A Dirty Nation

One of those little memories I involuntarily keep that pops up infrequently is a snippet of a conversation I had with a fine friend four decades ago. He commented to me that his younger brother actually believed his car ran better after he washed it. Despite a chuckle we shared, my laugh faded quickly to silence.  The reason was because I frankly felt the same as his brother. Mind you it was what I felt, not what I believed.

Conversely and by definition, driving around in a filthy car could (or should) evoke a sense of unsatisfactory performance or pending disrepair.

Does my car run better because it’s cleaner? If my focus due to snappy appearance is on the positive nature of what I’m experiencing then, at least for me, the answer is – (probably) yes. It is a mind game we play that requires no intellect, yet the impact on real world consequences can be profound.  I’m not talking about the slight boost to confidence caused by, say, a new pair of shoes or considering your improved net worth due to a thick, freshly mowed lawn. 

The social framework of an entire nation can be positively or adversely affected by how we view foundational aspects of that framework. Right now the Trump Administration specifically and the Republican Party generally are throwing mud all over one of our classic vehicles of national success and expecting that we will all continue to feel it is purring like a kitten.

I have written for this blog several times my strong belief that of the three branches of US government the Judiciary is the most important.  Although many (or most?) don’t see it, it is also the most fragile.  The strength of the Judiciary in the United States, more over the Judiciary in any nation or society, is totally dependent on how we, as the people of this nation, feel about it. We take those feelings and apply them to the Judiciary as either trust or distrust.

This reality is without regard to our Constitution.  Every banana republic has a constitution, but a constitution is not worth a poop if no one (or simply the most powerful) pays it much heed.

It is easy to observe the consequences of a distrusted judiciary in other nations. Whether the dirt that reigns upon a court system is caused by corruption, bribery, intimidation, propaganda, or any number of other factors the resulting penalty to those affected by that system is a decline in the rule of law. The result is government rule by force, i.e. fear.

We not only see this in other nations, but directly consider it when we travel to places where we cannot be confident that our safety is secured by a foundationally strong court system.  A person might have pause to consider the outcome of being a crime victim or falsely accused in Turkey, Algeria, Cameroon, Burma, or Paraguay. Even more modern systems such as in Italy or Brazil can suspend comfort.

Even though the American Judiciary is not flawless, nearly 250 years of general consistency and independence has allowed us to take it for granted. The flaws that occasionally surface are of individual actions that are self-serving, usually at a local level; a rogue Judge Roy Bean in a Mississippi county, for example, especially as it is affected by local prejudices.

However, the people of this Nation hold the Judiciary so sacrosanct that any corruption held to the light of day cannot hold. The fact that we frequently hear politicians howl over decisions made by the Courts is testimony to its independence.

Critical to the underlying foundation of this Judiciary is the Constitutional processes that form its body.  When Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, the Republican Senate majority made an extraordinary decision.  They chose to make the seating of a Supreme Court Justice subservient to the tides created by a political election.  Their obvious political intensions were hardly masked by their “let the people decide” justification.  Don’t insult me.

Whether intentional or unwitting, the “Founding Fathers” designed the Judiciary to specifically remove it from the political arena.  It seems if Mitch McConnell had his way we would elect nationally Supreme Court justices with all the political bullshit that would accompany such elections.  Try to imagine a Donald Trump as a Supreme Court Justice for life.  McConnell and the Senate Republicans did more than just roll the dice to stop Merritt Garland from a Senate confirmation in favor of their own choice, they crapped all over the hood of the Judiciary.

It is critical at this point that there is bipartisan participation in the choice of a Supreme Court justice.  Maintaining a 60 vote minimum is one way to accomplish that goal.  Doing so would clean the dirt created by McConnell and his supporters.  Aside from being the final arbiter for all legal decisions in this country, the Supreme Court represents what the American Judiciary stands for.  The day we accept a standard of filth in the running of that Court is the beginning of the breakdown of America’s most cherished institution.