THE Plan

We’ve all watched in horror as the US Supreme Court was wrecked as surely as a high speed train leaving the track and crashing through the tranquil villages and towns of America. The Republican Party had their eyes on the prize for many years. True to his reputation, McConnell and his “long game” strategy provided the decisive push over the top. Shamelessly they denied a sitting President his right to fill a vacancy in the latter days of his historic term. And, as the perverse fates would have it, the incoming, fascist, incompetent chief executive was able to appoint three hard conservative, unqualified judges to the Supreme bench in his four, chaotic years in the White House.

Having polarized our highest court with an overwhelming six conservatives against the three liberal minded judges, they quickly jumped on obliterating a 40+ year old precedent which guaranteed a woman’s right to control her own reproductive health. You could almost hear the clink of the glasses as the gang of six toasted their courage and success. States are now free of federal interference in controlling abortions as they see fit. It must have been shocking to witness the strong rejection of voters in multiple States to deny abortions to their women in the results of the 2022 midterm elections. But no doubt they are sharpening their judicial knives in readiness for the next assault on the right of privacy and other forward looking concepts which might erode the power of white conservative America.

Against this long term, dedicated, deadly plan to drag America back to the 1950s, what have the good leaders of the Democratic Party planned?

Ahh, . . . Seriously, what’s the plan?

The Republican Party has broken our Supreme Court. And their treachery is likely to infect the nation for decades. Yet amazingly, as far as I know the President, nor any senior member of the Party has announced a plan to fix it. Yes, we need to fix it. Sitting back and waiting for supremes to die/retire in the coming years and hoping it happens when a Democrat is in the White House is certainly not leadership. I understand that there isn’t a short term solution. But it still needs fixing and we still need a plan. The depression over our intractable Supreme Court problem will hang over the 2024 elections like a plague. If we want supreme voter enthusiasm, we need a plan to fix the Supreme Court to talk about. As it turns out, the plan I suggest to fix the Court also fixes many other intractable problems.

The Plan is not quick, nor pretty. But I submit it is what we need.

1. Launch a long term, 50 State blitz to elect Democrats to Congress. No more leaving candidates to run their own races. This has to be expertly coordinated nationally, funded lavishly, and all candidates must publicly endorse The Plan. If not, they get “primaried” out of the general election race. This effort goes on until decisive majorities are achieved in both the House and Senate.
2. Kill the Senate filibuster.
3. Increase the size of the Supreme Court to 13. This provides a Judge for each of the 12 federal judicial districts and the next lowest odd number.
4. POTUS appoints, and the Senate confirms, four new Supreme Court Justices who are experienced, critical thinking, liberal minded, non political patriots.
5. Codify a term limit for Supreme Court and all other federal justices. Six years would perhaps be appropriate. Whatever the number, there will be no more lifetime appointments.

Of course The Plan is only fully effective with a Democrat in the White House. But it turns out, even though this is a plan to fix the Supreme Court, once #1 and #2 are achieved most of the rest of our problems can be easily achieved as well. Write to your congressman/woman. Write to the President. Speak out on social media. Tell everyone who will listen.

My friends it may take 12 years, 16 years, or even longer to achieve these objectives. But without a plan and presidential leadership it will take forever. Let’s stop sitting by while Mitch McConnell steers the Country to the Right, shall we?