Friday, May 20, 2005 | 5:59 a.m.
Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.
WEEKEND EDITION
May 21 - 22, 2005
What in the name of God are we thinking?
That may be the only question I haven't heard asked on the floor of the U.S. Senate this past week, but, at least to this one American citizen who is interested in the outcome of the "nuclear option" debate, it is probably the only question that, if answered properly, will end this silliness and let the business of governing this great country proceed.
As this column is being written, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah is on the floor trying to defend the indefensible (apparently he is being vilified as an evildoer in the Republican attempt to overturn 200-plus years of Senate rules and precedent), which means that the thin-skinned Republican from our neighbor to the East is protesting too much. What little I heard him say would cause Noah Webster a few spins in his grave and cause those who speak, read and write English to spend more time on their heads. In short, a good senator can doublespeak with the best of them, especially when they are defending their "good name."
I, like the great majority of Americans, believe that the Republican-controlled Senate is overstepping its power quotient in its attempt to end the use of the filibuster as it applies to the advise and consent function for judicial nominees. The people of this country have a pretty good gut when it comes to matters like abusing power and oppressing minority viewpoints, and on this issue they have spoken clearly and consistently that they don't like what is going on.
But, as we learn constantly in this new day and new age of American power politics, what the public thinks -- especially since we all know that the public's attention span rivals that of a gnat -- doesn't matter. What matters is that those who have power, hold it. And the best way to continue to hold power is to use it. Ask any two-bit dictator this country has propped up in office and he'll tell you the same thing. It is like vacation time -- use it or lose it. And Karl Rove and his boss have no intention of losing their power. Period.
Nevada's senior senator, Harry Reid, has been thrust into what could be the biggest fight of his career as he tries to find some way to convince his GOP colleagues that changing rules to fit their style of play is not healthy for the long-term prospects of the Senate. It is an argument that should win the day because most people in public office grow to respect the institutions of government that have served our Republic so well for the past two centuries and more. They tend to protect that which has worked, especially when it comes under fire because of an emotion-packed challenge that may mean something today but, in the long run, means relatively little. But, so far, it doesn't seem to be working now.
Of course, a lot can happen in the short period that ensued between the time this was written and the time it was published, but, assuming the argument is still raging and no one has come to their senses quite yet, we need to consider the real reason this is happening. That brings us back to the question about God.
There are two Gods working this deal. Now, before you think I am blaspheming, hear me out. There is the one and only God, of course, who is known by many names to many people around the world. Except in the United States. Here God is known only to one group of religious worshippers, to the exclusion or lesser knowledge of a couple hundred million others in this country. And those folks are the people with the ear of the Republican leadership. To those folks -- and here I would mention just a couple of names to give you an idea about whom I am talking about, say Falwell and Robertson -- it is their way or the highway. Almost like saying, "you are either with us or against us." Sounds like a popular new movie, don't you think?
And, then there is the other god. Let's call him Karl Rove, because it is his mind, his planning and his politics which normally independent thinkers are worshipping these days as they line up to do the bidding of those people who claim to represent the real fellow. Rove and his disciples, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, are convinced that the key to Republican hegemony in American politics is and will be for a long time the Christian fundamentalist right wing of the Republican Party. I believe they are partially right.
The partially part means that I think they may have overplayed their hand on this one. How, for example, is our junior senator, John Ensign, going to explain to a diverse Nevada that he voted to change the rules in mid-game just so he could satisfy the desire of fundamentalist believers who have little or no use for the religious beliefs of the vast majority of Nevada voters? Robertson's bunch knows for a fact that the Catholics are on the wrong track. As are the Mormons. As are the Methodists, Presbyterians and on and on. The simple fact is that not everyone believes the same thing in the same way -- except the group that Frist is trying to pander to so he can run for president.
And speaking of Bill Frist, everyone tells me he is a nice guy. A good person and decent man. I find that hard to believe when he so steadfastly prefers his own political ambitions over the venerability and collegiality of the U.S. Senate.
But, I digress. I was talking about God and politics.
I am a firm believer in the old adage that the people get what they deserve and they deserve what they get. The whole purpose of politics is to forestall the time when we actually get what we deserve because people who don't pay attention, people who don't inform themselves, people who accept what the ad mongers tell them without finding out the facts for themselves, often deserve far worse than they get.
If the Senate changes the rules and crams down the American throat the handful (out of 218 nominated) of judicial candidates who would not have been advised nor consented to by at least a strong minority of senators, the judicial repercussions may not be felt for many years to come. But the damage to the sense of fair play and collegiality, which has always made the Senate work as the greatest deliberative body in the world, may be significant and long-lasting.
When that happens, the vast majority of the voting American middle will look around for the culprit, besides themselves and their own lethargy, and they will choose the folks who worshipped at the wrong altar. They will single out for retribution the people and the party who marginalized American politics based on a religious-based litmus test that served some people well and most people not so well.
It may get ugly between now and then, but, heck, we deserve it because we have allowed all this to happen. And that is when most Americans will ask the only question worth asking.
What in God's name were we thinking?
The answer, of course, is that we weren't.
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