The US Mourns the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who passed away on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87, from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. RBG played a largely influential role eradicating gender based stereotyping and sexism in legislation. She single handedly fought against misogynistic male dominated superiors and made her way to claiming a seat in the highest court in the US. Although her illustrious and admirable career paved a way for women such AOC and Ilhan Omar to claim their position of influence in the house, we must acknowledge she made a critical error in not resigning during the end of Obama’s presidency. By staying in the seat, she may have been trying to keep the court in favor of liberal policies and helping to control the GOP from overturning rulings that would have protected Women’s and minority’s rights. However, with her passing, the vacancy leaves a giant void which will be eyed by Democrats and Republicans alike. The next appointed Supreme Court Justice will shape the judicial landscape in the US for the next ten years.
“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” This was the wish of Justice Ginsburg before her passing. Her death has sowed the seeds of a major political rift and impending chaos in the government regardless of who wins the election in November. Morally, it would be wrong for the incumbent to appoint the new Justice before the new president is elected, as it would make it harder for the new president to enact the policies that they ran for. Even members of the GOP are trying to grapple with the reality of Trump’s brash power grab, “In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the President or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the President who is elected on November 3rd,” Senator Susan Collins stated. We are all aware Trump has no allegiance to morality or following institutional norms and practices. Therefore we can expect Senator McConnell and Trump to do whatever it takes to swear in a new justice before the election. This will leave Democrats in a losing situation regardless of who wins. Trump already has his nominees and will be making the decision in the coming week. It has not even been a week since the death of RBG and Senator Tom Cotton has already made it clear he wishes to overturn the ruling on Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) which was a monumental win for women’s rights more than 40 years ago. This mentality will be carried out across multiple court case rulings to overturn any cases that would go against the GOP agenda.
The hunger for power in the GOP seems to be unrelenting. As McConnell writes the rules to advance the policies of the cronie leader Trump, even the GOP seem to break their own rules to circumvent the balance of power in government. If anyone in the GOP goes against the wishes of the regime or supreme hive mind Trump, they seem to be quickly eradicated and denounced by the GOP in a matter of days. For example, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was fired in 2018 for not involving himself in the investigation of Russian meddling of the 2016 election. He was swiftly replaced by William Barr who has been following Trump’s orders very closely ever since. The duplicity surrounding the moral obligations of office as a member of the GOP has been evident ever since Trump’s election. The cronyism has been growing and has concerningly reached all corners of the government. If Trump can secure the Supreme Court seat before the election, it will essentially lock in a Republican majority in the highest court of law for the next 10 years. This will certainly make it much harder for Democrats and liberals to fight for women’s rights and minority’s rights in court. This leaves Democrats with only one choice, to pack the court with Democrats if Biden is elected. This wouldn’t be the first time a new president has packed the court, but it will come with severe consequences this time.
If Trump is able to force in a new Justice before elections, it will prove how corrupt the senate has become. It would showcase the totalitarian control of the GOP to push the agenda in any way possible. It will be a mockery of democracy in the current administration and an obvious double standard acceptance of Trump’s behavior. Democrats will be left with a lose lose scenario regardless. If Trump wins the election, it will pretty much guarantee the beginning of a regime in the US Government that follows the whims of radical right wing officials and Trump. If Biden somehow wins the election, unlikely as that is, he will be left with the task of packing the court. This would result in huge disapproval from both sides as this would clearly show that the President of the US has powers beyond what is necessary as the executive branch. Packing the court will greatly reduce the people’s trust of Democracy and further incite a divide within the US political opinions. With the rift of ideologies becoming wider and wider between the two major parties, it will be near impossible to advance policies for both sides which will further fuel tensions between the parties. Progress is only made with compromise, without compromise the divide will become drastically wider with every disagreement.
Peter Turchin, ecologist, evolutionary biologist and mathematician at the University of Connecticut predicted a chaotic and turbulent period in America which will begin in 2020. “The prediction [of violence] followed from observing the trends that make a violent upheaval increasingly likely — falling living standards for the majority of population, growing intra-elite competition and conflict,” This prediction was made in 2012 using a long standing trend of cyclical violence in US history. There are long standing periods of peace and prosperity with rising violence and tensions which will ultimately lead to a great upheaval and then peace once again. These cycles last about 50 years; you can see the trends for violence peaked around 1870, 1920 and 1970. Add 50 years and you get 2020. This 50 year cycle theory seems to hold true for multiple countries and multiple regimes and governments. This makes sense as the absolute peace lasts about 20-30 years, the average time of an adult generation. That incumbent generation leaves issues that do not satisfy the new generation and unrest grows. This would mean as the next generation assumes leadership, they battle with the previous generation to advance the ideologies of the new generation. Obviously this will be met with backlash from the older generation. After the unrest reaches a peak, it will ultimately result in a period of violence and exacerbated unrest until peace returns and the new generation assumes power. If the government stays rigid and inflexible as it is now, it will result in an extended period of depression and violence within the US started by the pandemic which highlighted the issues and inequalities of society. Jack A Goldstone, sociologist at George Mason University in Virginia who provided the foundation for Turchin’s study, confirms the growing trend of violence in his own studies. “What the model predicts is that the 2020s will be dangerous, and that unless the underlying pressures are reduced, the late 2020s and 2030s could be even worse.”
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Thanks again for the article. Really thank you! Keep writing!.