Legally, there is no such thing as a lame duck president. The US Constitution does not state that a president loses his or her powers that come with the office during any time in their term. Tradition usually serves that a president signs multiple pardons on their last day in office, often minutes before they leave the Oval to head to the Inauguration, thus avoiding the need to justify or defend should there be controversial ones among them.
And should the need arise, the president can deploy any means of national defense up until that last minute as well.
The same for all the duties of office, whether traditional or not.
And it is not only a preemption of their constitutional duty to give a fair, up or down confirmation to the president’s Supreme Court nominee, but it is dangerously close to anarchy and a certain sign of corruption. Yet they make it seem normal and acceptable by simply refusing.
And to make their intentions worse and in a grand gesture of mockery of the American people and our Constitution, several key Senators have already stated they would not allow a vote on any picks by a President Hillary Clinton, either. In a speech yesterday, President Obama rightly asked the question, “So what, are only Republican presidents allowed to choose Supreme Court justices now?”
Apparently, that’s how they want to protect their over thirty year control of the nation’s high court.
And it is incredulous and criminal.
Here is Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution:
The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.
It is clear they have an obligation to give advice and to consent, something they have done neither of.
The right and Republicans have been using the language ‘lame duck Supreme Court appointments’ in their campaign literature and in doing this, they are essentially creating a false sense of knowledge and wrong education to the American electorate.
Recently, I received a simple checklist from some right wing nutjob group with the word Faith in their title, and among the things they listed, were lame duck Supreme Court appointments (but watch how quickly their minds would change if a Democratic controlled Senate were to do the same thing to one of their president’s picks), Abortion on Demand, and the craziest, ‘Support a law protecting the First Amendment.’
Ok, let’s be clear: the First Amendment protects itself.
Let’s look at the text of the Amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
This is an Amendment often times misunderstood.
It doesn’t mean you can blindly say anything about anyone without proof and without repercussion. It means the government shall not infringe on those rights.
Now, let’s take a closer look at why those in the ‘Faith’ group take issue with this.
They are the ones who claim their religious freedom is being infringed upon because the Supreme Court decided gays can get married. Period.
Now, the Court was plain, as it is with any church, they are not requiring any church or minister to perform these ceremonies. Frankly, I can’t imagine any gay wanting to get married at a church where they are not welcomed.
What the Court didn’t grant, and it should, is that businesses are required to serve people, regardless of their religion. Mike Pence in Indiana tried passing a law that said businesses were immune from serving gays if they had a religious objection to it. But since when did we allow your religious belief allow denial to others of something you have no idea about?
What this all says is what I’ve said all along: the Republicans make stuff up to have issues to be against. They’ve created the hate toward people of color and gays and immigrants and toward liberals. They’ve used the fear of their God to put them in line. Just today, I read a Catholic church in San Diego sent flyers to their parishioners saying if they voted for Hillary Clinton, who “is Satan” then they were going to hell. Literally! A Church sent this to its flock! Unbelievable.
The outrageous so-called First Amendment Defense Act is just another way of attempting to suppress the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, not to protect religious liberties. They have no idea what threats to religious liberty is until they live in a country where they’re actually suppressed, usually through the acts of imprisonment or murder. No one is telling them they cannot worship how they please, they just can’t use the guise of religion to hide behind while trying to hate groups of people. It’s not working out so well for business or reputation in North Carolina. And churches that preach they are about love yet support maniacal and prejudicial propaganda like the First Amendment Defense Act should be stripped of their tax exempt status and forbidden from using the name of Christ in their dirty deeds.
The Faith literature flyer I have included in this post is just another example of misleading their basket of deplorables into thinking things are worse than they are. They offer nothing but fear. And it is fair to ask why. Because the big money would stop flowing if these pariahs to democracy were not able to push the agenda favorable to business. And the guns, God, and fear beliefs have nothing to do with the politicians, as they’re people of no faith or morals. But they know their mindless flocks find these things important and fear of denial of these things is the only way they can keep the ignorant among them active and engaged and keep themselves elected.
Politics used to be dirty. It’s always been deceptive. But now, instead of only playing on the weaknesses and foils of their opponent, the Republican Party has institutionalized fear mongering and the fools that subscribe to their monologue of hate and anger are, by and large, too stupid to see they’re being used as pawns in a rich man’s game of chess.
No comments:
Post a Comment