I believe America is best served by a robust 2 party system, where people of goodwill in both parties compete to bring forward the policies that best serve the needs and the wishes of a majority of the electorate.
This belief underpins my conviction that America needs a healthy Democratic and Republican Party, each competing to develop new majorities as America and its challenges evolve. This is the kind of Republican Party we had in Maine when I served in the Maine Senate. Joe Sewall was President, we were in a minority and working overtime to change that fact. But beneath that was a belief that the race was about who was best for Maine and that meant we did not tear down important institutions to advance our cause. I can recall Joe modeling that behavior on more than one occasion and times when he called on me and other Democratic colleagues to do likewise.
I offer this up only so you will understand that I do not casually suggest you might change your voting pattern in order to radically trim the sucker growth from the Republican Party. But this is no usual time and we must use our votes to say enough already! We expect and want Parties to fight for their beliefs but not to tear down the government if they are of a different party than the President. There is no justification for shutting down the government if you don't get your way on everything. Republican leaders face your responsibilities and explain to your supporters how democracy works. How good people differ. How compromise is at the heart of our system of government.
Up until this week it was possible to hope that if the Republicans won the Congress and lost the Presidency, they might make a new effort at working together. Yesterday, John McCain spilled the beans pledging a Republican Senate would block every Clinton Supreme Court appointment for 4 years. This is a man from the “moderate wing of the GOP” saying his election and the election of his cohorts is worth tearing down the Congress and the Supreme Court.
Before our revolution was even fought, John Adams spoke up for a strong and independent judiciary saying we must be a nation of laws not men. The belief compelled him to undertake the unpleasant and unpopular task of the defending the British Officers who gave the order to fire on the colonists at the Boston Massacre. What an uncommonly civilized thing to do in the early days of a revolution. When it came time to draft a Constitution the U.S. Supreme Court was given the responsibility of assuring that our county would have an independent judiciary. Now Republicans in Congress say they will destroy this great institution.
The founders created a system where the President appoints judges and the Senate accepts or rejects. It has served us well 226 years, from 1789 to 2015.
At first McCain and his friends said they were only going to tinker with things until the 2016 election so the people could decide. The founders had considered having the people involved in choosing the judiciary and soundly rejected the idea. So much for GOP's deep regard for the views of the drafters. Now, McCain's proposal is to kill our independent judiciary. The circuit courts will each be following their own path without a Supreme Court to settle the differences.
And I hate to say this, but is there anyone naive enough to believe that if the voters let the Republicans get away with this, the Democrats will not be tempted to do likewise when the shoe is on the other foot.
When Roosevelt attempted to “tamper” with the court, the voters turned on the Democrats in the next Congressional election. This November the message must be sent to the R’s. Any Republican running for federal office who hasn’t repudiated the failure of the Senate to vote on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee or repudiated Trump for his assertion that a man whose forebears came from Mexico could be an impartial judge, any Republican who fails on either measure must be defeated.
This may seem extreme. But think of it as trimming a rose bush, that has gotten “leggy,” and sending up a lot of suckers which produce more thorns than blossoms. Trimming it way back is the only way to restore it to health. And don’t worry about the individuals you toss out of office. They’ll come back just like the rose and when they do they will be a lot more productive part of the garden. AND when we have a healthy and productive Republican Party again, it will be a lot easier to get rid of the dead wood on the Democratic side.
THERE’S A TIME FOR EVERYTHING IN THE GARDEN. A TIME TO PLANT, AND A TIME TO UPROOT.
This belief underpins my conviction that America needs a healthy Democratic and Republican Party, each competing to develop new majorities as America and its challenges evolve. This is the kind of Republican Party we had in Maine when I served in the Maine Senate. Joe Sewall was President, we were in a minority and working overtime to change that fact. But beneath that was a belief that the race was about who was best for Maine and that meant we did not tear down important institutions to advance our cause. I can recall Joe modeling that behavior on more than one occasion and times when he called on me and other Democratic colleagues to do likewise.
I offer this up only so you will understand that I do not casually suggest you might change your voting pattern in order to radically trim the sucker growth from the Republican Party. But this is no usual time and we must use our votes to say enough already! We expect and want Parties to fight for their beliefs but not to tear down the government if they are of a different party than the President. There is no justification for shutting down the government if you don't get your way on everything. Republican leaders face your responsibilities and explain to your supporters how democracy works. How good people differ. How compromise is at the heart of our system of government.
Up until this week it was possible to hope that if the Republicans won the Congress and lost the Presidency, they might make a new effort at working together. Yesterday, John McCain spilled the beans pledging a Republican Senate would block every Clinton Supreme Court appointment for 4 years. This is a man from the “moderate wing of the GOP” saying his election and the election of his cohorts is worth tearing down the Congress and the Supreme Court.
Before our revolution was even fought, John Adams spoke up for a strong and independent judiciary saying we must be a nation of laws not men. The belief compelled him to undertake the unpleasant and unpopular task of the defending the British Officers who gave the order to fire on the colonists at the Boston Massacre. What an uncommonly civilized thing to do in the early days of a revolution. When it came time to draft a Constitution the U.S. Supreme Court was given the responsibility of assuring that our county would have an independent judiciary. Now Republicans in Congress say they will destroy this great institution.
The founders created a system where the President appoints judges and the Senate accepts or rejects. It has served us well 226 years, from 1789 to 2015.
At first McCain and his friends said they were only going to tinker with things until the 2016 election so the people could decide. The founders had considered having the people involved in choosing the judiciary and soundly rejected the idea. So much for GOP's deep regard for the views of the drafters. Now, McCain's proposal is to kill our independent judiciary. The circuit courts will each be following their own path without a Supreme Court to settle the differences.
And I hate to say this, but is there anyone naive enough to believe that if the voters let the Republicans get away with this, the Democrats will not be tempted to do likewise when the shoe is on the other foot.
When Roosevelt attempted to “tamper” with the court, the voters turned on the Democrats in the next Congressional election. This November the message must be sent to the R’s. Any Republican running for federal office who hasn’t repudiated the failure of the Senate to vote on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee or repudiated Trump for his assertion that a man whose forebears came from Mexico could be an impartial judge, any Republican who fails on either measure must be defeated.
This may seem extreme. But think of it as trimming a rose bush, that has gotten “leggy,” and sending up a lot of suckers which produce more thorns than blossoms. Trimming it way back is the only way to restore it to health. And don’t worry about the individuals you toss out of office. They’ll come back just like the rose and when they do they will be a lot more productive part of the garden. AND when we have a healthy and productive Republican Party again, it will be a lot easier to get rid of the dead wood on the Democratic side.
THERE’S A TIME FOR EVERYTHING IN THE GARDEN. A TIME TO PLANT, AND A TIME TO UPROOT.