SCOTUS is an interesting acronym. It can mean either Supreme Court of the United States or Spineless Congress of the United States. The Supreme Court is effectively negating the power of Congress, and that’s OK with Congress, it seems. The weaklings are doing what weaklings do – Failing consistently and dismally.
In one week, Congress and elected representatives have been made utterly irrelevant. They don’t matter. It no longer matters what they legislate or why; the Supreme Court will rule according to the lobbies, not the people or anyone else.
The utterly antidemocratic abortion ruling was in total conflict with the First Amendment, the Amendment that underpins all basic constitutional rights. This absurd, illegal, decision didn’t even pretend to consider human issues on any level. Self-righteousness of a few vs reality.
The gun ruling was a simple gift to the gun lobby, regardless of public safety or any other considerations like 45,000 dead Americans last year alone.
The EPA ruling is in direct conflict with basic sanity and even the idea of a safe environment, courtesy of the oil lobby. This is a “court”? Since when?
SCOTUS cannot possibly claim to be impartial. Nor can it claim to be acting according to primary tenets of the Constitution. Laws are made by elected people, not courts. Courts rule according to law, not against it.
The failed state mechanism, explained.
This autocratic unelected rule, by whatever means, dictator or corrupt vermin, is the first step to a failed state. The next step is basically marking out territory for people to make money out of the failed state. The lobbies become sectors.
Just check out the right wing governments around the world. The next step is total failure of the society. Poverty, violence, etc. become the norm. Quality of life evaporates, along with people’s money.
Russia is a case in point. Crime is an actual economic sector in Russia. (It is in the US, too, but it’s not “official” as it is in Russia.) The corruption, obsolescence and utter incompetence of the Russian military reflects the crash of the working mechanisms of the state. Attacking another country without even a credible reason is another symptom; the state has become totally irrational. Putin is apparently back to “business as usual”, according to him, too.
Delusion dictates; failed states follow. Failed states don’t survive.
Revenge of the unelected
The Republicans lost the election. They didn’t win the popular vote, either. So the alternative is “government by SCOTUS”. That’s obvious enough, surely. Manipulation of the court is now standard practice.
A “case” is raised and heard on a purely political basis. The decision is made by lobbies, and decided according to political bias. This is not a “court” in any possible sense of the word.
This is the problem:
- The decisions are now invariably wrong and damaging to the nation.
- The EPA case is damaging to the world.
- The guns decision will definitely kill many more Americans.
- The abortion decision has already led to a massive spike in abortions; the exact opposite of the intended result of the decision. (Also note that abortions were in a long, statistically verified decline.)
- Many states are already enacting their own laws to counteract the rulings.
- The natural effect is to make the court itself largely irrelevant in those states.
- The country is split.
- “A house divided cannot stand.” …And it isn’t standing. The edifice is falling over, faster than ever, in so many ways. America is truly fracturing. That can’t be good for anyone.
…Then there’s the minor issue of any possibility of a functional America
That’s the other problem; the nation may be used to a dysfunctional Congress, but not an insane Supreme Court. Ironically, the Supreme Court may well be ruling itself out of a job. It could become a purely nominal body, with no real effect.
The irony, however well deserved, will come at a huge cost. 50 separate states, all making their own rules, will over time create simple basic functional issues. Any Federal government will have an almost impossible task to manage domestic issues.
At what point does the fan get hit with more than it can take? America may be used to political insanity on all levels, from municipal bonds to Trump, but at some point the machinery stops working.
That’s what’s happening. SCOTUS is a systemic failure. It doesn’t work anymore. It refuses to work anymore. The upshot will be even more hideous than it is now.
You can’t just ring someone and ask them to fix America. Where would you get the parts, to start with? You need a new machine, ASAP.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
