At this point in our American democracy it can be reasonably argued that decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States are at best, highly questionable and at worst just short of a political joke. And since the appointment of three (3) Justices by the former The Donald J. Trump of the United States of America, somewhere in between that “at best” and “at worst” assessment, it is hard to label these SCOTUS decisions as anything other than Party tainted: That is, whether decisions are made in favor of the interest of the Republican Party or against it, Party is definitely taken into consideration when making rulings. To make matters worse, Mr. Trump has constantly added fuel to that fire of questionability by referring to SCOTUS Justices that were confirmed and seated during his tenure as occupier of the Oval Office as “my judges” or “my Justices.” And whenever those Justices have supported rulings that he disagreed with, he has openly railed against the Supreme Court and lamented the incompetence and lack of courage of its Republican Justices.
To say that these decisions are highly questionable is not meant to suggest that these SCOTUS Justices are not decent people or that their aim in making decisions is to intentionally undermine democracy or the will of the majority of the American people in order to help the minority and hurt the majority, or to help the political party that they are affiliated with. The unfortunate thing is, however, that since the Mr. Donald J. Trump era – and his appointment of three (3) Justices to the Supreme Court, there is now so much more room to question SCOTUS decisions because of doubt that Mr. Trump brought about during his time in office due to his myriad lies and unorthodox so called leadership. I remember the high level of confidence that I had in the unbiased decisions that I believed that the SCOTUS would make even if I disagreed with those decisions. Can you recall the time when you felt that way too?
I said that what I stated in the first paragraph of this piece is not meant to suggest that these SCOTUS Justices are not decent people. And I mean that. But I do mean to suggest that since Mr. Trump was elected The Donald J. Trump of the United States of America, politics has suddenly taken a major leap in the effect that it has on how the Court functions overall. Are these Supreme Court Justices now Justices in name only and in reality simply Senators and Representatives in black robes? SCOTUS Justices are granted their “for life” positions in order to assure that they will make their decisions based on their interpretation of the law and not out of loyalty to their party or fear of any kind of political retribution.
As far as how one might define a decent person, are virtually all of the Republicans in the House and Senate not decent people because of the way that they are conducting themselves out of political ambition right now? What about former Vice President Mike Pence as regards the op-ed that he just wrote referencing the 2020 election and its widespread voter fraud and what appears to be his proclivity to ignore the January 6, 2021 failed coup by Donald J. Trump supporters that could have cost him his life? And what about all of the false statements that he has made about the 2021 HR-1 bill, the For The People Act; does this make him not a decent person?
It seems reasonable that any person, regardless of whether they are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, can see that these Republican politicians in Washington and around the country are ignoring democracy and the Constitution and blindly pursuing their political ambitions full throttle. The 33 or more Republican controlled state legislatures around the country that are striving to pass laws that will disenfranchise voters attests to this. For example, what kind of sense does it make for Georgia’s state legislature to put forward a bill that would make it a crime to provide food and or water to voters waiting in line to vote?! The only purpose of this is to make it more likely that those waiting in line will become so hungry or thirsty that they will give up waiting to vote and go home! It seems that the main concern of these politicians is to stay in power regardless of what the majority of Americans – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – want.
It is unlikely that Republican voters around the country are not able to decipher what is happening and why it is happening. But since these Washington Republican politicians and other Republican politicians throughout America are operating using fear tactics and appealing to their constituents based on those constituents’ deepest and darkest fears, they have been extremely successful in convincing their more reasonable constituents who are not a part of the cult-like Trump base to tolerate their political antics. With their confidence buoyed by this success, they are living in the moment: they have power now and, to them, that is what counts. It appears that Donald J. Trump, the former The Donald J. Trump of the United States of America, has taught them well.
Finally, President Joe Biden emphasized before he was elected and has continued to emphasize since his election that he wants to use bipartisan legislation accomplishments in the congressional legislative process in Washington to unify Democrats and Republicans there and thereby unify all of the American people. He has insisted on reaching across the aisle to Republican lawmakers in an effort to create this unity. He has also often talked about compromise and the necessity of working with Republicans to legislate and move America forward together.
But is unity even possible with the Republican Party as it exists today? In order to have unity in a two party system it is inevitable that compromise must be involved. This raises the question of how does anyone compromise with those who refuse to recognize and accept obvious facts and the truth? Since Republicans continue to push Mr. Donald J. Trump’s “big lie” by overtly or tacitly saying that President Joe Biden is not a legitimate president and that Mr. Trump is still the president and refuse to acknowledge that the January 6, 2021 insurrection was carried out by Trump supporters, how can that not be a non-starter?!
Given the circumstances, perhaps President Biden and the Democrats should just go it alone to equitably conduct the business of the American people. Perhaps Democrats should increase the number of Justices on the Supreme Court? Perhaps they should get rid of the filibuster? Perhaps those centrist Democrats, like Senator Joe Manchin, who are so willing to side with Republicans to gum up legislation that will address the dire needs of Americans due to the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, should revisit their rationale and maybe that will cause them to rethink their political calculus. Perhaps Democrats should do all of these things; after all, so far Republicans are sticking together no matter how ridiculous their positions on the issues are.
I have heard a number of commentators on the cable news shows that I watch talk time-and-time again about how, even in the midst of success, that Democrats fret and wonder about what will happen if they should make a mistake in the midst of this success; a mistake that would cause them to lose this success and force them to return to operating as they had been before that successful situation came about. And with this in mind, they become frozen by their fear and become much less effective in passing much needed legislation that will help the majority of the American people; Democrats, Republicans and Independents. This is exactly what the Republicans want when they are the minority party and not in power. Democrats play right into their hands and Republicans rule whether they are the minority or majority party.
Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said that “if you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” It certainly appears that Democrats fall into the anxious category of Lao Tzu’s words of wisdom. Having said that, someone needs to come up with something to help us Democrats out so that when we are in power we will focus on living in the present; that way, we will be at peace and can boldly move forward with or without Republicans and conduct the business of the American people. This is especially true in the wake of the grave damage that has been done to the American democracy by the former The Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and virtually the entire Republican Party that has knelt, kissed his ring and pledged allegiance to him. It is understandable that President Biden wants unity and bipartisan legislation as he leads America forward. But if that unity is not possible, we must move forward anyway: And we must do that now!
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line