While You Wait

Today is the big day!  We all, well us political geeks, are waiting for the decision from SCOTUS on Obamacare.  No matter which way it goes there will be a wealth of surrogates sprinting to the closest mic to spout the party talking points (thank God for the House gym that keeps all these toads in shape for sprints like this one)…….

While you sit on the edge of your chair waiting nervously for the big announcement let me give you something to think about…….America is in the midst of radical change…..wait!  What do I mean?

James Fallows of the Atlantic has summed it up very well, indeed…..

This is distilled from a longer item earlier today, at the suggestion of my colleagues. It’s a simple game you can try at home. Pick a country and describe a sequence in which:

  • First, a presidential election is decided by five people, who don’t even try to explain their choice in normal legal terms.
  • Then the beneficiary of that decision appoints the next two members of the court, who present themselves for consideration as restrained, humble figures who care only about law rather than ideology.
  • Once on the bench, for life, those two actively second-guess and re-do existing law, to advance the interests of the party that appointed them.
  • Meanwhile their party’s representatives in the Senate abuse procedural rules to an extent never previously seen to block legislation — and appointments, especially to the courts.
  • And, when a major piece of legislation gets through, the party’s majority on the Supreme Court prepares to negate it — even though the details of the plan were originally Republican proposals and even though the party’s presidential nominee endorsed these concepts only a few years ago.

How would you describe a democracy where power was being shifted that way?

SCOTUS was originally created to be the referee between the Executive and Legislative branches….and since those days it has morphed into something radical and out of control……they have long since moved from neutral referee into a party arm…..and no matter which way the vote goes…they are helping create an America that no one respect…….