Divided States of America may be in future!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

DISSOLUTION COULD BE LOOMING!

by Steve Fair

     On Saturday Judge Brett Kavanaugh became Associate Justice Kavanaugh after the U.S. Senate confirmed him in a 50-48 vote.  Only one Democrat- Joe Manchin of West Virginia- voted yes.  Manchin is up for re-election in a state that President Trump won by 42 percentage points over Clinton in 2016, so not voting for confirmation would likely have sealed his political fate.  Two Republicans did not vote- Steve Daines, who was attending his daughter’s wedding in Montana, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted present.  Murkowski had said she would vote no, but since the outcome was apparent, she voted present.  A Supreme Court Justice is sworn in immediately and as Kavanaugh was being sworn in by former Justice Anthony Kennedy, protesters pounded on the Supreme Court’s doors. 

     Liberals know what is at stake- it remains unclear if conservatives do.  With the seating of Kavanaugh, the SCOTUS is controlled by judges who subscribe to a ‘literalist’ interpretation of the Constitution for the first time in modern history. Not all are strict literalists, but they are a far cry from the ‘structuralist’ interpreters Hillary Clinton would have appointed.  If Trump doesn’t accomplish anything more than seating these two Supreme Court Justices(Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) in his presidency, he has sealed a conservative legacy not even Ronald Reagan could accomplish.      

     Senator Chuck Schumer, (D-NY), the minority leader of the Senate, held a news conference after the vote and said the only thing that will change America is ‘through the ballot box.’  Schumer is right, but that doesn’t appear to be the shared sentiment of many liberals.   Protests and harassment of conservative elected officials continue.  Some conservatives say the libs should accept defeat, but no person with true convictions should ever ‘accept defeat,’ but they should accept reality.  Politics is the art of the possible.  Many, on both sides of the aisle, expect the impossible and will not accept the possible.  They reject majority rule.  They would rather have nothing than something.  If you get involved in politics, you’re going win some and you’re going to lose some, but when you lose, you roll up your sleeves and work harder in the next election cycle.   It’s fine to oppose policy you don’t agree with.  It’s acceptable to ask elected officials to justify their vote.  It’s not o.k. to threaten them with bodily harm or harass them in public. 

     The divisiveness of the Kavanaugh hearings and vote have some saying the United State is more divided than at any point in our nation’s history, but that is not true.  Between 1861 and 1865, America fought a Civil War, where over 620,000 Americans died.   America is not on the brink of civil war, but it appears dissolution could be on the horizon.  At some point, the people paying the bills may elect to not be a part of a liberal America, where everything is free.  They may grant the liberals their wish and secede from the union.  That’s becoming more and more viable every day.