Our Just Desserts?

I often mistake what should happen in our so-called democracy with how things really work in DC. I should have known better than to expect anything meaningful to come out of the Alito hearings, after all, it’s just a show. A chance for Senators to pretend they care about the average American and a chance for the nominee to the Supreme Court to evade as many questions as possible, and in Alito’s case, that means all of them. John Roberts did the same thing, but somehow he managed not to come off as sleazy but Samuel Alito is not managing to pull that off.

I wonder how many Americans really care whether or not the Supreme Court shifts to the right. I receive a lot of emails suggesting that we as a society must suffer before we will give a damn and that things have to impact us directly before we will be moved to do something about it. I’m not even sure that is enough. There are people in rural communities and small towns in America’s heartland that are suffering from high unemployment, no healthcare, no childcare, poor education for their children, sagging wages, escalating cost of living and no end in sight. Yet all indicators show that they are still planning to support the Republican Party come November. Go figure.

Maybe they’re just not suffering enough. Perhaps they require their teenagers to be forced into parenthood, their mothers hauled into the police station for attending peace group meetings or have the NSA steal their grandmother’s secret recipe for the best coconut cream pie through warrantless wiretapping. But if losing the vote, losing their job and any future for their children didn’t do it, I’m not sure anything short of jack-booted thugs walking in formation down Main Street enforcing a curfew will. I’ve seen what that looks like here in Seattle, it is a vision I will not soon forget and I live in terror that it will become a way of life if we’re not careful.

While driving my kid to school this morning I heard on my “progressive” talk radio station that Alito is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate later this month. Really? Who exactly expects this? CNN? Nora O’Donnell at MSNBC? Bush? I guess I should expect it too. I should expect the Democrats to feign concern before they go ahead and cast their vote in support of Alito. I should expect that there will be no public outcry. I should expect that what we get from the Robert’s court with Alito, Scalia, and Thomas at his side is exactly what we deserve. I should, but I’m not quite ready to give up just yet. My dad always told me I was a stubborn little girl, I guess some things never change.