A Supreme Fiasco

First of all, props to my most excellent guest bloggers, Chris and Tammy. Great blogging guys, and you’re welcome to come back any time even during a non-holiday weekend when there’s more than crickets chirping here. But first you must bribe me with one of those frosty margaritas. Mmmm.

Secondly, aaaahhhhh! O’Connor resigned. I caught a quick headline while I was away and am now catching up on the news. Because this is big, big, big.

O’Connor was an extremely important member of the court. She was very often a swing vote on key decisions involving vouchers, abortion, and religious issues. But even more importantly, it wasn’t always obvious which way she was going to go. She wasn’t a sure thing like Scalia or Ginsberg. That meant that both sides of a political fight put all their efforts in the case and when one side lost, then it was too burnt out to keep fighting.

Without O’Connor on the court, without that possibility of a win for either side, then things get messy. The losing side knows that it has no chance. With nothing to lose, that side goes outside the bounds of politics as usual. It fights dirty and brings out the fanatics to do some crazy stuff.

With two justices on the table, the filibuster is going to come back on the table. Both the left and the right know that a lot is at stake here and are not going to shake hands with the winner and go home. The only hope is that cooler heads like McCain’s can keep things from getting too hot.

Certain key individuals can change the course of American history. O’Connor’s departure is huge. McCain’s ability to keep a lid on certain forces in his party will be equally huge.

Our country is held together by tradition and restraint. The constitution? Ah, it means nothing without people holding themselves back from exerting ambition or letting ideology trump civility. I’m very nervous that restraint is about to dissolve and long lasting damage is about to hit our major institutions.

Later, I promise a love song to our new car DVD player.