Legitmacy and the Supreme Court

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We started our discussion on the legitimacy of the US government here.

The basic argument is that a country or system can survive all sorts of attacks, mistakes, compromises and failures and still exist and move on.  But the elites of this or any country should not assume that they can just fail endlessly and cynically ignore the values on which that country was based. They should not think they are above the "judgment of heaven".  History is filled with examples where such a decadent system hollows out and experiences just one more shock and, to everyone's surprise, collapses into a puddle.  See the Ancien Regime of France in 1799 and Imperial Russia in 1917 for example but there are many others.

It is pride that comes before the fall.

 

The Republicans have accused the Democrats of legislating through the judiciary but of course what that really means is that it is the Republicans that plan to legislate through the judiciary.  Once their partisan justice drones were put on the bench then the Republicans knew that they didnt have to care about majority rule or democracy anymore.  They could count on their "originalists" to wildly violate jurisprudence and legislate away.

But if you are going to do this kind of stuff, then you had better be sure that your court is above reproach, and has been put in place with impeccable process. Its not just who is on the court, it is how they got there that matters, not to mention their arguments. The American People, had better believe in your integrity, boys and girls, because if they dont you are asking for trouble.  What is a justice system whose Supreme Court is seen as corrupt and partisan?  

So lets see what we have here and in no particular order.  First we have the court overthrowing the rightful winner of the 2000 election to put their right wing stooge in power even though we all know that had we kept counting the votes in Florida that Al Gore would have won the electoral vote as well as the popular vote.  Now, with George W in power, we get none other than Roberts and Alito on the court.  Then we get McConnell to refuse to evaluate and confirm Merrick Garland.  Then we have Trump, a known criminal, nominate not one, not two, but three right wing nuts to the Supreme Court.

Sorry guys, but you screwed it up.  The court is far from legitimate and now you have a failed justice system.  Well good luck with that, but it doesnt work for me.

Voter Fraud, Florida, Gross Hypocrisy

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The US is entering another round of legitimacy challenges and crisis.  As a Southerner I can tell you flat out that issues of who can vote, both legally and practically, are huge.  The history here is as ugly as you care to look.  Therefore when deSantis and Florida selectively choose felons to accuse of vast voter fraud (excuse me, 20 people?) but dont look at all the ways black people have been disenfranchised over the years, both historically and currently, then excuse me but I feel the need to say this is self-serving, right wing crap.  The next set of elections will be illegitimate because of acts like this one.  

 

This may have been acceptable in the 1930s but it is not acceptable today.

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/18/ron-desantis-voter-fraud-arrests-florida-00052753

Legitimacy Sequence Start

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Start of a series of blog  posts on legitimacy of government and government authority.  

The issues of what makes a government "legitimate" are controversial or at least strongly contested.  Governments can sometime sustain huge controversies, disasters and failures but still keep going for years, decades or centuries.  Citizens generally understand that there are problems, maybe even huge problems, but for many reasons decide to shrug them off.  Some people will protest, some people will work for change, some people may plot or try revolution but generally the ship of state moves forward.  This being so, some parties and factions believe that they can commit any crime and abuse any principle of government and get away with it.  In spite of these abuses, the legitimacy of the government, though lessened perhaps, is still sufficient and everyone moves on.

But this is a dangerous game, this flouting of principles and the law, because sometimes a formerly stable yet imperfect government, after years of abuse, does one more thing or has one more disaster that is self-inflicted and then, suddenly and unexpectedly, the whole thing unravels.   In at least three well-documented cases (the monarchy of France before the 1789 revolution, Imperial Russia under the Romanovs and the February Revolution, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1988-1991), none of the participants particularly expected the fall of the existing regime.  It was a surprise and in each case for many people a catastrophe.

Therefore, do not be so proud, America.  Things have been stewing beneath the surface for decades, and the trainwreck of the recent 5 years was not an accident and what happens next should not be a surprise.   Lets review some recent case studies.