I plopped down in front of the TV this morning just as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) began speaking, and I watched him make his opening statement. I thought he hit all the right notes, especially regarding the Republicans’ hypocrisy AND especially, their intention to use Barrett to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, and the monumental damage such a decision will wreak on the lives of millions of ordinary Americans.
Then he finished, and the chair recognized Ted Cruz for his opening remarks. I muted the TV. After all, I knew what I would hear, and I don’t need the threat his voice would pose to my blood pressure.
What Republicans are really saying
However, as I got up from the couch, I noticed that the closed-captioning had still left me vulnerable, and I saw that Cruz was making the hackneyed argument – first made by Mitch McConnell in 2016 – that supposedly excused the Republicans’ hypocrisy. You see, he said, there’s a distinction to be made between 2016 – when Mitch McConnell refused to let the Senate consider President Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Court, supposedly because it was a presidential election year – and 2020, when McConnell has rushed to hold hearings on the Republican president’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, even after voting has already begun in the presidential election.
The distinction they’re claiming? In 2016, the Senate majority was not of the president’s party; in 2020, the Senate majority IS of the president’s party.
Cruz, and McConnell before him (and other GOP colleagues parroting McConnell), have pretended that this is a sophisticated legal argument. In fact, the tone in which they have couched it drips with condescension as if they are learned legal scholars and we the people are country bumpkins who could never understand so must just take them at their word.
DON’T LET THEM FOOL YOU!
This is not a sophisticated legal argument – by any means! It is a rehashing of a principle that is as old as Eden: MIGHT MAKES RIGHT!
If you accept their reasoning – whether you are Christian or American, or both – you are betraying the principles you claim to uphold.
Christ lived and taught humility. He railed against those who put power before principle, telling his disciples, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” So “might makes right” is a betrayal of Christ.
Though majority rule has been a critical American principle, throughout our history we have sought – admittedly by fits and starts – to hear and give weight to minority voices as well. Congressional committees, though they are chaired by those from the majority party, consist of members of the minority party as well, in the hopes that all voices will be heard.
Until the current administration, America’s greatness has been based on its principles, not on its power. There is no constitutional principle governing when Supreme Court appointments may be made and considered and when they may not. However, when one states a principle – as Republicans did in 2016 – it should actually be based on principle, not on power.
The distinction of whether the Senate and the president are of the same party or opposing parties is NOT based in principle, but in power. Boiled down to its essence, it is this: If we have the power, then we will use it to do whatever benefits us, regardless of principle. If the president is of the opposing party, then we will use our Senate majority to do everything we can to obstruct him – as the Republicans did in refusing NOT ONLY to bring Merrick Garland’s appointment to a vote but even to consider and confirm President Obama’s appointments to lower courts.
Then a Mike Pence can criticize President Obama – as he did in last week’s vice-presidential debate – for allowing so many judge seats to remain open for the Republican president to fill. Rank hypocrisy. It’s akin to your boss stealing your car, then firing you for being late in getting to the office.
My Republican friends, you would be apoplectic if Democrats pulled this kind of stuff.
It’s all about power – we have the votes, so we can do anything we please, and to hell with principle!
So don’t be fooled by them when they take the hackneyed “might makes right” bromide and pretend to make a sophisticated legal principle out of it. One can take corned beef hash, dress it up, and call it steak, but if you pay Ruth’s Chris prices for it, you’re a fool.
No, not everybody does it! (and so what if they did?)
One more thought about this, and I’ll be through (for now).
On social media, I’ve seen Republican friends try to justify this action of McConnell and company with another “principle” as old as Eden – “everybody does it.”
I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve read, “you know if the Dems were in charge, they’d do the same thing.”
First of all, no, I don’t. That’s a false equivalency, and – for now – an unprovable assumption. Not all politicians are as crass and unprincipled as McConnell and company. Some actually do seek to serve the public. In recent years, Democrats have proven over and over that they are exceedingly more principled than their Republican colleagues. Now, now, I didn’t say they’re perfect – and neither are you, my Republican friends. But when it comes to crass self-interest, it’s not even close.
Second, such an argument is a red herring.
If something is wrong, it’s wrong, no matter who is doing it, and we are not being faithful – to either the Christ we Christians claim to follow OR the America we claim to love – when we excuse unethical actions on any basis, whether by our party or the other guy’s party. If you truly believe “the Dems” would do the same thing, then one would hope you would aspire to be better than “the Dems.”
Summing up
- What’s happening here is a power grab by a faction that has decided they will do anything that benefits them as long as they have the votes to do it.
- They will twist their supposed principles to justify it.
- Don’t let them get away with the lies they tell to justify it.
- Don’t assume bad actions on the other party’s part until they have the power – then watch carefully to see whether they act as flagrantly unethically as your side.
- Don’t excuse unethical behavior on the basis of “everybody does it.”