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Dear
Justice Kennedy
March 18, 2002
By ExpatDem
This is the frightening New World of 2002.
It's the world you created.
Are you happy with your work?
It's a world where, in the space of just over one year, America
has turned from a safe and prosperous world power into a power-mad
fundamentalist rogue state willing to risk all of humankind
for control of the last remaining oil and gas reserves on
the planet.
It's a world where each day's news, despite being heavily
controlled and processed, still brings a mind-numbing procession
of unbelievable items. Like the U.S. government shipping prisoners
to Egypt and Jordan for the express purpose of torture (it's
ok, it's legal there). Or the Justice Department's apparent
refusal to pursue the domestic source of Anthrax terrorism
(it's ok, it was only directed at Democrats), or the Enron-controlled
Vice President's total disdain for Congress (it's ok, it's
a matter of "principle").
In this bizarre new world, the President of the United States,
in exchange for suitable campaign donations, cheerfully puts
timber lobbyists in charge of national forests, mining lobbyists
in charge of the environment, accounting-industry lobbyists
in charge of securities regulation, foxes in charge of hen
houses throughout government. Welcome the deregulating Antichrist.
Our alternate reality also features an administration who
thinks the best way to make America more secure is to throw
out ABM treaties, resume "nuc-u-lar" testing, and threaten
both enemies and friends with annihilation if they refuse
to toe the U.S. line. I guess if Bush can forget that the
U.S. was at war with Japan a few years ago, he's equally unaware
of the horrors of nuclear weapons.
Let's not forget the bible-thumping Crisco-anointed Attorney
General who has successfully shredded American freedoms in
order to protect..American freedoms.
Most bizarre of all is a president who giggles publicly about
"hitting the trifecta" when Sept. 11th gives him an excuse
to gut social security, and a media who let him get away with
it. Instead, they launch a new round of attacks on Clinton,
taking the heat off their golden boy. One would think none
of the mainstream media has ever read 1984 or Brave New World.
It all resembles, to an amazing degree, the nightmare world
that Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly encountered in "Back to
the Future II", where his nemesis Biff Tannen obtained an
Almanac from the future and was able to win untold riches
by predicting the outcomes of sporting events. The result
was nuclear waste facilities in residential neighborhoods,
a completely trashed environment, open class warfare, and
a man at the top of the whole mess with unlimited and totally
undeserved power.
Just like today.
Like the movie, we know exactly where our "timeline" split
off into an alternate nightmarish reality. It was at 10 p.m.
on December 12th, 2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court took it
upon itself to deliver a verdict so stupefyingly corrupt and
unfair it was the equivalent of a pie in the face to 50 million
American voters.
But we never consider that this mind-bending point in American
history hinged on the thought processes, judicial ethics,
and integrity of one man.
You.
It's amazing that you have been able to stay out of the limelight
up to now, and high time you stepped forward to take credit
for your creation.
Your cohorts occupied two opposing sides of this decisive
moment in world history. At the culmination of the 36-day
standoff in the 2000 presidential election, Justices Rehnquist,
Scalia, and Thomas were determined to give the election to
Bush at any cost, including perverting the highest court in
the land by preventing the counting of votes in a presidential
election.
Ginsberg, Breyer, Stevens and Souter stood on the opposite
side of this abyss, fighting for a moderate decision that
would allow justice to be done.
That left two conservative but supposedly "swing" voters
who listened to the liberal faction's pleas for a compromise
that would allow a recount under new standardized rules. Sandra
Day O'Connor, who had previously publicly indicated her disgust
at the prospect of a Gore presidency, reverted to form and
sided with her Conservative Brethren.
That left a 4-4 split, and you, Supreme Court Justice Anthony
M. Kennedy.
It has been reported that, for a few precious hours, you
truly were the swing voter who actually agonized over the
final decision that delivered the presidency to the loser,
but you probably had no idea how very momentous it was. Obviously,
you saw Gore vs. Bush, Democrat vs. Republican, liberal vs.
conservative. But so much more hung in the balance.
During this pivotal and remarkably crucial period, the future
of the U.S. and the entire world teetered on the narrow fulcrum
of your intellect, values, and personal ideology:
Integrity vs. unchecked corruption.
Intelligence vs. proud ignorance.
Environmentalism vs. destruction.
Diplomacy vs. power-mad brinkmanship.
Disarmament vs. unlimited nuclear proliferation.
International respect vs. pariah status.
Fiscal responsibility vs. billions in giveaways for the rich.
Peace vs. War.
Justice vs. Travesty.
Hope vs. Dread.
Liberty vs. Totalitarianism.
Democracy vs. Fascism.
Sanity vs. Madness.
Right vs. Wrong.
Good vs. Evil.
For however long it dwelt in your mind, it was easily the
decision of twelve lifetimes, and you came down on the wrong
side. According to some court sources, your "slow and deliberate
style" worked against you, and you froze. And the world is
a far worse place because of it, Justice Kennedy.
How can you sleep, knowing what you've done? One hopes you
instead hear the silent screams of 224 years worth of American
patriots who gave their lives at Bunker Hill or Normandy or
Hamburger Hill or Lexington or Guadalcanal, bravely defending
those noble American ideals that have now been lost, possibly
for all time.
Perhaps history will give you a small chance at redemption
when Cheney vs. GAO reaches the Supreme Court, which it surely
will, because our new Masters of the Universe are confident
that "The Scalia Five" will help them keep their secrets.
Perhaps they've made room in their underground bunkers for
you as they single-mindedly propel us towards Armageddon,
although they seem to be concerned only with the well-being
of the Executive Branch.
Do you and your colleagues regret setting this alternate
reality into motion? And could you even stop it now if you
wanted to?
This is the frightening New World of 2002.
It's the world you created.
Are you happy with your work?
ExpatDem watches from a (hopefully) safe distance as his
Norman Rockwell memories of home change to visions of Hieronymus
Bosch.
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