The battle over the replacement for Justice Ginsburg will be a political brawl and another ugly chapter in American history during the ‘Trump era.’ I think we need to put what’s at stake into proper context, especially since we are living in a supposed democracy which usually means rule by the majority. The facts, however, paint a different picture. Republicans have won a majority of the popular vote in only 1 out of the last 8 elections. Most recently, Trump lost the popular vote by 3,000,000 plus votes. He was not elected by a majority of Americans. That is an indisputable fact.
A Gallup poll from May 2020 found, “ that 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, 25% identified as Republican, and 40% as Independent[[1] Additionally, polling showed that 50% are either “Democrats or Democratic leaners” and 38% are either “Republicans or Republican leaners” when Independents are asked “do you lean more to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party?”[1]
The bottom line is that the Republicans (or ‘Conservatives, if you prefer) are a minority party in this country. And, according to the data, the portion of the electorate that identifies as Republican has been shrinking. Think about it. We have a President who was elected by a minority of the population and political malpractice with respect to Merrick Garland, Obama’s nominee, on the part of Mitch McConnel,l coupled with the unfortunate death of Justice Kennedy has resulted in Trump nominating and having confirmed two conservative Supreme Court justices.
The Republican party has been trying to retain their grip on power by targeting the vagaries of the electoral college, gerrymandering, voter suppression activities and packing the courts with conservative judges. Now Trump and the Republicans are aiming to force through yet another conservative justice regardless of the upcoming election and how it turns out. If successful, there will be a conservative majority on the Supreme Court in a country where the majority of the populace disagrees with many of their rulings on such issues as abortion, LGBT rights, gender equality, and access to health care (‘Obama care’).
No doubt many of the conservatives are pushing hard to force through this nomination for no other reason than they see it as the ticket to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision, which in 1972, made abortion legal in this country. Today, about seventy five percent of Americans think abortion should remain legal. I will reiterate – 75% of Americans think that abortion should remain legal. There are some complexities in that number in that some think it should remain legal with some restrictions but the vast majority of Americans believe Roe v. Wade should not be overturned.
If Trump and the Republicans are successful in forcing through a nominee and getting them confirmed, it is a 100 percent probability that the highest court of the land will be flooded with Roe v. Wade related cases in hopes that it will be overturned by the conservative majority on the court. Should that happen, the Conservative Republican minority party will have forced something through the courts that a majority of Americans disagree with.
In the early 1900’s a very vocal and aggressive group pushed through the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution – Prohibition. The fact is, the majority of Americans were not fully supportive of a complete ban on alcohol, but it got pushed through anyway in 1917. And, we know how that worked out. Almost overnight a black market in booze arose, ruled over by criminal gangs who made a boatload of money. Not to mention a huge increase in associated violent crime.
In any case, the whole thing was a complete disaster and the 21st Amendment to repeal Prohibition was enacted in 1933. This is what happens when a vocal and aggressive minority pushes through policies and laws that are not supported by the majority of the people. I would bet huge sums of money that if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court, a few years down the road, abortion will once again be ruled legal because it is the will of the majority of people in this country and because it will lead to disastrous results in the same manner as Prohibition. There is absolutely no doubt that a black market in abortions will arise with all of the attendant problems. There are 500,000 – 600,000 plus abortions in this country every year. There are less than 200,000 adoptions. Do the math!
The bottom line is that this election is about far more than whether or not we can survive (literally and figuratively) another four years of Donald J. Trump. It is about whether the true majority in this country will allow a minority of the populace to set policies that are in complete contravention of what the majority of Americans really want. Democracy is supposed to be about majority rule. The more that philosophy is bent, undermined, corrupted and called into question, the more people like Vladimir Putin smile and the weaker this country becomes.
“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
― Abraham Lincoln
For the sake of Justice Ginsburg and all she worked so hard and so courageously for, we cannot turn our backs to the fire but instead must face the fire and let it galvanize us to action, so the voice of the majority of Americans is heard loudly and clearly. VOTE!
- b“Gallup Historical Trends: Party Affiliation”. Gallup News. Retrieved 2020-05-14. In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat or an independent?
- https://www.npr.org/2019/06/07/730183531/poll-majority-want-to-keep-abortion-legal-but-they-also-want-restrictions