Within the next few days the Senate will take up the vote to formally consent to Amy Coney Barrett taking a seat on the United States Supreme Court.
We are well aware how hypocritical this vote is going to be. Many senators are going against their own stance of four years ago when they refused to even grant a hearing for Merrick Garland. This is their penultimate achievement of at least a 40-year goal of having a supermajority of business friendly and social conservatives in as many court seats as possible, including the Supreme Court. I do have to hand it to them as they have been playing chess while the Democrats have been playing checkers and catch-up.
What the conservatives consistently seem to underestimate is the power of the people. We are a country always in flux. The reason we are always in flux is because we are a democratic Republic. Elections every two years tend to keep us on our toes, if we are paying attention. All dictators and tyrants eventually fall because people do become fed up with not being able to have the freedoms God instilled in us. We have free-thought and free-will by design. It must be used or resentment builds to a crescendo, causing revolutions either at the ballot box or by other means. Study history and this becomes quite apparent.
Which brings me to my topic of history never forgets. This is really geared toward several senators: Collins, Murkowski, Alexander, Roberts, Enzi, Isakson, Ernst, Graham, McConnell, Gardner, McSally, Cornyn, and Tillis. All of these senators are either retiring or up for re-election in tough races (Murkowski is the sole exception). Many of them will not be returning to the senate because people have had enough of their antics.
As they move towards becoming a common citizen like the rest of us, I hope they are truly reflecting upon their final days as a U.S. Senator. I hope they are truly reflecting on what kind of country they want to leave to their children, their grandchildren, their great grandchildren and so on.
Do they want to leave a country where their daughters have little say over their own bodies and die due to inadequate medical attention? Do they want to leave a country where their daughters are treated as objects for men to assault and harass with impunity? Do they want to leave a country where blacks being called the N-word at work isn’t considered creating a hostile workplace? Do they want to leave a country where their LGBTQ descendants (and they will have some if they don’t already) are treated as second-class citizens? Do they want to leave a country where a judge believes social security, and the social safety net, might not be constitutional?
As they contemplate how they will be remembered, and history will remember the last four years for many decades to come, do they want to be looked at as people who enabled discrimination, pushing our country back to the “dark ages?” Or do they want to be remembered as people of principle, who demonstrated integrity, who stood with courage, to say no to the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the highest court in our country.
Do they want to be written about as putting party and personal greed before country?
They get to help write their legacy, their history, their story. It’s in their court. Their stories will be factually written. They don’t get to decide the beginning or the middle of their stories. But, they do get to write the ending to their stories.
What will their epilogue say?
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 