Romney and The Supremes

 It's time to begin considering the ramifications of a Romney (R-Money) administration; the results of which will continue to stink up the joint long after many in my generation have shifted this mortal coil. The obvious dangers to the republic are manifest, they include many the many steps backwards that an emboldened Republican Party may initiate, steps that are apparent in the many states with Republican majorities and with Republican governors.

 One need only to look at what is happening in Arizona, Florida, etc to see that efforts to rollback safety net provisions are moving forward at breakneck speed. The attacks on labor unions are legion; Republican legislators in Florida have written eleven out of eleven amendments to the Florida constitution, all with an eye out for special interests, they are complicit, along with in state and out of state money in trying to replace three of the Florida Supreme Court justices who are nor sufficiently right wing for their taste, they are attempting to do in Florida what they were successful to do in Iowa.

Historically, the basic differences between Democratic and Republican administrations were mostly superficial and cosmetic; the interests of the country seemed to override any petty political differences, at least at  the federal level. I believe that the post-WWII mindset had much to do with that, most, if not all, politicians at the federal level were veterans of the war and experienced first hand the horror of nations bent on destroying their best and brightest people; and still reeling from the horrific memories of what man is capable of doing to their fellow human beings.

 Now, lest anyone think my view of the past is hindered by pink gauze covered glasses, it is not; I am fully aware of the idiocy perpetrated by some during period, it had not taken on the legitimacy that we see in the Republican Party of today. Let's not forget that Brown v Board of Ed occurred under a Republican President and that efforts at integrating schools in the South were also carried out out by the Republican President at the time, Dwight Eisenhower. it is also useful to understand that the loony bin contingent of the party was pretty much kept at bay by the more sane party elders. As a matter of fact, that entire loony segment of the party was defeated in the elections of 1960, although some would say not by much.

 That brings us forward to today, and while there are good people on both sides of the aisle,  I will not ascribe the rubric of false equivalences to both sides. It is the Republican Party who is leading the country in a head long race to the bottom. it is this congress that has wasted so much time and money on thirty-three separate attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a congress better known for its absence than its presence. It is the party whose leaders have dedicated itself to blocking and otherwise hindering any efforts at repairing the economy by not approving a jobs bill and getting on with the work of repairing the infrastructure pit in place by past Democratic and Republican administrations. It is this Republican Party at the federal, state, and local level who are dismantling an education system that has served the nation well for many years. This party seems to forget the greatest among us were educated in this system.

 This is the party that refuses to acknowledge that science and critical thinking have a very important place in the national dialogue. This is the party that wants to ascribe personhood to zygote while ignoring the needs of those past the incubation period. This is a party that views, in the words of it candidate, people who believe they are entitled to food, safety, and a general sense of well being as a drain on society. This is the party of freeloaders, willing to give the most to the richest and scraps to the rest.

 I realize I may have taken a bit of a circuitous route to get to the scariest of all ramifications in a Romney (rMoney) administrations, the Supreme Court. It is without saying, at least in my opinion, the most important of three branches of government. While it has often stepped on its' proverbial dick, it has also led this nation out of the darkness of its past. It may move at a glaciers pace, it has, historically done the right thing, ruling as it has on some of the most contentious issues facing this nation, sometimes creating even more controversy.

 Four of the nine Justices on the Supreme Court are in their mid-seventies, and while I'm not praying for their early demise, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that at some point some will die or retire. It will then allow the sitting president ability to name their replacements, and if past is prologue, you can me certain that some Scalia clone or two just may make the cut, especially true with a Republican president and a Republican Congress.

 It is a scary proposition, and one my progressive friends don't talk about much, it is likely that a Romney (rMoney) may only last four years, but a Supreme Court appointed by him will last many years. He has already stated his admiration for Scalia and a Scalia clone appointment to the Court is within the realm of possibilities. This does not necessarily mean that Obama won't make some boneheaded decision to appoint someone in order to achieve some idiotic concept of  'bipartisanship', but it is up to us to make him understand that that ship has sailed.


I leave you with Matthew 25: 40

Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me...