Tag Archives: Kavanaugh

In Sickness and in Health

 

The test results came back. And the news is not good.

We have cancer. Stage 4.

This should surprise no one. We’ve been courting political cancer the way smokers court black lung, the way drinkers court rotted livers, the way junk foodies court heart disease. We know exactly the direction we’re headed, do little to change course — and are stunned when we arrive at trip’s end.

Such has occurred on a national, political scale. When 60% of residents vote in presidential elections, when 40% vote in midterms, when more citizens vote for the next American Idol than the next American president, malignant tumors are inevitable. Given the warm(ing), mossy climate we offered the malignancy, could we have wound up with anything other than Game Show President Syndrome? Related image

For us, the menacing odd-shaped mole appeared with the presidential election. Since then, the nation has responded to the diagnosis by experiencing four of the seven stages of grief, as codified by the American Psychology Association:

  • SHOCK & DENIAL — Did anyone believe their ears November 8, 2016?
  • PAIN & GUILT — How many people, looking back, wished they’d voted?
  • ANGER & BARGAINING — From the over-extension of the post-modernist left to the overreach of the American fascist right, we have proven lousy mediators.
  • DEPRESSION, LONELINESS — Trump may be the first president in history who gets people riled when he comes up — whether you’re for or against him. Opponents are furious he won; Supporters are pissed because their leader has convinced them they are ripped off rubes.
  • THE UPWARD TURN — Finding hope in small breakthroughs.
  • RECONSTRUCTION & WORKING THROUGH — Learning to rise and stare down that which felled you.
  • ACCEPTANCE & HOPE — Realizing you are doing what you should have been doing long ago, and praying it’s not too late.

The first four stages have already occurred. The question is what we do with the last three.

To be sure, there’s no guarantee we survive this — or that we’re even serious about the diagnosis. Our cancer-in-chief rejects science, believes global warming a hoax and gazes  directly into solar eclipses. He hired a doctor who told him he could live to 200. That’s the thing about cancer: It can’t recognize itself, only its victims.

And make no mistake, this cancer has metastasized to every region of the body politic. From the executive branch to Congress to the Supreme Court, it’s harder to find a body part that isn’t rotted than one that is.

Treatment’s gonna be a bitch. We’ll suffer hair loss (or at least the reforming of it in angles that defy modern physics). Image result for trump weird hair There will be much blood, screaming, loss of dignity. And we still may be too late.

But there are signs Americans are taking recovery seriously. They stopped a pederast from becoming an Alabama senator. They rejected rejecting universal healthcare. They look to a Perry Mason-type as their true top cop. Image result for muellerTwo women altered an historic Senate hearing this weekend by literally blocking an elevator door to be heard (and promising they’d be heard again come the Nov. 6 mid-terms). Image result for women flake elevator

Perhaps that is what ultimately defines the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, which are  less about the character of the candidate than character of the country. Image result for angry kavanaugh

Kavanaugh is the chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is on Nov. 6. Remember to fast: don’t eat, drink or watch anything 12 hours before the procedure. We’ve seen and swallowed enough.

T’was the Witch of November Come Stealing

 

 

Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court seems as certain as a Trump misspelling. Beneath a hurricane of political fuckery, he has sailed a relatively gentle wave to the highest court.

With a simple straight partisan vote, the Court will veer hard right. And when Ruth Bader Ginsberg kicks the bucket (she must be part granny cyborg), the Gang of Nine will completely lack a port bow. Image result for rbg working out

That’s terrible news for Roe v. Wade, whose tombstone is already being etched. Gay marriage must feel the ground tremble. And forget getting the Conservative Christian Citizenry (the KKK for the new millennium)  to bake cakes for people they don’t like.

But the CCC should be careful with its wish list.

In the 1930s, a conservative Supreme Court knocked down many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs aimed at hoisting the country out of the Depression. Statutes letting industries and unions set wages and prices, raising farm income and regulating the coal industry were declared unconstitutional, as was a New York minimum wage law. Image result for fdr's new deal

That helped fuel a 1936 FDR landslide that also gave Democrats 76 Senate and 334 House seats, Election Day majorities neither party has ever matched. The triumph paved the way for congressional control that Democrats didn’t relinquish until after World War II.

The same risks threaten liberal courts. Liberal decisions of the 1960s helped power Richard Nixon’s law-and-order rise to the White House in 1968. Rulings buttressing criminals’ rights, like the Miranda vs. Arizona decision requiring authorities to inform arrested people of their rights, provided potent ammunition for Nixon at a time of racial unrest and growing crime rates. Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” remains a firmament of GOP strategy. Image result for nixon racist

The 1973 Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortion has been backed by strong majorities of Americans but spurred the rise of the anti-abortion movement and helped galvanize political involvement by Christian conservatives. Both remain vital factors in American politics and a driving force for the GOP.

The disconnect between the court’s ideological leanings and voters’ preferences is a simple matter of timing. Unlike social tastes, Supreme Court nominees last a lifetime. And courts are slower than Hollywood at taking public cues.

So a nod to GOP strong arming. It’s made quite a splash.

But history moves in tides, not waves. Be careful what you ask for.