{"id":45145,"date":"2018-10-03T15:54:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=45145"},"modified":"2018-10-03T15:54:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T21:54:00","slug":"op-ed-the-supreme-court-vs-our-souls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/op-ed-the-supreme-court-vs-our-souls\/","title":{"rendered":"OP-ED: The Supreme Court vs. Our Souls"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ALAN SMASON<\/p>\n

To many people, what’s at stake with the Judge Brett Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court is nothing less than the future of our nation. Will we be a society that protects its weakest and most threatened segments or will we yield to the exigencies of big business and those who wish to protect assets and the ability to enrich themselves?<\/p>\n

If the appointment of Kavanaugh passes the gauntlet of Senate approval, will it spell a long-lived 6-3 split on the Supreme Court that will clawback the gains achieved over the course of the last several decades with respect to civil rights, women’s rights and marriage equality? And with so much at stake, does that mean that those who oppose the nomination must pull out all the stops and find anything and everything they can to impede the process or prevent its achieving fruition?<\/p>\n

To be sure, there are those conservatives pundits who view the appointments of Justice Gorsuch and the nomination of Kavanaugh as the logical outcome of the Trump victory in 2016. Just as the victors in battle are entitled to the spoils of war, they view a conservative bloc on the Supreme Court as a means to an end. The liberals who oppose Kavanaugh are frightened at the prospect of a possible rollback of Roe v. Wade<\/em> and other established law as their dystopian nightmare of the future. They are so committed on both sides that they are willing to engage in character assassination and other demeaning acts fueled by campaigns that seize on any opportunity to put down the other side.<\/p>\n

Whether Kavanaugh is guilty of having committed an unsolicited sexual advance or having drunk alcohol as a teenager or whether his main accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is a credible witness after three decades have elapsed are not the real questions that beg to be answered. Truly, whether either lied under oath, is much more important and essential.  Were we to examine Kavanagh’s track record as a judge or his worth as a family man and responsible citizen, none of this would matter. Were we to believe Ford’s account of the one night in question and consider her work as a respected psychology professor, it still wouldn’t matter. <\/p>\n

We need to understand the underpinnings of why we are fighting so hard on both sides and to take a step back, lest we lose the heart and soul of the nation we are fighting so hard to protect. The latest attack on Kavanagh surrounded a so-called “bar fight” in which he allegedly threw ice, not fists, in a New Haven after-hours pub. Surely, we must have other more earth-shaking accusations that this to level at the judge. <\/p>\n

As a nation, we stand for something, but we should not be known as “the land of the overzealous and the home of the petty.” This may very well have repercussions that will last for some time, but, as First Lady Michelle Obama stated “When they go low, we go high.” That is not a call to action for liberals only. It is a mantra everyone<\/em> needs to keep saying over and over again.<\/p>\n

How we behave as a nation moving forward is important too. Let’s hold onto the high standards that are required in dealing with the nomination process. Perhaps Judge Kavanaugh will become Justice Kavanaugh. Perhaps he will not. It will not mean the end of the world or the destruction of our great nation.<\/p>\n

Will we be able to look ourselves in the mirror after this episode is over and be proud of all that we did or be ashamed? Our actions will decide once and for all if we keep or lose our souls in the process. It’s a good time to refer to our motto, “In God We Trust.” And, no matter what happens, may God not find any further reason to curse us, but instead to bless us all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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