February 15, 2016 - Moment of Reckoning

I come to you with a rant.  I come to you not just because you are my friend, but you also uniquely get me when I get this close to the edge of insanity about this country’s political situation.  I count on you to talk some sense into me or tell me that I am not angry enough.  But, either way, you help me to feel that I am not alone and just barking at the moon.

If you recall, I have been screaming since 2011 that “this presidential election (then, the 2012 cycle) is the most important since the Civil War.”  You will definitely recall that I was afraid that if the Democrats lost, the GOP would do all they could to "take this society back to the era of 1910”.  I didn’t think Obama could ever get anything of consequence passed again through this terrible congress.  But, at least he could stand in the way of their 1910 agenda with his veto pen and preventing a Republican president from appointing any Supreme Court justices.

Here we are now, 5 years later, and the moment of reckoning has finally arrived.  And, I truly believe the situation is much worse than it was in 2012 election cycle.  Okay, I am about to get ugly and hyperbolic here...

Due to, frankly, the selfishness of Stephen Breyer and, especially, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, we are on the precipice of a cataclysmic halt and reversal of the societal progress of the last 100 years.  This election was already important for the same reasons I thought 2012 was huge.  But, now with Scalia going before I expected, this election is about one thing and one thing only.  Let’s dispense with any non-sense that the Republicans would ever confirm any Obama nominee.  This election is not just about replacing Scalia and finally tipping the court back to liberal progress or reaffirming the status quo with Anthony Kennedy always being the crucial vote.  I believe the next president will replace not only Scalia (god rest his racist soul), but also Ginsburg (age 82 and battling cancer), Breyer (age 77), and Kennedy (age 79).  Can you imagine what is going to happen if the conservatives have a 7-to-2 majority for the next 15 years (Clarence Thomas is only 67)?!? Here is what I see:  Roe v. Wade overturned; Citizens United extended even further to the benefit of GOP money; almost every Civil Rights progress from the 1960’s through today ruled unconstitutional (Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Right Act of 1965, any affirmative action-like policy anywhere); I could see the poll tax coming back in many states in the South; GOP gerrymandering in over 30 states solidified and possibly made irreversible; various EPA legislations since 1970’s ruled unconstitutional; and, I could even see Miranda reversed.  I am sure there are like 10 more consequences that I haven’t listed.

Why didn't Ginsburg and Breyer retire while Obama was in the White House?  Could they not see how dire things would be if his party did not win 2016?  Just awful...

So, the question is:  Bernie says some nice things and his vision of an America that helps its fellow person make it is lovely.  But, can this dude when the swings states that Obama won twice (Virginia, N.C., Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Michigan)?  If Hillary wins the nomination, honestly, she has not proved to me that she can really win anything.  Of course, it is not all her fault.  People are so unfair to her that it is almost criminal.  However, my fear that she cannot win this general election is palpable.

Anne, while I am trying to hide my utter anguish from Melanie, I am seriously on the urge of freaking out with worry!  I can only hope my extreme worry in 2012 is met with the same result:  fired-up Democrats turning out in large numbers on November 8th and saving this country.  Even if the Democrat wins, the GOP might filibuster any Supreme Court replacement until only Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Kagen, and Sotomayor are left (which would be a terrible 3-to-2 situation, but, by that time, a true revolution against that kind GOP obstructionism would be well underway).  No matter, at least a sensible person would be in the White House to stand in the way of GOP craziness.

Okay, I’m done...