The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Otto Von Bismarck became the first chancellor of the modern united Germany in 1871. He was known as “the Iron Chancellor.” It was he who coined the term Machtpolitik: Power Politics.
Power Politics deliberately ignores democracy. It engages in undisguised arm-twisting of legislators to get its way. Persuasion is not the modus operandi of power politics; coercion and threats of retribution are its essence.
The US Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is a master of power politics. He has ruled the Senate with an iron fist ever since he became the majority leader. He is not admired or respected in his position. Instead he is recognized to rule by means of the raw fear he has been able to engender within his caucus.
When the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg was announced last evening, September 18, Senator McConnell brashly declared that a vote on her replacement in the Supreme Court will be taken as soon as possible. If that happens, all Republican Senators will be thrown into a maelstrom of soul-searching in the next few days. McConnell’s rush to enable Donald Trump to nominate his third Supreme Court justice in less than four years is an exercise in outrageous political extortion.
Senator Lindsay Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made a remarkably wise and courageous statement months ago. He said he would oppose voting on another Supreme Court justice if it came too close to the national election. November 3 is less than six and a half weeks away.
Last night it was announced that Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine also oppose taking a vote before the election, and presumably even before the presidential inauguration on January 20 of 2021. They implied it would be politically and morally unacceptable.
If the Iron Majority Leader tries to force a vote, might he lose control of the Republican caucus? Could the death of the Mighty Mite of the Supreme Court cause a tidal wave of revulsion against the way the Republican Party has operated under Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell?
It was Mr. McConnell who refused for eleven months prior to the 2016 election to allow the Senate to act on President Obama’s nominee for a vacant Supreme Court seat. Now McConnell apparently is hoping to force through a nomination and approval in less than seven weeks, when the average time for such a procedure takes almost half a year.
If McConnell persists, the American electorate could rise up in rage at his unseemly haste. Several Republican senators in close races, including Lindsay Graham, might lose their seats because of voter disgust over such an unvarnished display of power politics. Dozens of Republican representatives might also lose their seats in the House. Is it worth the risk of that possibility for Mitch McConnell to shove through far too swift a Senate vote to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg?
Of course all such swirling thoughts might only be wishful thinking on the part of people who abhor the way politics is now played in Washington. But wouldn’t it be poetic justice if the “Notorious Justice RBG’s” death caused the Republicans to be swept out of power in both Congress and the White House for who knows how long? Would such an outcome be worth it to guarantee a conservative super majority on the Supreme Court for the next fifteen to twenty years?
Washington power politics will never again be played like what shall occur inside the Beltway over the next four months. It could even result in the death of traditional American power politics altogether. That would be the greatest legacy Justice Ginsberg could endow to the nation she loved and served so well for so long.
- September 19, 2020
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.