Our Democracy

Brett Kavanaugh is probably well qualified, academically, for the Supreme Court. 

I don't know this, but I grant him this. 

But that is not my problem with him. I did not like what I saw as he testified during the spectacle we witnessed last week.  I am a citizen of this country and I feel that I’ve been railroaded today. None of my concerns have been validated by those who represent me.  And neither have theirs.  That’s because one political party holds power in all three branches of government.

The Republicans who control our Senate, have virtually ignored every dissenting opinion in Congress in order to get this guy into a life-long post as Justice. The FBI “investigation” begun on Friday last, turned into a sham and produced no new information. This is because the White House orchestrated the parameters around which the FBI was allowed to work.

Today the Senate votes on cloture, a preliminary vote that does not mean much as far as I can tell. It is said to move the vote forward, however; in other words, the Senators will vote again tomorrow.  According to this vote today, Kavanaugh has won cloture 51 to 49 and Senators like Susan Collins of Maine, having falsely agonized over their decision now show their true stripes.  Party over conscience.  She turns out to be like all the rest and her declaration of why she will vote yes tomorrow makes it obvious.  

Kavanaugh does not appear to be a nice person, at least as he has represented himself on TV. His demeanor as many have stated after viewing him last week, is not what one would call judicial. He has an ugly temper and went on a rant about the Democrats’ revenge for his role assisting Ken Starr in the Clinton hearings. I don’t remember this, but it was this unnecessarily snarly defense that so outraged many of us who watched. 

The allegations of early drinking and sexually abusive behavior are one thing, but as bad as they sound, we cannot hold a seventeen year old accountable for bad behavior 36 years after those incidents. I believe it is, however, an indication of character, displayed with a vituperative and arrogant surliness not becoming anyone seeking public office. He is not seventeen today and he must own this.    

It is his record (and writings) on the power of the presidency that worries me most:  as I understand it, Kavanaugh believes the presidency is inviolate; ie, the person holding that office can get by with almost anything, including acts against the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, Fraud, Tax Evasion, and can, if it behooves him, even pardon himself.

Our system of “checks and balances” so lovingly set up by our patriotic forefathers, those who believed that the people we sent to Congress to represent us, would be non-partisan and work together for the good of the country, has not been working. There are no "checks" on a runaway Senate controlled by the partisan Mitch McConnell.  

The people we have in Congress, by and large, have little sense of patriotism – love and pride in our system of government.  They are there to enrich themselves and their friends and families.  They are there in order to acquire power and hold on to it – they vote in order to keep themselves in office. (Term limits, anyone?)  What happened to Conscience, Country and lastly Party?   Eh, Lindsey Graham?  

Kavanaugh is one of their kind. 

This man is not fit to sit on the Court.

And they who put him there are not fit to hold a seat in Congress. 

This president will never be impeached. Indeed, he will be pardoned. 

He will pardon himself.         

Things Need to Change

Does anyone think that the Anonymous Op-Ed coming from the WhiteHouse is anything other than a pathetic attempt to soothe someone’s conscience?

How can I express the disgust I have for those surrounding the President, who despise what he’s doing but don’t have the spine to do anything about it? 

And then there’s our flaccid Congress, (a critical check on the presidency provided for in our Constitution) which should have stepped in months ago to begin Impeachment Proceedings within the House.  But of course the one to begin such proceedings would be the Speaker who somewhere along the way (along with McConnell and Graham and numerous others) has dumped his patriotism into the trash bin and covered it up with a sycophantic eagerness to allow this president to get away with anything.  

Why? 

It doesn’t make sense to me.  They know Trump cannot continue in office and will eventually resign or be removed. Where does that leave them in the annals of history once he’s gone?

And then there’s Kavanaugh. Do they think that confirming him for the Courts will not only save Trump but them too?

Let’s talk about Kavanaugh: on the second day of confirmation hearings, he refused to answer the question that we are all concerned about:  should the president be allowed to self-pardon?  It was a hypothetical question, he said, that he was not prepared to answer.  

Hello? Hypothetical today, perhaps, but reality likely tomorrow.

Where are our Nathan Hales?  Where are our Thomas Paines? Our JFKs:  “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

These men and women in Congress are supposed to represent us. We are supposed to be their constituents.  But no, it doesn’t work that way anymore.  They do not represent us.  They do not work for us.  They work for themselves and that is their main purpose for running for office – to enrich themselves and their families and to stay in power. 

Some things need to be changed, like term limits. One term only extended, perhaps, for House and Senate.  Come in, do your job and go back home. It is an honor to serve one’s country. Perhaps, this would remind them that it is a privilege not a payoff.

Things need to change.

And soon.