In Search of the Citizen

Today the Washington Post is counseling us about how we should speak of the dead. ¹ In my opinion, it’s time to think about the living. We are in search of the citizen. But apparently, columnist Steven Petrow objects to the criticism of Justice Antonin Scalia that came out so soon after his death. His reason is revealing. He ends his plea by saying,

“Indeed, none of us are custodians of our legacies; in the end, it’s our own words and actions that will speak for us or against us. In the case of Scalia, his words and actions proved to be one and the same. History will be the judge of all that —and so will many individuals, once we’ve laid him to rest.”

That he can chock this up to a question of Scalia’s legacy tells me everything I need to know about him. In this light, it’s not surprising that he focused on the justice’s red-flag issues like same-sex marriage, LGBT equality, affirmative action and abortion. In other words the issue is partisan politics. But he fails to mention Scalia’s biggest accomplishment—the whitewashing of corruption and the services he performed at the birth of global oligarchy. Either Petrow doesn’t know the difference between partisan politics and treason or he fancies himself one of the elite and expects to benefit accordingly.

Citizens United

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision was a slap in the face of every citizen of the United States.  I personally see this presidential election as very possibly our last chance to escape the fate that the Court had in mind for us. I am never free of the anxiety that the oligarchs might win this election and complete the coup that it has begun.

Back when Citizen’s United was first decided it was an outrage. Now it’s unfortunately just one outrage of many. Month after month I get emails from people who are supposed to be rolling back this decision. They continue to ask me for more money even as I watch our leaders kowtow to the twits in robes who did this to us. Apparently no one has considered the fact that the remaining justices will remain free to work their magic. What is your solution to this problem? To puff them up by stroking their dead partner in crime?

It’s Time to Worry About the Living

This is not about the dead! This is about the here and now. Here and now we are patiently pursuing the only course open to us—the election of a candidate who can make a difference. If we are not allowed to identify the problem we’re trying to address, we may as well not bother. So don’t presume to counsel me about respect. The proper focus of respect in a democratic society is the citizen. That’s true even for a justice of the Supreme Court.

1. Steven Petrow, Now is not the time to Publicly Flog Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, The Washington Post, Feb. 15, 2016.