Observing the nominating process for appointing Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, the mariner perceives that the Tea Party conservatives are more of a threat to Mitch McConnell than moving forward with hearings of ‘advice and consent’ as the Constitution prescribes. This deterrent to normal Government operation has been the downfall of the established Republican Party and made the President’s life miserable because of blind obstruction that is void of logic.
In yielding to extreme party influence, the Republican Party has slept with the devil and can only lose no matter what the party does. After seven years of disruption to government process under Mitch’s hand, the established party is in shreds. Many will say that political ineptitude has allowed Donald, neither a republican nor a conservative nor allegiant to any ideology, to take over the 2016 campaign.
But there is another more subtle disruption to Constitutional governance that is a dangerous precedent if Mitch is allowed to move forward: the undue influence of populism in the Constitutional process. The founding fathers were careful not to allow citizen emotions of the moment to have access to the machinery of the Federalist Republic. One example is that citizens did not elect their Congressional Senators until 1913 (17th Amendment).
Mitch, on the other hand, says that the people deserve the right to have a say in who will be the next Supreme Court appointee. Fearing the Tea Party’s ability to cut short his career, Mitch has opened the doors of Supreme Court selection to public influence in general elections. The founding fathers must be rolling in their graves. The Constitution deliberately shields the judicial branch of the Federal government from public opinion. Only an elected President – and he/she is constrained by the Senate – can appoint any judge in the Federal Courts or the Supreme Court. The deliberate and obvious intent of the Constitution is to assure that the third branch of government is as free as possible from the momentary pressure of the citizens and the other two branches of government. Jurisprudence must be as pure as possible in an open democracy.
Mitch is messing with the intent of the Constitution and its most subtle requirements for governance.
Ancient Mariner
Ain’t it amazing that the party which supposedly touts itself as beholden to the Constitution in the strictest sense is so quick to ignore it? Mencken was correct when he said,” Democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”
Oh, Mariner, would that you were in Congress. You have said what many of us feel. I would have said a lot more about McConnell, and none of it would be nice, mostly words that I learned in basic training. I hope one day soon he realizes that his sleazy legacy will live long after him. Good for you, Mariner.