The end of constitutional government in the United States ?
I thought I would never write this post.
I most sincerely hope that I am wrong, and that this post will be looked back upon as a panic that was never going to happen and I'll look like a goddamned fool . If so, I'll own up to it, and post an addendum to this. I hope most fervently that I have to do that. But here it is anyway.
Today, Mr. Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement.
Mr President Trump (a title that causes me nausea) will have the opportunity to select a replacement.
If this goes through, modern liberalism is done. Trump will pick someone like Bork and then defy anyone to vote against him. The Senate will vote exactly party lines, and confirm the man who will blow the bottom out of the constitution. Not just the New Deal will die. Not just Roe v Wade. It's game over time. The USA will go the way of Germany, Argentina, Chile and Spain. With a President who considers himself a king, and a 26% "majority" (with 46% apathetic) who will rally and vote for whoever Trump says, children who haven't been taught civics, and a whole generation who believe that Fox News is always right. I don't know whether to arm up or flee the country. I'm old, and not very mobile. I believe I still have one good fight left in me, but that'll be it. It's likely that I'll go down after a few minutes and not get up. I want to explain here that I will fight for -- not for my country, which is only lines drawn on a map -- but I will fight for those ideals the founding fathers set down. Those are what matters. Not some pieces of colored cloth, or location denoted by map coordinates. Land is fungible. Flags change over time. But ideas are bulletproof. Even bad ideas like Fascism. Even horrible ideas like Trump-ism, and Presidente por Vida. Good ideas, like equality under the law, freedom , and a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Not government by the trumpists for the wealthy for the profits.
