Washington Is In A State Of Immobility
By Fazal M. Kamal
17 July, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Politics and governance in these United States have become trapped in a quagmire exacerbated by the unrelenting grip of virulently contentious stances. Consequently Barack Obama's second term so far has been much more awful and way removed from awesome especially because of the often regressive mentality of the Republican leadership which has miserably failed to provide a leader with a modicum of sagacity. This has, naturally, resulted in almost complete gridlock in the capital, particularly in the US Congress. And the situation hasn't been helped, in the least, by the decisions of the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) which has aided in advancing the rightwing agenda.
Not surprisingly, the extremist-conservative politicians and lobbies have gleefully taken full advantage of the lack of knowledge of the electorate, not excluding their own. To wit: “A 2007 National Constitutional Center poll found that two-thirds of Americans couldn't name all three branches of the U.S. federal government, nor a single Supreme Court justice. Another poll found that 91 percent couldn't name the current Chief Justice, which is staggering considering the number of high profile, politically polarizing cases deliberated upon by the nation's highest court in recent years – including the rulings on the Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage and campaign finance laws,” according to C.J. Werleman in AlterNet.
Wereleman goes on to note: “It gets worse. When respondents were asked whether they could recall any of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, a majority could name only free speech. More than a third was unable to list any First Amendment rights. The National Constitution Center also found that 42 percent of Americans think the Constitution explicitly states that ‘the first language of the United States is English;' and 25 percent believe Christianity was established in the Constitution as the official government religion.” Difficult to believe, but believe you must since those are the realities. And the cynical among the politicos know that pretty well.
From political finance reform to immigration to healthcare, almost nothing is moving in favor of the Obama administration, though despite the stonewalling of the Republicans health care has seen some progress. The president in response has only been able to vent his frustration often and decry the persistent inaction of the Congress---and complain to the people in public events. Against that backdrop the conservative-dominated SCOTUS has made the extant circumstances worse to the applause of the regressive elements. And even though many of the SCOTUS decisions can be rectified via new legislation, that certainly isn't an option given that the lower house is controlled by the Republican Party and every move the president makes is dementedly opposed by them to the extent that the Speaker of the House has now decided to sue Barack Obama.
The implications and ramifications of this joint SCOTUS-Republican thrust will be far reaching and will travel well into people's homes. An article in the Daily Kos explained this aptly: “The Roberts and Scalia [supreme] court is operating under an assumption that Christianity is the United States' semi-official religion and that it should be legislated and protected in a way that other faiths are not . This is, of course, a misreading of the Constitution---despite what the deranged members of the Fox News Christian Evangelical Dominionist American public would like to believe. Unintended consequences may lay bare the hypocrisy of the Right-wing and its agents on the Supreme Court.”
Subsequently, the analyst asks: “How would conservatives and their agents respond if a company with Islamic beliefs (however defined) decided to impose its religious values on white, Christian, American employees? Sharia hysteria would spread in such a way as to make the present day-to-day Islamophobia of the Right-wing echo chamber appear benign and muted by comparison. What if a Black cultural nationalist organization such as the Nation of Islam or the Black Israelites claimed that they possessed a ‘religious freedom' to actively discriminate against white people in the workplace or elsewhere?”
The response, according to this commenter would be, “The White Right would explode with claims of ‘reverse discrimination' and ‘black racism'. The end game of the Supreme Court's surrender to the theocrats and religious plutocrats could be the complete dismantlement of the liberal consensus politics of the post World War 2 era.” The Daily Kos analysis adds bleakly, “The corporateocracy and the 1 percent are using the tricks, smoke, and mirrors of ‘religious faith' to expand their power and protections from civil authority and the social compact. The tactic is Orwellian and dystopian . Alas, if corporations are indeed ‘people'---an insult to the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution which was put in place to protect the rights of newly freed black slaves--then their behavior is sociopathic . The sociopath will lie, dissemble, and exploit others for his or her own gain because that is their essential nature.”
Meanwhile a recent survey by Gallup has shown that approval of the SCOTUS has been on the decline since 2009. In its latest poll, conducted earlier in July, it was found that only 47 percent of respondents approve of the Supreme Court, while a slightly smaller group, 46 percent, disapprove. In its note the agency stated, “Since Gallup began asking the question in 2000, Americans have typically been more likely to approve than to disapprove of the job the Supreme Court is doing. However, the margin between the two has been narrowing since its recent high point in 2009….” In this context a commentator noted: “Luckily for the Supreme Court, it's not the only branch of the U.S. government that has seen its approval tank over the past few years. Americans also have less confidence in the legislative and the executive branch , with only 7 percent reporting high levels of confidence of Congress and 29 percent with confidence in the White House . The Supreme Court had the confidence of 30 percent of Americans in that report .”
Unfortunately for President Obama, while he has had to face constant onslaughts from the right and withstand pressures from the left, he also had to struggle with policies and decisions left behind by the Bush administration which had created a surveillance state with its motive force being suspicion. For the American people in general it has been a period that has been way less than wholesome with necessary lawmaking and reforms put almost permanently on slow tracks and the president's to do list immobilized.
It will be worth concluding with the observations of a law professor: “Watching the [Supreme] Court in action – even for just one day – is an eye opener. My class was there on the next to last day. We heard three cases read…. At one point while the opinions were being read, Justice Thomas (who almost always has the ‘I wish I were somewhere else' look while sitting in open Court) decided to turn his back to those viewing the proceedings. Since he wasn't standing this meant that he whirled his chair around 180 degrees. This meant that all the Court's spectators could see was the rather large back of the Justice's chair. It was as if he disappeared from the Chamber. The Chief [Justice] kept reading the opinion, ignoring Justice Thomas ignoring the business at hand…. Later that day, back in class the students were asked their impressions of the Court. They were quite surprised with how disrespectful several of the Justices (again, particularly Thomas) were. They noticed Justice Scalia leaning way back in his chair, almost to a reclining position. Some students (sitting closer than me) also stated that it seemed Justice Breyer was either ‘deep in thought' during much of the proceedings or ‘resting his eyes' (to be polite).”
And so it goes. The Obama administration's socio-economic-political ambitions are evidently in limbo though, under the circumstances, he himself maybe feeling that he's in a Sisyphean state.
The writer has been a media professional, in print and online newspapers as editor and commentator, and in public affairs, for over forty years.
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