Oh My! as sportscaster Dick Enberg liked to say. So much going on, but here are just a few quick thoughts on the passing scene…

SUPREME TEMPER TANTRUM

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last weekend has added another piece of kindling to an already robust political bonfire. That this is so is the result of the Court’s unfortunate transformation over the last fifty years into a kind of supra-legislature. Both in the minds of most of the public, and sadly, in the minds of many of those who should know better, including some of the Justices themselves, the Supreme Court has come to be understood as a black-robed oligarchy, tasked with enlightening the less enlightened as to the laws they should be living under.

If one accepts this flawed conceptual framework, then the nomination process for Supreme Court justices necessarily morphs into the circus we have been witnessing since at least the failed nomination of Robert Bork in 1987. If the Court is to act as a quasi-legislature, as a vehicle to enact political ends that have been thus far frustrated at the ballot box, then it is no surprise that persons invested in that view become so agitated whenever a vacancy arises. They fear their legislative policy goals will be thwarted, unjustly, by the appointment of justices who don’t share their political preferences.

Unfortunately, Justice Ginsburg, as Kevin D. Williamson notes, didn’t understand her job. Nor do the multitudes wailing and screaming about how unfair it is that the vacancy on the Court may be filled before “the people” have a chance to decide the issue in November. This is, as Joe Biden might say in another context, pure malarkey. Sadly, we have strayed so far from our Constitutional moorings that supposedly serious people are lending credence to the notion that the only proper thing to do in this situation is let the voters decide this coming November. Or, even more preposterously, that because it was Justice Ginsburg’s dying wish, that we allow the issue to be decided after the election (see here).

Sorry, but this is very simple. In our constitutional system, the President is empowered to nominate persons to fill vacancies on the Federal bench, including the Supreme Court. The Senate is empowered to either accept the nomination, reject the nomination, or simply ignore it. End of story.

I find it quite hilarious that the same people most ardently attached to the undemocratic and unconstitutional idea of rule by judicial fiat are the same people claiming this current situation is unfair and also undemocratic. It is not. The last time the people were given a choice, they chose this President and this Senate. In fact, many observers believe Donald Trump’s pledge to appoint justices who would uphold the Constitution’s original intent was a key factor in his victory. Now, some will protest that Donald Trump lost the popular vote and therefore he was illegitimately elected. But they betray their underlying anti-constitutionalism with this complaint because they are ignoring the fact that the gross total number of votes for President is…take a deep breath…irrelevant in our system. Their proposed solutions to the current situation..abolish the Electoral college, abolish the filibuster, pack the Court …are even more revealing of their profound antipathy toward the founding vision for this republic. At least these kind of controversies allow us to see through the veil of their publicly professed allegiance to the constitution, revealing more clearly the anti-constitutional project they are pursuing.

THE PRESIDENT WHO CRIED WOLF

Someone in the Department of Education (DOE), no doubt with a keen sense of humor, decided to take Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber at his word. The DOE launched an investigation of Princeton University for civil rights violations based on statements recently made by…Eisgruber. In the midst of this country’s “Great Awokening”, Eisgruber, eager to proclaim the complicity of his own institution in the rampant institutional racism decried by groups such as Black Lives Matter and their supporters, said:

Racism and the damage it does to people of color nevertheless persist at Princeton as in our society, sometimes by conscious intention but more often through unexamined assumptions and stereotypes, ignorance or insensitivity, and the systemic legacy of past decisions and policies.  Race-based inequities in America’s health care, policing, education, and employment systems affect profoundly the lives of our staff, students, and faculty of color. Racist assumptions from the past also remain embedded in structures of the University itself.  For example, Princeton inherits from earlier generations at least nine departments and programs organized around European languages and culture, but only a single, relatively small program in African studies.Racist assumptions from the past also remain embedded in structures of the University itself. 

Christopher L. Eisgruber (Excerpted from a letter to the Princeton Community, 9/2/ 2020) (Italics added)

Of course, upon reading the entirety of the letter, it is clear Eisgruber was simply intending to make sure the country was keenly aware of how “on board” Princeton is with the current cultural diktats. He, much like store owners in Minneapolis and Portland, was anxious to post in bold letters on the store front: Black Lives Matter. No doubt he hoped this prophylactic measure would ensure he and his Institution would be spared the ill-informed, know-nothing rage of the mob. Ironically, in his eagerness to step into a leading role in the current Kabuki theater of racial discourse, he instead stepped into his own woke pile of dung.

AUTUMN BLISS

I will end with a note of gratitude. As Chesterton noted:

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

G. K. Chesterton

I am grateful for the Fall season and the heavenly weather it brings, particularly to the Northeast region of our beautiful country. How can there be a more glorious gift of the Almighty than the invigorating, intoxicating pleasure of the perfect Autumn day? The bright, radiant sun, warming without being wearisome; the calm, crisp air, inviting deep inhalations of its freshness and vitality; the rich, bold tapestry of colors, evoking a Mother Nature fashioned tie-dyed tee shirt . It is an absolute wonder to be alive on days such as these, and everyone needs to make sure he experiences as many of them as possible.