Take Notice, Take Action

I have a message this morning to everyone who was upset by the choices in the 2016 Presidential election. To the thousands or hundreds of thousands of voters who were upset by Bernie's defeat or to those who were skeptical of Hillary's motives and chose not to vote, yesterday's event is the very reason many of us were imploring people to get to the polls in November of 2016. Let's face facts; House members are elected for a two year term, Senators for a six year term and a President serves for four years, (realistically only two years effectively) so the damage these elected representatives can inflict is, in reality, pretty limited. Nothing a President or Congress can do in a two year period can't be undone in pretty short order. In 2016, however, we seemed to lose the concept that a President has the power to appoint justices to the Supreme Court which blows my mind in light of the fact that at that time, Mitch McConnell and his band of thugs were holding a seat hostage. In my mind, the 2016 Presidential election was all about the Supreme Court but very few Democrats were talking about it.

More than any other governmental branch, The Supreme Court can set the course of our society for generations. Think about the landmark cases that to this day guide our daily life. Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Obergefell v. Hodges and yes, Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court chooses which cases are brought before the court and an activist, clearly partisan member can affect our society in ways that can surprise you. Now that Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed and sworn in as an associate justice and cemented a conservative majority on the court, get ready for some changes. This conservative wing of the court is arguably out of touch with the majority of the citizenry and their desire is to reverse some of the freedoms we take for granted and return our society to "the good old days" of the 1950's when men were men and women and minorities had little say about the course of their lives.

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I don't mean to paint an overly grim picture of life in these United States but I truly fear what this court might do to many of the rights and privileges we enjoy in this country. Despite what Susan Collins might believe, Brett Kavanaugh does have an agenda and he will no doubt begin its execution as early as tomorrow morning. For those of us located left of center, I cannot stress this point enough. The time for sitting on the sidelines is over. We must take action and that means contacting your local representatives about issues that are important to you, protesting issues and positions with which you don't agree and above all else, for the good of the country, get to the polls on each and every election day and vote. It is the only real power we have and too many of us willingly and knowingly surrender that power every time we do not vote. 

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