I need to get this off chest. Supreme Court’s Destruction of Democracy The Supreme Court of the United States has brought democracy in the United States to a standstill. It started with its ruling in Clinton v. City of New York which concerned whether or not the Line Item Veto Act organized by none other than Mitch McConnell and Bob Dole was constitutional. The decision was difficult for me to understand. Anyone who has looked at what the early bills looked like in the US Congress knows that basically almost all appropriations were for things like forty desks, four ships. No one who was undertaking those votes ever envisioned the kinds of bills which are allowed to go forward as packages in the present Congress. Since the definition of bill is not present in the “presentation” portion of the Constitution, it seems to me a bill is whatever Congress chooses to call it. And, if Congress says a bill is a line item, then it is a line item. In doing this the Supreme Court became part of the slowly diminishing legislative powers of the Presidency, and diluted the power of our votes in the process. Then the Court addressed the issue of gerrymandering Congressional districts in Vieth v. Jubelirer. Writing for the Court, unsurprisingly, Justice Scalia said there was nothing unconstitutional about carving up political districts so that they looked like lightning bolts, or could be divided geographically, etc. It was a sickening opinion which marginalized the very core of what our forefathers had fought for. The opinion specifically allowed state legislatures to disenfranchise large segments of the population, particularly minorities. It is possible our forefathers envisioned this type of voter map but in my opinion it is highly unlikely. The founding fathers of the Constitution were dedicated to the right to vote. They intended and did form a representative democracy. Is there anyone out there who truly believes they only wanted certain members of the white eligible land owners to be represented in Congress, and not others? A look at early Congressional districts argues otherwise.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Historical_Atlas_of_United_States_Congressional_Districts:_1789-1983 Next the court ruled that efforts to level the voting playing field by reigning in big monies’ power to control elections was unconstitutional in the infamous case Citizens United. The opinion gave corporations, among other things, the power to compete one on one with human beings because of long standing law that corporations are people. It unlocked a virtual tsunami of money, billions and billions of dollars. It made it almost impossible for the impoverished to run for office, and engage in the political process. The statement therein was only the moneyed class shall represent us. How many of you think Davey Crockett could have been a congressman under this ruling. A survey of our representatives proves the point. Most of them are millionaires or become so after a reasonable Congressional sojourn. And, then the final blow to democracy. In Shelby County v. Holder the court imposed its own judgment on voting conditions in the southern part of the United States over the almost contrary unanimous opinion of the Congress of the United States. Stating that the “South had changed” the court struck down a portion of the law which protected minority voting rights. And, members of southern legislatures are working overtime to see that minority representation is limited. The Court did this in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, some of which was before lower courts in a number of southern states at the time. Not the least of which was Texas where the lower court stated that racial discrimination in access to voting was so ubiquitous they could not put all of the evidence in the opinion. Apparently, this was because it would have made the opinion too long. Not unsurprisingly all of these cases were the result of votes from openly sitting Republican appointed justices. And, I believe their deep seated belief that it is appropriate for rich white America to control the agenda of the United States; their belief that we should be run by a deserving oligarchy. But, look at what the court has wrought. Chaos! Time and again in recent time the American public has taken fixed and intelligent positions on various issues, only to see the morass which the court has created of our political system sink deeper and deeper into uncontrollable chaos overriding the voters’ attempts to change things. What we now represent as democracy clearly is not what our forefathers intended, and has given democracy a bad name in many of the countries we are courting with the democratic process. Do you really think intelligent Chinese or Russians think we have a really great system? What they see is a dysfunctional form of government incapable of making necessary decisions, and they want no part of it. For example, China outlawed unpaid for plastic bags with the stroke of a pen. So not only has the court brought our democracy to its knees, it has made an institution no one in their right mind wants to copy. Congratulations, Roberts, Scalia, Alioto, Thomas and Kennedy. When history looks back you may very well be, and most likely will be responsible for democracy’s demise unless things change in a hurry.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 22:51:46 +0000
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