Supreme Court showdown

As I write this, the Dems in Congress are filibustering the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. And all indications are that the Republicans are going to exercise the "nuclear option" of eliminating the filibuster and place confirmation of the seat to a simple majority - which they control. So, why is this a crisis that leads me to twit longer?



In the privacy of my home or car, you may see me talking to myself when I play the game of "Presidential Press Conference". In this game, I am the imaginary candidate for President and I face down questions from the press. It's a very actor-y method of thinking out loud and positing, "hm, what would I do?". I have often posed the question to myself, "would you have any kind of a litmus test for Supreme Court nominees?" and my answer is always the same ---



"I absolutely would. If the court were weighted to the right I would nominate from the left. If it were weighted to the left, I would nominate from the right. If it were in balance, I would nominate an absolute centrist".



"Why", the imaginary press fires back. And I answer ---



"The judicial branch of our government has to be politically neutral if it is to truly represent our country. Despite all indications to the contrary, our country is politically neutral -- neither more aggressively left than right, or vice-versa. I want our supreme judiciary to be the best minds that both conservatives and progressives can provide. I want them in balance so that every issue brought before them must be fully examined and fully debated. And if that is the case, then our country can accept their rulings as being of the highest integrity, with the least partiality and with the greatest benefit to the country as a whole. To politicize or jerry-rig our courts, especially our Supreme Court, is hubris and should be considered an abomination".



Congress is about to pervert our system. It is about to impose the will of some over the will of all without so much as a public hearing and certainly without a public vote. The Conservatives in the guise of Republicans and in the specific form of Mitch McConnell threw away all precedent and unilaterally decided that a sitting President with over a year left to his administration was no longer allowed to do his legal and constitutional duty and fill a Supreme Court vacancy. They refused to even meet with his nominee who had long ago been vetted and approved by the majority of both parties. This was not an ideological nominee. Merrick Garland was a moderate and a centrist, advocating equally for both classically conservative and progressive causes and cases. And he got not one moment of consideration from any Republican.



But now, they want to throw away hundreds of years of precedent again and abolish a long standing tradition in order to shove an ideologically ultra-conservative judge down the gullet of this nation -- because at this moment in time, they can. And whose fault is all this? Ours. All of us.



This is the result of how we have voted and not voted since this century began. It is because of what we have tolerated and ignored for 17 years.



We are the most divided nation I have experienced in my 57 years. We loath and vilify each other for our political beliefs. We even wish harm or ruin to the other side. We are not the United States. We are far from it. And it is our fault.



I have traveled this country and talked to hundreds of people that do not share my political beliefs. And in the vast, vast majority of our talks, I have discovered one thing: we all pretty much want the same things. We simply differ on how to achieve them.



No Progressive celebrates an abortion, just as no Conservative rejoices over the befouled water in Flint, Michigan. No Progressive delights when an American citizen is harmed or killed by an illegal alien, just as no Conservative shouts "hallelujah" when innocent school children are gunned down by a madman. Conservatives want clean air and water, strong roads and bridges and tunnels, fair and accessible health care, beautiful parks and beaches, fair trade practices, honest and open journalism. Progressives want safe streets, strong military and police, faster and better access to prescription drugs, personal freedoms and personal responsibilities and the fairest possible system of taxation. We want most of the same things. We only argue about how to get there.



Conservatives think there is better security to be had in more people with more guns, Progressives disagree. Progressives feel that undocumented immigrants that have been contributing to our country and economy should be given special consideration in regard to permanent status, most Conservatives might disagree. But neither side wants unsafe streets or murders or families ripped apart or good people harmed.



So who do we entrust to do the negotiating, the compromising, the hard work of collaboration that result in laws and regulations and projects and programs to move us toward the results we all commonly agree we'd like to achieve? Congress and the White House.



But who do we elect? Partisans. Ideological demagogues who serve party and ideology over people and country. Self serving fools who can't face a town hall. Cowards. Dopes. Liars. And what motivates them? Money. Why do we have Fox and MSNBC, the NYT and Breitbart? Because a small group of people are making and manipulating fortunes off of us. A former neo-Nazi skinhead whose life story I tried to produce once told me an amazing story about his hate mentor - WAR founder and leader, Tom Metzger. My friend, when he found himself finally questioning his hatred for others, asked Metzger what WAR would do if they achieved their goal of eliminating African-Americans and Jews and homosexuals and the like from our country. He wanted to know what WAR would do the next day. And Metzger said to him, "Start on hair color, I guess. Our power, our purpose and our livelihoods are based on our ability to make people hate. So we just make them hate something else". For power. For money. Do you think for one minute that isn't at the root of those who livelihoods are provided by keeping all of us divided?



For most of my life, we have had rules and systems to prevent the dissolution of our commonality by these people. But now, because we have thrown them red meat to feast on or worse - turned a blind eye as they devour whatever they choose, those systems and regulations and rules are being dismantled and disregarded. In principle, half the country will be pleased and the other half disavowed. Until the power shift switches again, which it always does and always will until they find the way to manipulate even our votes.



Mitch McConnell is going for the hat-trick of party and power over people ---

1. "The Republicans singular goal during the Obama Administration is to make him a one term President" - and oh, how they tried. They denied him nominees, refused to fill empty positions, refused to allow votes to the floor, blocked bills (even those of their own making), refused to vote for or against action in Syria and put every failure on him and the successes on themselves.



2. He singularly declared that Obama's nomination of a centrist nominee for an empty Supreme Court seat should never be considered and unilaterally decided that only the next President could fill that seat. No one gave him that power or authority. And no one gave it to his party either. And no one should. But he bullied it through anyway.



3. He is now willing to trash one of the most important tools that protects the demand for a 60 percent majority to confirm a lifetime position of Supreme Court judge - the filibuster. He does not concede his duplicity and manipulation in denying it to Obama. He laughingly declares his party has been wronged and that this is their/his right. And so, he will remove the safeguard that protects both parties from having a politically tarnished, ideologically unbalanced court.



Having an judge that is acceptable to the American people at a whole at a time when the integrity, honesty, patriotism, intelligence and intention of our White House is held in serious question is paramount to prevent large scale national distress. But McConnell and his party don't care. They want power and the protection for it. They will clearly abandon half this country and in the long run, when their ineptitude and true motives have been fully revealed, they will be discovered to have not even served the people who believe in them.



If we allow it.



Bombard your Senators. My Conservative and Republican friends with whom I've enjoyed so many enlightening conversations and so many positive meetings of our respective minds ---- don't let this happen. Even if you like this nominee - his path is wrong and hurtful. He is not worth throwing away our rules and protections. Change the nominee. There are so many good ones. That's what the Democrats are asking for. The eventual nominee will be conservative - but let's not make them an ideologue. IF our Congress cannot come together and agree on a proper judge - do not shove one down the country's gullet.



it is time for our elected reps to start working for us, for our country and stop working for party. Both parties are here to stay or be replaced by something dark and dangerous. So let's just agree we must get them working together. They have done it in far darker and more stressful times. They can do it now. But we must make them. Together.



Thanks for reading. My best to you and your loved ones.

JA

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