I will not be saying anything bad about Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She fought for what she believed in the right way. She made her points and crafted the arguments and once the vote was taken, she accepted the outcome. She lived to fight another day. She did that through 4 bouts with cancer, caring for her husband and on constitutional issues until the end of her life. She served her country. I did not agree with her on her stance on life, but I believe we could have sat down and had a conversation about it and many other issues and probably liked each other.
As we barrel down the he said, (mostly) he said view of what will happen in the next days, weeks and months, I will give you two pieces of advice. First, do not expect elected people, Democrats or Republicans, to not use the power they have when they have it. There is no guarantee for tomorrow and if you expect if Democrats were in power right now they would not use every ounce of it, you are mistaken. Republicans will use the power they have in the Constitution related to the filling of the vacancy on the Supreme Court and you will have the option to vote on what you think about it in November.
Second, take some time and watch “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix. This may seem like advice that has nothing to do with filling a Supreme Court vacancy, but it does. It will scare you to death and it will explain a lot of how we got where we are today. We must get back to doing what Justice Ginsberg did with her colleagues. Fight the good fight and then accept the outcomes—live to fight another day.
As a person who has lost a political contest, I can attest to the fact that you have to accept outcomes and figure out how to move forward. I am a “work from the inside” kind of person. I accept who gets elected and if I do not like them, I figure out if I am going to run or if I am going to support someone to replace them. With the exception of my own race for Congress, I have been pretty good at picking winners early in the process.
But I do not rule out any way to serve and you should not either. The most important thing you can do is vote and then make sure 10 of your friends vote. It is not just the Presidential race that is important. Everything is on the table in November. It is not about a social media post, it is about talking to people, even in the age of COVID, and figuring out where you stand.
Just like the Supremes.
