I got home from work today and Heidi immediately informed me that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was retiring from the Supreme Court. Not totally unexpected but still surprised it wasn't Rehnquist. But after all, she is 75 and God help me if I'm still working at 75. (With any luck, I'll be 58 when I retire thanks to IPERS and the rule of 88.) And that's another 25 years yet and that seems like a hell of a long time to work.
I'm not going to do what many will expect here and rant about how this is terrible for our country because of the right-wing extremist that Bush will try to appoint to the court. While I think he'll probably try to appoint a right-wing extremist, I'm not so worried about that. What I am worried about is what the upcoming bloodbath of a confirmation hearing will do to our country. For this reason and this reason alone, it is IMPERATIVE that Bush nominate a moderate. Anything else threatens ripping this already fractured nation down the middle beyond repair. It's gotten so bad in this country that both sides of the fence are equally culpable in the schism that divides left and right. Something has to start healing this country, and a deeply partisan confirmation battle for the Supreme Court will not start us down that road.
Some on the right would say that us liberals should just wise up and realize that most of the country voted for Bush and supports his policies. There are days I feel like that, but that's not the answer. There's room enough in this country for both opinions, but we can't go on divided like this forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment