Score Yet Another Victory For Right Wing Thuggery

It seems that the right wing in America has found out that sheer thuggery that they can force their way on America. In the aftermath of the 2000 elections after Al Gore had a popular vote plurality of 500,000 votes nationwide, right wing thugs caused a noisy and illegal demostration outside of an election office holding a state court ordered recount. These thugs should have been arrested for disorderly conduct or even felony interference in the election process or a court order. Yet this thuggery stopped the court ordered recount, and a lawsuit before the republican dominated Supreme Court handed the election to George Bush. Right wing thugs proved they could muscle their way into the White House, and the rule of law means nothing to their lust for sheer power.

In the Bill Clinton years, republican lawmakers demanded that Clinton chose moderate judges, not liberals or progressives. Bill Clinton, a moderate democrat had no problem with this, and his appointments mostly reflected moderate choices. But now the far right seeks the most far right court justices they can possiby find to stuff the nation's courts.

But in another disgusting display of right wing thuggery, Harriet Miers had her chance to become a Supreme Court justice pulled from her very hands. Granted, Miers seemed like a very weak choice for the Supreme Court. But this would have been the greatest opportunity of her lifetime. She had the right to be heard in Senate hearings and judged by the Senate as to whether she was an acceptable choice for the nation's highest court or not. It was only a few weeks earlier that the same political right was urging that John Roberts be given a "fair hearing" by the senate, which he was. But in yet another disgusting act of right wing hypocrisy, this argument didn't matter in the case of Harriet Miers. Without even the benefit of a fair senate hearing, the far right began a ruthless attack on Miers, tearing her apart on the paperthin logic that she wasn't far right enough politically to sit on the highest court.

By every logical basis, it appears that Miers was farther to the right than Sandra Day O'Connor, and would have overturned Roe v. Wade, and would have sided with the most conservative justices on a number of issues. Yet there was a sense of decency about Miers, that maybe in some cases in which conservative ideology didn't automaticly drive her vote, that she might even fairly listen to cases brought before her on the court.

Now right wing lynch mobs of thugs will demand a far right court choice. Not someone who will fairly judge cases or listen to all sides before deciding a case, but someone meant to rubber stamp a rigid political ideology into law and force it on the entire public. This is the warped vision held by courts by the right wing, not the best qualified justice who make the nation proud of their wisdom, but a court dominated by a ruthless political ideology.

And many on the right are suggesting a far right choice that will be divisive and destructive for the nation as good for the political fortunes of George Bush. They think that the "brownshirt" politics of thuggery can prevail and impose their vision of law on the public at large. If those who disagree with this type of politics don't use this opportunity to speak up and defend the integrity of the court system, then America is heading towards becoming a lost state the will of the political right. The right wing has forced a president on America in 2000, who spent the first 40 years of his life involved in alcohol and cocaine abuse. The right wing has forced a murderous war on Iraq, that has killed as many as 100,000 civilians in that nation. The right wing is imposing laws on America protecting gun manufacturers who manufacture killing machine assault rifles with no legitimate hunting or personal protection use, from gun victims lawsuits. The right wing has voted to weaken the nation's bankruptcy laws. The right wing is voting to cut vital health service or heating assistence to the elderly and poor, while offering the most wealthy even more tax breaks. The right wing voted to impose fines or fees against those who file "frivolous" lawsuits. Yet it used to be the determination of the court what was "frivolous", not a predetermined notion by congress to prejudge cases before they are even heard.

Now it will be up to the more reasonable and progressive Americans to stand up for what's left of the American court sytem and stand against any far right judge and to keep the courts fair and open forum for all to be heard, not just the most wealthy. It's now or never time.