They Know No Decency
Republicans in a Rush
Sen. Mitch "Beelzebub" McConnell, he of the cloven hoof and forked tongue, has been waiting for this moment for months, when news of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's battle with pancreatic cancer was publicized. Rapaciously rubbing his hands together, a demonic gleem in his eye, he confirmed that he would quickly hold a hearing on President Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Ginsburg.
His overwhelming hypocrisy in declining to give a Senate hearing to Judge Merrick Garland after Justice Scalia's death while stating, practically the moment Justice Ginsburg died, that he would rapidly convene a hearing for one of Pres. Trump's nominees, is appalling.
McConnell understands how important structure is in the political process, and he understands that the lifetime tenure of federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, can be everlasting in our declining democracy.
The Republican Mantra
His actions embody the truth about Republicans: they can't fight fair, so they fight foul.
They take their orders from Their Satanic Master, “Beelzebub” McConnell. He and his top minions — Sens. Cornyn, Blunt, Thune, and Graham — offer half-baked comments to the press, which fail to explain their complete lack of morality and decency. But, then, there are no arguments to justify their missing morality and decency; self-aggrandizing, clinging to power, they worship at the Cult of Personality, ethics be damned. Anything to allow them to stay in power, to gain at the expense of others, to betray the trust given to them as elected representatives, they will do anything —anything — to consolidate and increase that which they’ve acquired.
And their supporters, their constituents, don’t understand that they have been the victims of lies, deceit, betrayal of trust, and disloyalty to those principles on which this country was founded. Such are the costs of being congregants in the Cult of Personality.
Republican Hypocrisy
The recent case of Jerry Falwell, Jr. illustrates the two-faced approach of Republicans. While spouting about the need for a “moral educational system,” with strict, Puritanical rules and regulations (such as exist at Liberty University in Virginia), Jerry Falwell, Jr. allegedly lived a life wherein his love of luxury (and of being a cuckhold) were given free reign. Hanging out on luxury yachts, alcohol in one hand, an attractive girlfriend in the other, Falwell, Jr. is the latest in a string of embarrassments for the Southern Nobility-cum-Evangelistic-Elites that have entertained this country for many decades, maybe centuries.
Some will recall the misadventures of former Senator Gary Hart and his frolic with a model, Donna Rice, on the yacht inelegantly named Monkey Business. That scuttled his Presidential campaign in 1988.
Remembering that sorry episode, there will inevitably be criticism that “Democrats are just as hypocritical as Republicans.” That’s a false equivalency. Democrats at least try to advocate for better lives for the less-advantaged parts of our society: Blacks, Browns, Indigenous People, women, members of the LGBTQ+ communities. They have supported unions, which have resulted in the 40-hour work week, job safety, anti-discrimination legislation, worker education, child labor laws, and a whole host of other pro-people actions which have created a Middle Class and improved the quality of life in America from the 1930s to the 1980s.
Conversely, the Republicans were largely in favor of racism, misogynistic laws and school regulations, religious bigotry, xenophobia, and a slew of social, legislative, and political rules that have made us a divided society.
The degree of partisanship, the love of “trolling” and “owning” the so-called liberals, the tendency to disparage those fighting for justice, to assemble in alt-right vigilante groups, to villainize those who believe in the premises of our Declaration of Independence and the structure of our Constitution, that’s what many, if not most, Republicans of today support.
The Judicial Imprimatur
And they all recognize that “the Courts are the last bastion of privilege.” The Courts impose their judicial imprimatur on laws enacted to screw the ordinary person out of his/her rights, out of what’s best for the broadest section of society. “If a Court says it’s so, it must be so,” goes the thinking.
And the Republicans in power, with their army of lawyers lining up in rank behind them, know that “Justice delayed is Justice denied,” and so they file lawsuit after lawsuit, recognizing that the issues most urgently in need of rapid adjudication will languish in the court system for months, years, perhaps even decades.
(You and I measure the passage of time in hours, minutes, and seconds; judges measure it by the turning of month-at-a-glance desktop calendars…)
The result? The systemic racism of the United States, which has been here since the first English slave ship (the White Lion, a privateer) reached Pt. Comfort, Virginia in 1619, with “20 and odd” African slaves aboard, sold for “victuals.”
Since then, laws have been passed in the Old Dominion (Virginia), the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida — indeed, throughout the colonies, and, later, the United States — to perpetrate a socio-economic and political structure to keep Blacks “in their place” and to foster a slavery-based society. Courts have allowed the system of slavery to continue long past the time of the Emancipation Proclamation, the passage of the 13th Amendment, or “Juneteenth,” by supporting Jim Crow laws, restrictions on the right to vote, where to live, where to get educated, and the quality of life.
Laws have been passed to explicitly and implicitly authorize the genocide of the Indigenous Peoples who lived in North America for, oh, 14,000–15,000 years. Courts approved them.
Laws have been approved to authorize the rape of the environment. Courts approved them.
Laws have been passed to treat women as nothing more than mindless chattels. Courts approved them.
Laws have been passed to severely restrict immigration to this country, and to treat immigrants as a “necessary evil” in our society. Courts approved them.
And on and on and on it goes.
What Can be Done?
E-mails and phone calls to your Senator, calling for them to delay the Hearing until after the Presidential Inauguration. In the event that McConnell comes up with some archaic Senate rule that precludes a delay, put outsized public pressure on Republican Senators NOT to vote, given the immoral nature of having such a hearing so close to the election.
Sens. Collins, Murkowski, and Romney will probably vote “No,” on the Trump nominee, which is fine with the White House, since Vice President Pence will cast the tie-breaking vote.
However, Senator Grassley and maybe two others would possibly vote “No,” in which case another nominee would have to be provided by Trump.
These sound like desperate measures — and they are, but we are living in desperate times.
If a Trump nominee is voted in before the Election, it will mark the ending of American democracy.
Thus, it is vital that citizens’ groups actively, aggressively, vigorously do everything in their power to put an end to McConnell’s manipulations of our democracy. Vote him and his lackeys out of office, vote out Trump, and maybe, just maybe, our democracy won’t go down the tubes. But the odds are slim, so activism is vitally important to give ourselves a chance.
Justice Ginsburg’s Last Words and Final Wish
In a kind of Testament dictated a few days ago to her granddaughter, Clara Spera, Ginsburg said, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
For the religious among the Senate Republicans, perhaps it would be fitting to honor the last words and testament of Justice Ginsburg and refuse to vote on any Trump nominee.
That would be a fitting way to honor Justice Ginsburg and to leave her legacy that will last for many years.
