"n TheAsianJournalfThomasMertonNewYork:NewDirections,973),p. 327.29. Ibid.,p. 329.30. Ibid.,p. 330.31. Ibid.,pp.341-342.32. In One DimensionalMan, Marcuse describesthe tactics of the"unemployedndunemployable":

Their pposition its he ystem romwithoutnd s thereforeotdeflected ythesystem;t s an elementaryorcewhichviolatestherulesof thegame nd, ndoing o,reveals t as a rigged ame,(pp. 256-257).In EssayonLiberationMarcuse s more xplicit hat he lashbetween heestablishedrder ndtheforces ftranscendenceillbeviolent:

The oldstory: ight gainst ight thepositive, odified, nforce-able right f theexisting ociety gainst henegative, nwritten



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200 PUBLIC AFFAIRS QUARTERLYunenforceableight ftranscendence hich s part fthevery x-istence fman nhistory:he ighto nsist na lesscompromised,less guilty,ess exploitedhumanity.he tworightsmust omeintoviolent onflict s longas the established ocietydepends,for tsfunctioning,n exploitationndguilt, p.71).

33 Edward uinan,Communityeans reative on- iolence," ewCatholicWorld, 974,pp. 159-162.34. Ibid.,p. 159.35. Bob Sabath, Commonlife,"ojourners, arch, 976,pp.30-33.36. Victoria ader, ignalThroughhe lames:Mitch nyderndAmerica'sHomelessKansasCity,MO: Sheed ndWard, 986),p. 65.37. MichaelKernan, BattlingndFasting, he Strident efender f theStreet eople,"Washingtonost,January1, 1984,p. Dl; J.Y. Smith,SnyderSymbolizedlightfHomeless,"Washingtonost,July,1990,p.Bl.38. MaryEllen Hombs nd Mitch nyder, omelessn America:A ForcedMarchtoNowhere, hird ditionWashington,.C.: CommunityorCreativeNon-Violence,986),pp. 115-116.39. Ibid.,pp. 130-13140. KimHopper,AQuietViolence:TheHomeless oor n NewYorkCity,1982," nHombs ndSnyder, omelessnessnAmerica, . 67.41. Rader, ignalThroughheFlames,p. 7.42. Ibid.43. Ibid.,pp.3-5.44. Ibid.,p. 230.45. SandraG. Boodman, ReaganAgrees oRefurbishomeless helter,"Washingtonost,November, 1984,p.Al.46. Nationalprint nd broadcastmedia coverageof homelessnesswasanalyzed n,Center orMedia and PublicAffairs,TheVisiblePoor:MediaCoverage f theHomeless1986-1989,"MediaMonitor, ol. Ill No. 3,March1989.Overthe tudy eriod,major elevision etworkvening ewsbroadcastsdevoted 03 stories o homelessness. ational ewsmagazines an26 storiesnthe ubject. hemost uoted ourceswerehomeless ndividualsndadvocates,ratherhan olicy rofessionalsrgovernmentfficials. he National oalitionfor heHomelesswas themost uoted rganization;ts itations oubled hose fsources romhefederal epartmentsfHousing nd UrbanDevelopmentndHealth ndHuman ervices ombined. more quivocal inding as thatMitchSnyderwas quotedmore often n thistopicthan itherRonaldReagan or

GeorgeBush."Most toriesocusednthe ersonalharacteristicsf he omeless atherhanonthe ausesofhomelessness.overage fpersonalharacteristicseremainlya "... sympatheticortrayalfpeople ntroubleatherhan n arena fpolicydebate. orexample toriesn homelessdvocacy roups utnumberedhose nsuchproblematicopics spanhandlingnd henstitutionalizationfmentallyll



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DOES POLITICAL THEORY MATTER? 201'streetpeople'" (p. 3). Amongstoriesthatdealt withcauses ofhomelessness,4 percent ttributedheplight fthehomeless to their ersonaldisabilities such assubstance buse or mental llness,44 percent ohousingmarket orces, 6 percentblamed government naction,the remaining26 percentwere evenly dividedbetween abormarket orcesand de-institutionalization.

47. Michael Berenbaum nd Judith osenfield, Snyder' Suicide Tantrum,"Washington ost,November11, 1984, p. D5.48. Guinan,"CommunityMeans Creative Non-Violence," p. 160.49. Afterhis death, it transpired hat the InternalRevenue Service wasdemandingfrom nyder$91,251 in taxes and fines on $150,000 he received in

1985 and 1986 from heproducers f the televisionmovie"Samaritan,"whohadpurchasedtherights o Snyder's life story.But Snydermaintained hat he hadcontributed ll of hisearnings oCCNV, whichby 1989 had an operating udgetof$570,000 a year. Beyond thisequivocal report, o evidence thatSnydereverpersonallyprofitedmonetarilyromhis activitieshas come to light.50. Chris Spolar and Saundra Torry,"CCNV s Snyder to Take Leave,"Washington ost,March29, 1990, p. Dl.51. ChrisSpolarandMareia SlacumGreen, MitchSnyderFoundHanged inCCNV Shelter,"Washington ost,July , 1990, Al.52. AndrewPeytonThomasdiscussesin"TheRise andFall oftheHomeless,"the turn of local policies in WashingtonD.C. and in San Francisco againstadvocatesforthe homeless.For similar ccount ofNew York Citysee, ThomasMain, "Hard Lessons on theHomeless: The Educationof David Dinkins," CityJournal, ummer,1993,pp. 30-39.

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T. Main--Does Political Theory Matter for Policy Outcomes