This is what stands out as most alarming about the new laws—how sweeping they are, broadly restricting the right to protest if these actions interfere with business, which is often the point.
"I don't think people in education out in the field really have an appreciation for how sweeping this is, and what it's going to mean," Mr. Griffith said.
As in recent civil-rights histories like Todd Purdum's "An Idea Whose Time Has Come" and Clay Risen's "The Bill of the Century," DuVernay shows how sweeping historical change is often the result of small acts of bravery and defiance performed in quiet, even hidden, corners of our shared national life.
Advisers said the ruling crystallized for Mr. Obama just how sweeping the chief justice was willing to be.
But with the economy fragile, a $2 billion budget gap looming, and expensive union contracts for the next mayor to negotiate, it is hard to see how sweeping tax cuts now is the most responsible and productive thing to do.
Some will be inclined to reject the first premise and argue that if the manipulation is sufficiently complex, despite how sweeping and pervasive it might be, such an agent will in fact act of her own free will and be morally responsible for what she does.
Over the weekend, Google revealed how sweeping its ambitions truly are: the company purchased Boston Dynamics, a robotics firm best known for products like Big Dog, a four-legged device that carries cargo across rough terrain, and the Cheetah, which can run faster than Usain Bolt.
How sweeping the new security rules will be is yet to be worked out between ferry companies, government officials and the Coast Guard.
And politically, it would have been much more clever months ago, before the Senate bill raised expectations for how sweeping a reform should be.
