Partnership without Politics

Nicholas Mosvick
Sep 7, 2018 · 3 min read

Today is my wife’s last day at the job she’s held for nearly five years. In that time, she’s done incredible things. As one administrator put it, she forever changed the University for the better. And I couldn’t be more proud. I have no doubt she is the better person in our partnership. She is truly an amazing person who works harder than I could imagine and cares too much — to her own detriment. Which is part of the reason she has to move on. We are headed to a new journey in Virginia at the College of William and Mary, a move I look forward to and one that should be positive for our family.

Without giving too much away, my wife has worked in a sensitive area of our politics and law for years. She has worked closely with victims of sexual violence and domestic violence, an issue she worked on in her previous job as well. I do not make qualms about my philosophical, political, and constitutional beliefs in my online presence. I am a libertarian (sometimes I give the mark classical liberal, but even that is of some debate) who is admittedly skeptical about the viability of Title IX — both constitutionally and policy-wise. I am, of course, broadly skeptical of most government intervention and, particularly, the structure of our criminal justice system. I cannot help but take that skepticism and critical eye to our structure of campus justice as well.

Still, my wife’s experience has also taught me a great deal. I have learned intimately about the devastating experiences of victims of both sexual violence and domestic violence and how fraught the process of prosecuting those case are even in non-criminal procedures. It is, frankly, harrowing and confronting perpetrators can be terrifying and traumatic itself. (Which is to say nothing of whether or not campus systems should abide by the confrontation clause — they should, though I do not necessarily see the issue with submitting written questions) I have pushed myself to apply my criticism of criminal justice in different ways — I also am deeply skeptical about retributive justice and do not share the inclination of some libertarians to trust the criminal justice system to take on all these cases. Broadly, the track record of appropriately managing cases of sexual and domestic violence is rather dismal. We should thus be both open and skeptical of other solutions.

But that is also the point here. The issue is both stark and incredibly complicated. There is not easy or straightforward solution. We should not blithely push aside serious constitutional considerations, especially as to the rights of defendants (or, in this case, the accused perpetrators). But I lack certainty in my position precisely because I know my conversations with my wife have slowly pushed my own position and made me confront the issue from the standpoint of victims.

And most of this departs from my real purpose here. This is a fraught issue that undoubtedly splits the right and left. Within our close personal relationships, be it family, friends, or wives and husbands, we should be weary of making politics personal. As Aaron Ross Powell has put it well, “Politics is Destroying Our Souls.” Instead, opening up to listening, learning, changing, and engaging is key, even if positions are not changed. Because if you believe politics is not personal, you can have the freedom to let it go. You might not be right anyway.

Final note: I do not intend to use this as a place to comment on the recent proposed rules at the Department of Education other than to say I think they are overall positive.