“The Pi of the Lie”
The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has set off a firestorm of controversy over filling the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. If you are reading this article, you are no doubt familiar with any of the statements made in 2016 by Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell:
“I can now confidently say the view shared by virtually everybody in my conference, is that the nomination should be made by the president the people elect in the election that’s underway right now.”
So, to state the obvious, Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senator from Kentucky-a man with decades of service to this country-can not be trusted. His vacillating on this critical issue shows his literal contempt for any sense of decency: it is his own principle that he is violating:
“the decision [of] the Senate … remains about a principle, not a person.”
Principles be damned in the Senate, at least this Senate, controlled by a value-less demagogue. Americans, conservative or liberal, know a liar when they see one, and Mitch McConnell is just that: a liar.
Beyond the lies and deceit of this Senate lies an even darker truth: are there any Republicans in the U.S. Senate with integrity?
Two senators, Lisa Murkowski, R-AK and Susan Collins, R-ME have both stated-for the record-that they oppose voting for a new justice to fill the vacancy prior to the election. Both women state clearly they have no intention of voting for a new justice prior to the presidential election November 3rd. And both women have made intentionally vague statements in regards to exactly what they will do after the election.
Regardless of who wins the presidential election, regardless of the outcome of numerous U.S. Senate races-one of which involves Susan Collins-Republicans will continue to hold power in the U.S. Senate until January 3, 2021. And that gives the Republicans in the U.S Senate all the time they need to drive a stake into the heart of American democracy: regardless of the election outcomes, Republicans will move to seat the next Supreme Court justice after the election but before the inauguration.
This gives Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, and the other twenty Republican senators up for election a chance to appear honorable, while deceiving WE THE PEOPLE once again. Not voting for a new justice prior to the election is exactly what they told us they would do; none of them ever promised they wouldn’t fill the seat after the election.
The ‘principle’ McConnell argued in 2016 was clear: in a presidential election year, the people should be given the right to decide who picks the next Supreme Court justice through their choice for president. While this principal is stated nowhere in the Constitution, it is not an unholy concept. Truth be told, it makes sense to wait-during a presidential election year-to see which party will win the White House; it makes sense to let the people have a voice, not only on their president, but also on the justice that president selects for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land.
What doesn’t make sense-what is unholy and dishonorable-is to state that very principle in one presidential election year (2016) and then renege on that principle in the very next presidential election year (2020). And what makes this an unholy act as divisive as they come is to try to fool the American people by telling them you will not vote for a new justice prior to the election, while secretly planning to fill that seat as soon as the election is over, prior to the inauguration.
When we look at our nation today, at our politics-with the divisiness, the bitterness, the seething contempt for each other-is it any wonder how we got this way? While no side can claim righteousness, and no one can recall the moment this cold war began, we can all be certain we know where it will end: with American pitted against American, Republican pitted against Democrat, conservative pitted against liberal, Moms pitted against Dads, dogs pitted against cats, and so on, and so on, and so on. There is no end to this division; it is like dividing 22 by 7 (π): the answer goes on forever and ever, never repeating and never ending.
There is not much to be sure of in this life anymore, but there is one thing of which I am certain: more lies and more deceit will not bring us together as a nation. As we tread through these troubled times, we should take a moment to reflect on the words of Abraham Lincoln:
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
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©Timothy J. Sabo
