So, here is the play book:
Accuse a good man of poor character, based on unsubstantiated
allegations and his denial, then, argue that the man is not qualified because
of his poor character. Continue to
demand investigation upon investigation, forever if necessary, until he is
eliminated. (Even before its release, the Democrats claim that the FBI
investigation is not sufficient and demand more)
I can think of several labels for this: Catch 22; Salem Witch Trials; McCarthyism; Kafkaesque;
Black lynchings in the segregated South; Stalin Show Trials; the Inquisition. None of these should be part of America in
the 21st Century.
Perhaps the political assassins don’t think we will
notice. They distract us with all sorts
of red herrings (A “red herring” is defined as “something, especially a clue, that is or
is intended to be misleading or distracting.”). Failure to produce classified documents;
questionable and unfounded allegations; media frenzy about whom to believe and
who put on the better “performance.”; juvenile humor in a high school yearbook;
claiming outrage of a man who claims his innocence is proof of his poor
character; the need to believe women and treat them with special care; etc.
etc.
These questions are red herrings. The country’s obsession with them is
distracting us from the violation and rape of the Constitution that is
occurring under our noses as the Democrats turn their role of Advice and
Consent into an inquisition designed to serve their own political agenda to the
detriment of our Country and with the destruction of a man and his family as
some sort of collateral damage.
What we have is a good nominee who was faced with false
accusations the investigation of which may have found some less than honorable
episodes or words in his youth. Let’s
remember that we are all human, none of us is perfect, and if we search hard
enough we will find some less than honorable event in the life of everyone,
even a saint.
What we are witnessing is political assassination by a group
of people who are unwilling to accept the fact that they are not in power, that
the people of this country elected a president the Democrats do not like and
that the election was a signal that their policies were not the direction that
the country wanted to go. This
assassination attempt in itself is bad enough, but it sets a precedent for
future behavior as well as a warning to anyone who might seek public office in
the future. This smear and scare campaign
is detrimental to us all.
It is apparent today that many are willing to ignore the
Constitution when they believe that it furthers their political or social
agenda. There are many pretexts for this
act of ignoring the constitution, all of which are nothing more than excuses
that boil down to justifying “by any means necessary” to get one’s way. There are small excuses: “this is just a job
interview” (of course, questions such as many of those being asked of Kavanaugh
would be impermissible and often illegal at a job interview). There are the rumblings of underlying
revenge: for failure to put Merrick
Garland on the bench, for the nomination of a constitutional conservative,
simply for the fact that the country elected Donald Trump. And, some come from the “social justice
warriors” who in the case of the Kavanaugh hearing seem to less concerned about
the questionable allegations here than in fighting for justice for all women or
against all men or at least powerful men.
The problem with ignoring the constitution in this social justice battle
is that it is that very constitution that allows those warriors to fight their
battle.
Our country is far from perfect, but it is our country’s
democracy and its Constitution that allow us to improve ourselves. It was the 1st Amendment and its
freedoms of speech and assembly that allowed the suffragettes to be heard and
gain the vote for women. Similarly, it
was our Constitution that allowed the civil rights movement to arise and become
successful. It is the Constitution that
allowed the President to enforce the orders for school desegregation. Without the freedoms and the rights provided
to the people in the Constitution these movements and many others could have
been stopped before they even began.
In this era of the 24-hour news cycle, of social media, of
the need for instant gratification of every desire, it is hard to have the
patience that a democracy requires. On
top of that, people are encouraged in intimidation tactics when, because of
those very tactics, even our representatives are afraid to stand up to them and
for what is right. We must not
let the screams of hatred and anger from his opposition intimidate us into
complicity with and authorization of this horrendous political assassination
tactic. We must remember that we are a
country with a constitution and the rule of law and basic concepts including
innocence until proof of guilt.
Changes happen, but they happen slowly. Most importantly, they happen via and because
of the rule of law. Those who want to
rectify all the wrongs instantly and without the process that democracy
requires are making a huge mistake. I
can perhaps understand the emotional need for instant results, but that need is
complicit with those who would change our constitutional democratic republic to
some other form. The red herrings that
they conjure and present may seem to be the key issue but they are not. They distract those who, in the passion and
sincerity of their plea for change, fail to look beyond those red herrings and
see the bigger picture along with the underlying and real issue of the method
by which they are seeking change.
In the case of Judge Kavanaugh the tactics used from the
beginning have not been for the people, not for the accusers, not for women,
not for justice. They have been only for
political power of those who now find themselves out of power and are hoping
that will change with the midterm election.
No one should stand by and let this happen; no one should stand by as if
this were OK. We are seeking a qualified jurist. Judge Kavanaugh is that. It is because he is that, because he cannot
be challenged on his credentials, that the smear campaign was undertaken.
At this point, anything other than a Yes vote on his
nomination sends a frightening message to our leadership – that all the stops
are out, all systems go – assassinate at your will, ruin families and lives,
all for your own power and with complete and total disregard for the people
whom you were elected to represent. This
is not the playbook that we should be using in America.
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