The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court by the Republican dominated senate, with evident suspicion of perjury and subterfuge, has thrown the nation into a state of discord from which it may not recover until the act is annulled.
There are at least two levels of complicity in this act. The larger issue is the matter of party control over the individual votes of senators, which was discussed in a previous article ("What The Kavanaugh Episode Tells Us") . After listening for several days to the dramatic testimony in the hearing, and to a highly curtailed inconclusive FBI report, how is it possible that fifty supposedly intelligent, honorable senators could split their votes strictly along party lines - with one exception on each side? Are these senators doing their constitutional duty to establish justice and promote tranquility?
These actions reflect a deep-seated fracture in our nation along party lines that suggests (approaches?) the disunity preceding the Civil War. The Red and Blue states resemble the North and South of those times. The Republican Party represents a minority of the people that can control government only by schemes of repression of voting, gerrymandering congressional voting districts, and the influence of money in elections. This party is nominally a conservative party, but its actions are those of a regressive party in violation of the intent of the constitution to promote the general welfare. The undemocratic policies of the present administration and Congress could be described as a Republican Confederacy.
The second level of complicity in the Kavanaugh appointment is that of Kavanaugh himself. One man, supposedly of the highest qualifications for a top-level position in our system of justice, is involved in controversy that is reverberating across the nation. If, indeed, he believes himself to be the worthy person of great integrity, honor, and patriotism as he represents himself, he alone could resolve the issue simply by submitting his resignation without admitting any guilt. He would be sacrificing his personal ambition but would become something of a hero and good example by creating some peace in the nation.
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