Tuesday, February 16, 2016

February 16th: A Giant and a Footnote

It seems rather fitting, really. After a lifetime of public service, it seems only appropriate that politics follow immediately after a man’s death.

Over the weekend, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away at the age of 79. The overwhelming first thought of the general public wasn’t to think about his nearly 30 years on the highest court. It wasn’t to think about his family and those who mourn his death. The first thought was: Who’s next?

The United States Supreme Court, until last week, primarily leaned to the right, with Justice Scalia serving as extremely conservative voice. With his passing, the court remains deadlocked at four conservatives to four liberals, meaning that the next appointee to the Court will wield a massive decision-making power.

Yet, in our haste to gain the political high ground, we fail to acknowledge the man behind the position. We rushed so hard to figure out the world in which we lived to even pay attention to the fact that someone is missing from it. Worse still, some Democrats were even caught celebrating the death and the timing, rejoicing in their good fortune that a human being is no more.

Not to be outdone in the “We Have No Clue How To Behave Morally” department, the Republicans made no attempt of their own to memorialize or eulogize their former judicial champion. No, instead, they began to scream at the top of their lungs about how unfair it is that President Obama gets to make another appointment (which will be his third), during an election season. Many have demanded that Obama wait and allow the next president to make the appointment, while still others threaten that they will filibuster any Presidential appointment made by Obama.

Here’s where things get really sticky: No real, true, honest-to-goodness Republican can get away with that. See, to be an honest political conservative, you must believe in strict adherence to the Constitution of the United States. And, upon actually reading the Constitution, you will find that Presidents do, in fact, serve for four years, not three years and until another party decides to start talking about a replacement. Well, if that President is in office, he or she has the power to nominate a new Justice that is qualified for the job. Which, by the way, does not mean “qualified assuming they believe what I believe,” but truly professionally qualified.

Having said all that, a true ideological conservative would be morally obligated to follow the legal dictation of the Constitution, which says Obama can, should, and must make a nomination. Anyone who says otherwise is compromising their place as a Republican and as a public servant.

Obama gets all four years of his second term in office. For Republicans in Congress to tell him that they will take away close to 330 of those days is unconstitutional and wrong. Once again, the politicians are proving themselves unworthy to represent Americans, something voters should remember on election day.

This week, we should be thinking about a man who dedicated his life to the law. We should be reading his decisions, whether we agree with them or not. We should be celebrating the life of a human being who will forever be an important part of the foundation of so much of this country’s history. We should be mourning the death of a human being.

Politics are important They help shape our lives, they help guide our decision-making and the way we interact with one another. Politics can have a huge impact. And yet, in the face of death, politics mean nothing. A man has died, and we owe it to his memory to have a moment of silence before the shouting. We shouldn’t be celebrating his demise, nor should we be plotting political games. We’re better than that. Or, at least, I hope we are.

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