Facts, Conclusions, and a Suggestion

This is my second post following Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing.  It further addresses the issue of filling the vacancy created by her death.

Fact:  There is a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. 

Fact:  It is the President’s job to appoint a justice to fill that vacancy. (Const. Art II, Sec. 2, Cl. 2)

Fact:  It is the Senate’s job to advise and consent in regard to that appointment.  (Const. Art II, Sec. 2, Cl. 2)

Fact:  The Democrats say that neither Trump nor the Senate should go forward with this Constitutionally mandated process and that they will use whatever they can to stop him including attempted impeachment and threats of Court packing.  (See, e.g. Nancy Pelosi’s statement on ABC’s This Week, 9/20/20; Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass, Tweet, 9/19/2020)

Fact:  Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), said “The Supreme Court handles ‘the people’s business,’ ... Every day that goes by without a ninth justice is another day the American people’s business is not getting done.” (Sen. Schumer, Congressional Record, S.6116, 9/27/2016)

Fact:  Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) stated “The court needs nine justices to function properly. It is vital to our judicial system.” (CNN, 2/25/2016)

Fact:  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) stated “This is not just some TV show, right. ‘Eight is Enough.’ Eight is not enough on the United States Supreme Court. (Press Conference, 9/07/2016)

Fact:  Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): “With only eight justices instead of nine, the Court's decisions can deadlock with a 4-to-4 vote…. [T]here is a responsibility that we have in the Senate to ensure that we, in fact, have a full Supreme Court.” (Congressional Record, S.982, 2/24/2016)

Fact:  In 2016 Justice Ginsburg said that senators refusing to vote on President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court should recognize that a president is elected for four years not three. (Wash. Post, 9/7/2016)

Fact:  The U.S. Supreme Court is “the final arbiter of the law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution” (Supreme Court of the United States, https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/constitutional.aspx)

Fact:  Without all nine justices the court is not fully functional.

Fact:  If questions about the November election go to the Supreme Court, with only 8 justices the Court could deadlock in a tie, leaving the Nation in a Constitutional Crisis.

Fact:  Ours is a government of, for, and by the people. (Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, Nov. 1863)

Fact.  The People voted for the current President and current makeup of the Senate. (2016 and 2018 election results)

Fact:  The People also voted for the makeup of the Senate that existed in 2016. (2014 election results)

Fact:  The Democrats seek to block action by the people’s representatives to move forward on a justice to fill the current vacancy.  (See numerous Democrat statements demanding that any nomination and vote wait at least until November)

Conclusion:  The people are entitled to a fully functioning court as part of their government for which they voted through their representatives.

Conclusion:  The Democrats’ actions are attempts to block the rights and the will of the people.

Conclusion:  The Democrats’ current position is inconsistent with their 2016 assertions, indicating they will use or misuse the Constitution to serve their own purposes, not those of the people.

Conclusion:  The Democrats’ current actions do not support our Constitution or our form of government.

Conclusion:  The Democrats cannot be trusted to protect and preserve our Democratic Republic.

Suggestion:  We the voters should not vote to support giving any more power to the Democrats.

This should not be political, but NPCs help to make it so

The coronavirus pandemic is not a political issue and I wish people would stop treating it that way.  I happen to think that our President has for the most part done and is doing a good job handling this complex problem.  I also happen to think that my state governor, a progressive Democrat, is doing an outstanding job.  This is not a political issue and we do not need political rhetoric clouding things up.    

This pandemic and its effects are complex.  This is not a simple issue with a right and wrong answer.  It is a new issue that this country, this world, has never faced before.  No one has all the answers, and everyone is learning as we go along.  Learning is a key word here.  Everyone who wants to spout an opinion on this issue should take some time to educate him or herself about it first.  That means facts, not anecdotal evidence from one satisfied or dissatisfied person or business owner or victim of the virus.  And not following in the approach that so many currently take to newsworthy issues which is to simply spout the rhetoric of one or the other political parties.

There is a term NPC which originally referred to a non-playable character in a video game; that is, a character with whom other players can interact but which can only repeat programmed lines – it cannot think for itself.  The term has come to be used for those political minions who similarly do not think for themselves but only repeat programmed phrases – that is, they spout the party line without thought.

NPCs have been around for a while.   Now they spout their party’s politically correct phrases and positions about the coronavirus pandemic.  I used to see NPCs as primarily a Democrat phenomenon.  They would stick to their programmed dialog even when simple common sense proved it to be ridiculous.  For example, during the Kavanaugh hearings the Democrat NPCs all asserted that “women must always be believed when they claim sexual assault, even if there is no evidence to confirm their story and even evidence to contradict it.”  Now, with a seemingly credible allegation against Biden, the program has been changed to “all women must be believed, but only if they are accusing a Republican; when they accuse a Democrat we can dismiss their claim post haste.”

But now I cannot help but see the assault of NPCs and their programmed views coming from every political persuasion.   The Democrats and Anti-Trumpers first assert their same tired complaints:  President Trump is destroying the country, he does not know what he is doing, and, more specific to the virus – he is killing people.  They also assert that everything he does violates and/or destroys the Constitution and our government.  He acted too late.  He acted too early.  He should not let the governors decide.  He cannot make any national orders.  He must make national orders.  And, of course, he must be investigated.  Don’t ask the folks making these assertions to explain or support them – they cannot.  The only truth underlying them is that they either don’t like the President or don’t like his policies, or both.

But we also have the Republican NPCs.  Their current mantra is “Open Now!”  They have supplementary statements that they assert in support of this demand:  Closing businesses violates our rights; people have the right to choose; shut down orders violate the Constitution, not opening now will destroy the Constitution, the economy, and our country.  Do they have the science or the economics or the legal scholarship to prove any of that?  Of course not.  Sure, closing down and staying home orders do interfere with some rights or at least some activities, but they do so and are allowable for the public good.  These Republican NPCs have apparently conveniently forgotten that part of civics class – it seems to not be a part of their programmed lines. (They have also forgotten their old mantra of “we don’t need anything from the government” as they hold out their hands for stimulus and other benefits).

All these programmed assertions do nothing more than to prove some sort of ignorance, or at least an inability or disinclination to think things through.  For example, one cannot end with “just open up and let people choose whether to stay home, wear masks, etc.”   This reveals so much about what the asserter does not know.  First, the point of staying home, wearing masks, is to keep those who are asymptomatic from spreading the disease to others (and, if they bothered to look at facts they would know that huge percentages of us are asymptomatic, which is why we need things like sufficient testing and other data before opening up).  They would also understand that even if one is free to stay home, that might be a difficult choice if opening up means one has to choose between returning to a job or losing it by staying home.  These NPCs often claim they are demanding opening now for the workers, but would that really help those workers?  They claim decisions about what to open/close are unfair, but they do not have the details upon which these decisions were made; such assertions are just part of their politically programmed speech.

We have a pandemic involving a virus for which there is no treatment or cure and no vaccine.  It threatens the Public health of everyone in the country.   We have experts who update data and projections daily as they determine and regularly revise, based on new information, the best way to handle this public health crisis.  In order to flatten the curve – which was necessary so as not to overload healthcare and thus make the effects of the pandemic far worse – stay at home orders and business closures were put into place.  Of course these affected the economy and now those same experts are recommending a safe, data-driven and measured re-opening of business.  They provide clear criteria and a wealth of data to help each Governor make decisions and a reopening plan for his or her state.

NPCs are not interested in facts or data.  Here, by the way, is the link to a cite that provides a wealth of data, updated daily, about the corona virus, including state by state statistics and projections.  LINK.  Interestingly, when I shared this with a social media discussion about the virus populated mostly with NPC-type statements, the entire conversation was suddenly deleted.  Perhaps no one is really interested in facts. 

Generally, in this country we of late seem to suffer from a wealth of people who think they are experts on everything or at least anything about which they have an opinion.   Yet they do not educate themselves about that which they are opining.  Many of them are actually NPCs.   They are often wrong or incomplete in their statements and often insufferable in their thinking or lack thereof.  But annoying as it can be, such false belief in one’s own knowledge is usually not harmful; certainly not deadly.  Not so when we look at the coronavirus. 

Those false experts who are demanding anything and everything from opening fully now to never opening again, from asserting we must have more and more money forever to compensate those possibly injured by the virus or its economic effects  to those who would deny any and all financial aid, from those who see every well thought out cautionary and temporary restriction as the end of our Constitution and our life as we know it to those who assert that now is the time that mandates a complete restructuring of our government, all of these programmed assertions spoken without thought or support are dangerous.

We need to get the solution to this problem right.  We need to intelligently balance the health dangers with the economy.  This requires understanding and thought.  It cannot be done by NPCs.  Yet it is the voices of the NPCs who are at times drowning out those reasoned expert voices that we need.

There are those in this country who take the time to educate themselves about the science of the disease, who take the time to look at and understand facts, and to think for themselves.  These are the people who are looking at data, who are looking at various measured guidelines for reopening, who are understanding that it is a delicate balance between protecting the people from this serious health risk and from keeping the economy in a position where it can return to “normal” without too much hurt and delay when the time is right.

These people stand in stark contrast to the NPCs who simply spout politically driven opinions and demands about the virus and the economy.  Their leaders of course are trying to capitalize politically in any way possible from this pandemic and its effects on both health and economy.  Their leaders will use it to push their agendas and to trash those of their opponents as well as the opponents themselves.  The NPCs are their necessary minions.

NPCs and self-proclaimed experts (often one and the same) need to simply shut up until they are willing to actually think.   We all need to use our brains and our common sense to understand what is going on, to accept reasonable restrictions and inconveniences, and support all of our leaders as they do their best to get this right.  What we do not need to accept, and indeed should ignore, are the politically driven NPCs and their unhelpful and potentially dangerous comments.   

What the Kavanaugh Hearings Tell Us About America

Looking at the Kavanaugh nomination circus, anyone who has half a brain knows the process is broken, though sadly many choose not to see what they know.  So, what does this tell us – not only about the Kavanaugh hearings, but about America itself?  Let me suggest a few things.

We are losing America as we know it.   The original motto of our Country, adopted by act of Congress, in 1782, is “E pluribus Unum.”  That means “From many, one.”  Even though changed to "In God we trust" in 1956, "e pluribus unum" has been for 200+ years a perfect description of our country:  many diverse people with diverse views come together under one rule of law, set forth in the Constitution.  That Constitution’s guidelines allow us to hold our individual beliefs yet bind us together as one people who believe in liberty and justice for all.  It sets forth principles of due process which provide for fair and equal treatment and which are essential for any form of democracy.   Because we held our Constitution and the rule of law in high esteem, we were able to disagree, sometimes heatedly, about policy and actions of the country while at the same time all believing in and hoping for the success and vitality of our democracy and our country.

We have lost this.  With the rise of identity politics we have devolved into tribes, each concerned primarily with their own interests and not with the good of the country or of the individuals who make up one or another tribe.  We have become willing to ignore the rule of law and the Constitution as tribe fights against tribe.

The Kavanaugh hearing has become about women and the MeToo movement.  Dr. Ford has lost her individual identity to become simply a representative of the tribe of MeToo women.  That tribe seems to be at war with the tribe of white, conservative men as represented by Judge Kavanaugh, or simply the tribe of non-activist judges that one would anticipate a non-liberal president to appoint. 

Dr. Ford is not all women; she is one woman, one individual and this is one alleged event.  This is not a trial of all women vs. all men.  Yet that is what it seems to have become.  And, in so becoming we have thrown out the core democratic principles of due process.  Now, rather than evidence, what matters is who puts on the best show – who is the most “compelling” witness, who cries or does not cry, who is the most sympathetic.  We ask “should a man be brought to tears by what he claims is an unfounded allegation?”  Does that mean he is weak?  What we are doing is painting all men with one brush, not seeing each person as the individual he or she is.  We are one tribe against another.

We see the rise of tribes playing out in our elections as well.  We are told to vote for someone because they are a woman or a Native American or a Black or an Hispanic or an Immigrant or a Republican or a Democrat or a veteran or a Muslim or – the list goes on.  We no longer look for the candidate who is best for America, but the one who will represent the tribe that we may happen to favor.  Similarly, in the Kavanaugh nomination, we have forgotten about the Constitution and the qualifications of a Justice.  It has become nothing more than a battle for tribal power.

Looking at the Kavanaugh hearings, we should be alarmed by how little the Constitution means to so many.  We should be alarmed at how the media, rather than present facts objectively and fully to the people, participate as propaganda machines for one or another tribal interest.  It has almost become a game – whom do you believe?   It is little more than a reality show; I’m surprised they haven’t asked people to call in with their judgment – text 1 for Kavanaugh, 2 for Ford.  This is not justice, this is not due process, this is not representative of what the Constitution and this Country stand for.

The Kavanaugh circus, which has turned into a Show Trial and which ignores the rule of law demonstrates how easily we are able to ignore the Constitution.  This ignoring of process began when the Democrats sat on Dr. Ford’s allegation when they could have brought it forth in closed session during the original hearing.  The Democrats chose not to do so, but instead held it as a weapon, meanwhile finding a lawyer and Democrat operative to advise Ford.  Only when it seemed that Kavanaugh would be confirmed did the Democrats bring the allegation forward – not for Ford, but as a weapon against Kavanaugh.  At that point I wish Sen. Grassley had said, “too bad, too late, hearing closed.  Go bring your allegation in court.”  But he did not.  Because of fear of the MeToo coalition he put the rules aside and reopened the hearing.  Then, when the Democrats weren’t yet ready to present Ford we had delay upon delay upon delay as hearing deadlines came and went for things like her “fear of flying” which we learned from her own testimony is bogus.  Her lawyers wouldn’t agree to the committee's offer to come to Dr. Ford when they were under the impression she feared flying, but again, from Ford’s testimony it appears she was never told this was a possibility.  This all reeks of stall tactics not for justice or concern for Dr. Ford, but as part of the attack on Judge Kavanaugh and the tribe he represents, a tribe which has been declared the enemy of the Democrats.

This ease with which we ignore the rule of law that once held us together sets a very dangerous precedent.  In the Kavanaugh circus we have thrown out the rules because of fear of various tribal interests and emotional hysteria.  There is no due process for either party and the Constitution and rule of law have become a casualty as people justify the use of any means necessary to achieve their end goal of victory for their tribe.   This has become an example of mob rule, not rule of law.  In this case, by following the precedent that the rules don't matter, the vote on Kavanaugh could be delayed forever as the Kavanaugh opponents parade out allegation after allegation and demand investigation after investigation. Like Stalin's Beria, they have their victim, they will continue to search for the crime.  This case is especially troubling because of the way the Democrats have used Ford, demonstrating that they care less about the individual and her anguish than about their own political power.

But, beyond this case, we are seeing a precedent where we are willing to ignore the rule of law – the constitution – to serve political ends.  If we are willing to do that here, then really that document, the Constitution, that binds us all together with rights and responsibilities that apply to all, has lost its meaning.  And when it has lost its meaning then we as a country have lost our meaning – we are no longer one people, but a bunch of tribes each fighting for our own interests. 

This crisis of America did not begin with the Kavanaugh hearing.  It has been building for years – years long before Donald Trump even became a politician.  It is fueled by lack of education about the fundamentals of our government and objective history of our country and its place in the world.  It is fueled by a media that cares less about truth than about ratings and that is more than willing to become a propaganda machine for one or another group.  And, it is boosted by the use of identity politics that raise a tribal identity over the individual and then foment the hatred of one tribe against another.

America is now, however, at a true and important crossroad.  Will we continue on the path of tribalism, or will we stand against it and for the unified America that holds the Constitution and the rule of law as its unifying and guiding principle?  Will we assume that all people of a particular tribe think and act the same, or will we recognize people as the individuals that they are?  Are we willing to sacrifice our individual voices and the reason and fairness of the rule of law to a world where tribe fights tribe by suppressing all opposing voices?  Or, are we able to accept our imperfect democracy and work to save it?  Are we still able to welcome diverse voices and viewpoints all with a common cause of protecting and defending the Constitutional freedoms, rights, and responsibilities that have made America a shining example to the world for over 200 years? 

Now is the time to decide, because once we throw out our common purpose and its guiding principle, then it will be very hard, if not impossible, to get it back.   I truly believe that anyone who cares about this country and the freedom, justice, and fairness for which it stands needs to stand up and speak out now or I really fear what we will become.

The Crisis of the Crisis Song

Daily the Left tells us in one way or another that we are in a political crisis.  The song has many titles:  The Constitutional Crisis; the Crisis of Leadership; The Crisis of Democracy; The Partisan Crisis; The Resistance; Impeachment, The 25th Amendment, The Abnormal Political Times; and many others.

Any “political crisis” has been manufactured by those who want you to believe there is a political crisis.    That is not really a crisis, or if it is, the crisis is that so few understand how our democracy works and so are willing to blindly accept the daily assertions of crisis.

A few short examples are in order.  First, the Kavanaugh hearings.  Many of the Democrats seem to believe that the people are uneducated about our democracy and they were willing to try to exploit that.  There was the grandstanding of releasing “confidential” documents that knowingly had already been cleared for release, claiming it was to avoid the “constitutional crisis” of lack of transparency.  There was the edited video used in an attempt to smear the nominee.  But, beyond that there was the use of sad stories, court opinions that followed the law but ended up with a ruling against the more sympathetic party.  Anyone who would believe that a judge should ignore the law to instead rule in favor of currently popular emotion and policy knows nothing about our judicial system and is at best unclear about the Constitution.  And then of course there were the assertions that despite all evidence to the contrary, the Judge would somehow take some outrageous action against one or another identity group.  Finally, the Democrats seemed to want to talk more about the President, perhaps in an effort to discern whether or not the nominee would assist them in their never ending quest to remove Donald Trump from office; when the judge would not buy into this game of theirs they again asserted the “constitutional crisis.”

Another example is the anonymous letter in the New York Times claiming a deep state resistance within the President’s inner circle.  Aside from supporting the until now often dismissed claims of the existence of an anti-Trump deep state, what this letter and much reaction to it reveals is a frightening lack of understanding about our government.  While many on the Left cheer this “resistance,” do they not understand that in this country regime change comes via democratic election, not via white house intrigue and attempted coups by those who did not see their candidate prevail?   If this inner circle “resistance” actually exists, it is treasonous and is more befitting of dictatorships than our Democratic Republic. Failure to understand that is the "Constitutional crisis" if any such crisis exists.

But more than specific examples such as the above, is the fact that there is a constant assertion in this country by the Left that things are bad and it is all the fault of the President and that therefore we are in a “Constitutional Crisis” calling for removal of the President by Impeachment or other means.  But, other than the fact that those asserting this are still bitter about the 2016 election, there is really nothing on which to base their crisis song.  Depending on one’s perspective,  some things are better than before the election, some things are the same, some things are worse.  Certainly, the economy is thriving, and that gives us another example.  When the crisis singers have good news to deal with, they then announce that it will not last, and therefore there is a crisis so dire that we must remove the President.

We now have the former President breaking all precedent to go on a sour grapes tour not unlike that which Hillary Clinton embarked upon following her loss.  He who once said the jobs are gone, deal with it, and that he did not know how to bring them back, now claims that their return is somehow his doing and we should thank him and remove the current President who is in fact bringing us jobs.  Barack Obama has now joined the crisis chorus, seemingly simply because the current President does not agree with or continue the former's policies.

There are songs about the partisan hatred.  Well, in my opinion this did not begin in 2016, but I do believe it has been and is being fueled by the identity politics practiced so well by the Left.  If one wants to see hatred behind every corner, every misplaced smile or thoughtless word, so be it.  Again, that is not reason to remove a president.

The only crisis, really, is in these crisis singers’ heads.  The crisis is that they cannot deal with the fact that someone they did not choose was elected president and that his policies are often different from theirs.  These overwhelming emotions over their failure to get what they wanted are no more a crisis than are the histrionics of the teen who sees the end of the world when he or she does not get the desired date for prom.   Not getting one’s own way is simply not a crisis!

The real crisis is that so many who benefit from the many blessings of our government do not understand how that government works.  What they don’t understand is that in this country we elect a president and the winner often has policy positions that differ from those of the loser.  We do not oust the sitting and duly elected president by making everything into some sort of crisis that requires his removal.  We do not oust him by some sort of back room resistance.  We do not attack and demean those who voted differently or hold different positions on issues important to us.  And we do not attack our very form of government just because it did not work in our favor this time.

There is no Constitutional crisis but there clearly is an educational crisis.   Making every action or policy or person one does not like into a Constitutional crisis is not a mature way to deal with loss, nor is it a rational campaign strategy.   Rather than hours spent plotting for the removal of the President based on some crisis that exists only in their head, many would better use those hours reading the Constitution and taking a civics class.   And, those who do understand how our government works need to start demanding that those who delight in singing the crisis songs explain how they are anything more than emotional outbursts from those who are not getting their way and who do not understand why that is not a crisis in a democracy.

In the end, the crisis is not a crisis.  The song is nothing more than an emotional wail.  We need to start listening to something else.