The Great Divide

The robotic Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to support the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court. The vote was 10 - 8, strictly along party lines. Every Reb saw it the same way; every Dim saw it precisely the opposite way. The full Senate will now almost assuredly approve the nomination, also along strict party lines. In other words, the constitutionally-mandated advice and consent process has, once again, been a waste of time and resources.

Let me be clear about something - this commentary is not about Judge Alito and whether he should or shouldn't be confirmed. He is too conservative for me, and he will probably shift the Court too far to the right when he replaces Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a centrist more to my liking. But, Judge Alito is qualified for the position; and, like it or not, the president earned the right in the 2004 election to nominate people who reflect his ideology. My problem is with the underlying process, which has now become nothing more than a totally predictable exercise in pure partisan BS.

In a debate on a matter of this consequence, something that will affect America directly for several decades and ripple through time for who knows how long, how is it that wisdom and discernment can fall out into two camps defined with laboratory precision by political party affiliation? How is it that not a single Reb is concerned enough to vote "nay", and not a single Dim is comfortable enough to vote "aye". Real life doesn't sort itself out this neatly. In the netherworld of Washington DC, however, decision-making can be programmed with nothing but binary switches. Today's "decision" is the kind of result that I have now come to expect from the 535 lobotomized automatons who walk the halls of Congress - halls that have occasionally given passage to men and women who thought for themselves and took positions that didn't always align with the crack of the party whip. Sadly, those long lost souls can now be seen only on the Gray Line Tour of the Haunted Hallways of the Nation's Capitol.

In the future, we can probably save enough money to care for thousands of people still destitute along the Gulf Coast by just sending the respective party chairperson to cast the Reb and Dim votes. Congressional sessions could be held in a Corvette or any other uniquely American two-seater that happens to be handy. Occasionally, these two will be aligned, which brings its own frightening prospects; but most of the time they will cast opposing votes with the absolute confidence and self-righteousness usually reserved for the caterwauling in a hormone-rich high school hallway.