JUDGE KAVANAUGH IS NOT THE PROBLEM

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, with all his warts, is not the problem; he is the symptom. Kavanaugh is the symptom of a society gone sour, of an electorate and a Congress that has forgotten (or ignored) the basic tenets of America. Kavanaugh represents many of the things that increasingly define us.

Think about it, the President of the United States is a man who bragged about and has been accused of sexually attacking women, who has mocked persons with disabilities and women who are not model-skinny, who has picked a fight with the Muslim family of a fallen war hero, who accuses the free press of being the "enemy of the people," who in his bigoted way has defined immigrants as murderers and rapists and terrorists, who has initiated policies that result in kidnapping and incarcerating children, whose policies destroy the climate of our planet and make our environment unhealthy for people, who embraces (even "is in love with") dictators and other authoritarians, who has destroyed relationships with our closest friends and allies. It is this man who nominated, and still supports, Judge Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court.

And the Republican members of Congress are complicit. In their rush to confirm the appointment of Judge Kavanaugh, they have flipped the finger at victims of sexual assault while pretending to understand and listen to these victims and survivors. They patiently, and fearfully, regarding their image, listened to the testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, made declarations of how compelling her testimony was, and moved on to confirm the accused judge without any further consideration. It doesn't seem to matter to them that Kavanaugh has serious flaws that should disqualify him for the Supreme Court seat, let alone from any other position of authority. Trump picked him, they support him, he would be their champion wrecking ball justice who will help undo all liberal decisions and usher in a new age of conservatism in America.

Yes, we all need to hope and act to stop the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh; but we also need to understand that he is a symptom of a much larger problem. We also need to understand that Donald Trump is also a symptom of the strong anti-democracy current that has been building in American politics since the Reagan era of the 1980's. We will be rid of Trump in 2 or 6 years; we will not be rid of the moneyed interests and voting base that support him. That is the real challenge to our democracy, and we who are to the left of the far-right need to play a long game, not get too distracted by these Kavanaugh-type skirmishes.
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