The End of Summer
Posted on September 4, 2005 by David
The summer unofficially ended with death. Verdict is still out on the toll from Katrina, and the week also takes RL Burnside and Chief Justice Rehnquist. I guess the question now is whether the latter will once again allow the Bush administration to force America to avert its eyes, or will we collectively finally have had enough: this guy put an old drinking buddy from college in charge of FEMA. Do we really want to let him slip an unqualified crony in there?
There is suddenly quite a statistical makeup in the court at the moment, four liberals and three conservatives. The conservatives are Scalia and Thomas, Bush’s professed favorites, and Kennedy, the latest scapegoat from the Republican “base.” Bush will want Congress to move fast to regain the conservative balance before the next term begins, but the democrats, quite frankly, can and should say fuck off. Evoking the “nuclear” option will be the right’s most overt step toward fascism yet.
But in the meantime, these picks could shape the future, guiding the scope of our governments’ powers, such as whether or not the federal government truly has an overriding interest in the fundamential decisions made by individials. It will also determine the scope of the power of the executive branch, and significantly, Roberts exercises “judicial restraint,” meaning that he’s more apt to allow the president to run rampant, consequences be damned.
Which is why, ideally, this should not be about the left resisting the right. It should be about common sense acknowledgment that this guy has essentially highjacked the country and lined the pockets of the wealthy while the poor are starving or off fighting unjust wars. Can the people sustain their anger long enough to hold this administration accountable? Has he at least lost enough capital in the short-term to be forced to avoid this fight? Roe v Wade could very well depend on it.
But I worry too much sometimes. Sad that the summer has come and gone, here’s a movie I put together when I couldn’t fall asleep tonight.
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