Guest Blog by Dick Pas: They Are Lining Up

From my email inbox comes this excellent guest post by Dick Pas.

THEY ARE LINING UP

It used to be the place of Louis Brandeis. And Benjamin Cardoza. John Marshall. And Earl Warren. Warren Burger.

It’s in trouble now. So are we, big time.

Anybody who is even a part time observer of recent U.S. history could guess the U.S. Supreme Court appointees of President George W. Bush are on the ideological side of any given fence.

Because our 43rd President signaled early in his first campaign the ideological leaning he was seeking in his court nominees. It was clear that leaning rather than big thinking independence for our third branch of government was what was going to matter in their selection.

This analysis isn’t personal. Or political. We kind of like (and should like) our 2001-2009 President. He’s personable. Very good looking. He could have headed lots of organizations without doing nation-damaging policies.

This analysis is about whether President George W. Bush was the worst American President, by far. Serving big oil. Keeping us more foreign and oil-energy dependent for eight long years.

Follow-along willing to take us into a second war as bad as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s first.

Ideologically presiding, how appropriate the words, over the biggest economic collapse since the 1930’s and the soaring national debt which came with that collapse.

Delayed medical research. And much more on the downside list.

Fortunately a Pacific Ocean preserve, a partial offset to the massive downsides.

This analysis is also about people lining up outside a white marble building across the street from the U.S. Capitol in March of 2012.

It’s about whether or not a Court with a couple of those President Bush appointees is about to lay a big egg.

About our top-of-the-food-chain judicial body which has already decided that economic entities have the legal permission to boldly do what no man has done before – dominate our national political future with unlimited spending.

There’s no saving grace in the worst U.S. Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case — Citizens United.

Or for our thinking that dueling mega millions for a couple of months now superficially appear to offset each other, somewhat limiting the economic and national wreckage. Because they haven’t.

They really haven’t. Our Supreme Court convulated its way for mega millions to more easily take us again to a light-on-thinking President. When it should be painfully apparent the United States can no longer afford such a choice.

And even with a strong thinking President, just one or two bad-news national policy decisions foisted on us by mega millions can take down even a super-power already weakened as we have been.

So we’re back in front of the Court. Lining up. Waiting in line. Watching our history unfold. (Other words more colorfully describe the scene and what is likely to follow.)

We should be there for great argument and challenges and thinking. And then great judicial thinking and results.

The kind that can give a Court its Chief Justice’s name and a storied place in the American journey.
Or has too much damage already been done?

Are we about to watch our high court match a Congress already showing it can just barely serve the American present, let alone its future?

No wonder they are lining up. Many praying a certain Court can do better with the American destiny than did a certain President.

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5 thoughts on “Guest Blog by Dick Pas: They Are Lining Up

  1. While in agreement with most of the article about the SCOTUS, Citizens United, anyone still naive’ enough to think that the current president is in any way an improvement over the previous issue, please take another look. Federal worker pay freezes, Near non existence of EPA enforcement (BP goes free, southern leg of XL pipieline is OK, I’ll wait until re-elected to finish it and finish off the Ogallala Aquifer), Arnie Duncecan paving the way for the complete destruction of public schools.

    50-100K Military contractors still to be forever stationed in Iraq and more at approximately 20 large military installations in the immediate vicinity at the cost of how much? Promises to the big insurers for paying customers, without demanding the ability to regulate the cost of coverage or the costs of health-care or a requirement of your health insurer to actually cover what you might need in the way of health CARE. Single payer universal health care for every citizen in the US is what is needed, this bill was botched to begin with. Big box stores have had the public paying for the cost of their employee health coverage forever.

    Those of you who lost big in the housing bubble or in your retirement investments are not upset that the 6 biggest banks are all continuing to get nearly free money from the Federal Reserve and loan it to your US government at 2-3% interest, further adding to the national debt? Are you not upset that the POTUS picked people (Cabinet and Fed) who pulled off the biggest monetary heist in the history of this nation are still running the show, where those Federal Reserve dollars which under law supposed to be used to stabilize the economy and create full employment but are continuing to be used for world bank, IMF and Wall Street speculation and hedge-fund looting of this country’s wealth is still happening under OUR “watchful,” gaze. Socialism for the rich is what we should be happy with?

    A mighty brave SCOTUS choice by our, “fierce advocate for drone justice,” POTUS with Elana Kagen, who recused herself from a year or so of involvement on the court because she had previously argued much of the docket for the US government and may have had a conflict of interest. Who has Holder prosecuted for anything and do you think the delay in filling of many dozens of district and federal court positions, cash strapped DA budgets was not by design? Its morning and springtime in the US people. Wake up. Somebody at the top needs to hear your voice or miss your vote.

    1. Phil, sorry I missed reading your “Progressives Case” post before referring to ACA in one of the paragraphs in my above comment.

  2. While President Obama has been a disappointment in many respects–relaxing clean air and water regulations, emphasizing oil drilling over development of green energy, signing the egregious free-trade agreements, not prosecuting the criminal Wall Street bankers, etc.–he has appointed good people to the Supreme Court, and he has made history with the ACA. The ACA is in trouble as I write this, but, if the Court strikes it down, the resulting chaos–of those people who can’t afford insurance streaming into the emergency rooms all across the nation–will assure the president a prominent place in history as the man who had the best possible solution to the healthcare problem at this time and will cause Chief Justice Roberts to go down in history as the worst chief justice since Robert B. Taney.

    I suggest everyone vote for President Obama–even with all his faults–and not vote for a third-party candidate because we cannot stand the chance that another Republican will get into the White House.

    1. Steve, the lesser of two evils doesn’t make one of them not evil. I would argue that your fear of resulting chaos is already the norm. Ask you nearest W big box who pays for their employee health insurance. That would be the large city or the county social services where you live. Employers of all stripes are dropping employee health care already. The unemployed and those millions whose unemployment has run out and make the unemployment figures look smaller, are already heading to the emergency room.

      If this issue (ACA) is your determining point, are you calling on the president to demand that the EPA release its list of deadly (to humans) chemicals that need greater regulation to improve our nation’s health status? Are you going to ask him to stop largely unregulated fracking to stop further harm to public health with the continued associated degradation (poisoning) of irreplaceable ground water? Do you think the just out yesterday, new rules to regulate new coal fired electrical generation power plants are really going to have an effect on already polluting plants when those regulations won’t kick in for two years and electrical generation companies are switching to less expensive NG leading to extensive development of more fracking? Do you think this might be a bit more campaign rhetoric? Just saying, check into it as should everyone, before they vote for continued evil.

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