God, the Kavanaugh news has me depressed about him being on SCOTUS all over again, like it's the day the Senate confirmed him all over again.
Because, okay. With Trump, I understand that while impeachment is of course the right thing to do and he should be impeached regardless and I'm happy that the process appears to have finally technically started, that as long as he loses next year, that's what matters and what does or doesn't happen with impeachment shouldn't matter much in the long run (again, so long as he loses, which dear god hopefully will happen regardless).
Kavanaugh though... There is no election for him. The only real chance to stop him was the confirmation hearings, and that obviously failed, because Republicans are that evil and vile. And now, bar something happening, he's there for life.
...But of course, that's not TECHNICALLY true. Congress has powers for exactly this situation: impeachment. Not only did Kavanaugh himself appear to commit crimes, but the President/Senate misused their authority to ensure the FBI could not properly investigate those allegations and try to hush it away. What's the mechanism to deal with a situation like this? Impeachment. That's literally what it's there for.
But noooooooooooooooooooooo, despite this being exactly what the mechanism is designed for, exactly why Congress has those powers to begin with, not only why they have those powers but also why they are technically Constitutionally obliged to use them whether they like it or not (not that such things matter much in practice though apparently), it's still too "extreme" to use powers exactly the way they were meant to be used, for exactly the kind of situations they're there for.
And of course there is one other solution to dealing with people like Kavanaugh, one that wouldn't require any Republican support at all as long as we get the Presidency/Senate back: stacking the court. But despite not requiring any Republicans at all and thus no "but the Senate" to hide behind, that's obviously seen as even more extreme and even more of a non-option.
So.. what? I'm just supposed to not only be fine with Republicans succeeding at getting Kavanaugh onto the court to begin with and him likely sitting there for decades, but I'm supposed to be fine with him nothing being done about that, nothing even tried, because "the politics of it tho" or whatever? Like, I don't care that it won't succeed. I know that. I more than know that. It's the right thing to do regardless though.
Because it's about far more than just Kavanaugh himself anyway. It's about that method, of putting ANYONE, even a complete piece of trash like Kavanaugh, on the court working so long as they can stonewall FBI investigations and the like. That is to say, Kavanaugh won't be the last. He's far from it. The next time there's an opening in an RRR or RDR administration? Same fucking thing will happen, even if that person is also a rapist or murderer or who even knows. Just stonewall the investigation and bruteforce him onto the court anyway. Literally nothing to lose, since they get the Seat, and it didn't even have any consequences in the Senate (not even no consequences; Republicans made gains, and that's mostly a circumstance of the maps last year, but still. And before the House is brought up, we all know that's mostly due to a referendum on Trump and healthcare and our success there obviously had little to do with Kavanaugh especially since that's well the Senate's business).
The point is, it worked. It 100% worked, with no consequences at all. And that being the case, if and when the situation arises again (and it will, that's a question of when, not if), why would they not do the same thing again?
And that's why it's so important to me personally that Kavanaugh should be impeached. Because it's not just about him, but those that will come after. That there needs to be some form of consequences, anything at all for this kinda behavior. Even something equivalent to a slap on the wrist due to articles of impeachment dying in the Senate regardless is better than nothing at all and pure silence.
Because that's another thing: yeah, I know it will die in the Senate regardless, because Republicans are scum. But as people like to point out, there are more of us than there are of them, and beyond being the right thing to do, THAT would be part of the point of such a move as well: to motivate our own base, and to try and win over independents on stuff like this as well while we're at it.
Because no duh Republicans in the Senate won't be convinced. But so what if they can't? Why are they the target audience to begin with? Of course they're going to do that, they put him on the Court to begin with, no duh they don't have any problems defending him, that's not news. The audience would be everyone else. Saying it's Republicans we need to convince regardless or nothing matters sounds little different to me than "we need to win over Trump voters to beat him in 2020" which is obviously just as false. We just need to motivate our own voters to turn out next year to beat Trump, just even a few thousand votes changing hands in a handful of states would have been enough to completely change how 2016 went, and same deal here.
That it would be all about our own base, and motivating them and fighting for the right ting regardless of what Republicans do and letting people have faith in our democracy and letting them know that even when things go wrong, even when things go terribly, terribly wrong, there are still mechanisms to set things right again and people willing to fight for what's right, whatever it takes, no matter how hard or unlikely the fight, and that's definitely more than worth something in its own right IMO, regardless of outcomes. Letting people actually have that faith, that even when things go wrong, that they can be corrected, even if it's a hard brutal fight and knowing that there's people out there willing to do it no matter how unlikely the odds, because that's the right thing to do and how those situations can be handled.
Of course though, I am very much a realist about this. I know this won't happen. I know Democrats and Pelosi are petrified of making such a move, especially after 2018 and what happened in the Senate over Kavanaugh there (even though that wasn't purely about him and likely the same thing would have happened more or less the same way regardless purely due to the maps, that seems be the narrative that it had at least an impact on the race regardless). I know it's not going to happen, no way, no how.
But it sure would be fucking nice if it would. And that's why this stuff resurfacing has me so depressed all over again: because Republicans already won. And despite the House having mechanisms to correct the vile methods Republicans used to put someone on the Supreme Court that doesn't in any way shape or form belong there, despite there indeed being members of the Democratic Caucus who would be willing to fight that fight if only they were allowed to, that Pelosi won't allow it to happen to protect other House members (who may or may not even need protecting depending on how things go and how the public ends up perceiving such things, as that's the thing, if you don't fight to begin with, there's no way of knowing how it will go), and that reluctance not only protects Kavanaugh and ensures he's there as long as he wants it, but anyone else who Republicans also strongarm when they get an opportunity, same thing.
And so yeah, I'm naturally more than a little depressed and unhappy about all this. And I know that even if Democrats were to fight, that it would result in a loss in the Senate, that that much would be guaranteed regardless. But some things are just worth fighting for regardless, and this is one of them. As at least personally, I just can't accept doing nothing here. The tactics used were too vile, the price too high already to do nothing, and by being silent, it only gets higher.
And I know the results of all this are practically pre-ordained: that it will be shocking if the House even so much as talks about Kavanaugh, nevermind actually moves for impeachment. But can't a person at least be depressed about that and wish people would fight for what's right regardless of the odds and not have everything be purely about "politics this, elections that" for one single second and instead doing the right thing regardless (and knowing in my head that it can't, that of course everything will be and always will be about elections and swing-seats and marginals and moderate members and stuff only depresses me all the more, that those are the considerations that ultimately lead to the final decisions on stuff like this instead of any actual set of ethics or morals or principles or anything of the sort).
And this has long since just turned into a rant, so I'll cut it off here less I go on for another 5 paragraphs, but I just needed to get all these feelings and thoughts out somewhere I guess, so thanks for letting me do so here (and for reading all this nonsense, for anyone who takes the time to do so).
Meh.
Edit: I supposed the TL;DR of all this, is, I just want to believe in the country again. I want to be able to believe, that if we did fight for something like this, with everything we had, that if we truly gave it everything we got and went all-in, no holds-barred, the country would be on our side because someone like that shouldn't be on the Supreme Court, and that not only is there apparently lots of evidence to that effect, but the fact that Republicans went to hard in making sure the FBI couldn't investigate any of the corroborating witnesses only makes Kavanaugh look that much more shadier, on top of the witnesses existing to begin with, and that while Republicans of course would remain stalwart, that we could win over everyone else. I'd just like to believe that, that if we actually fought, that we could win over the hearts of everyone else, and since there are more of us than them, that things would be fine.
I'd like to believe that, and I'd like to believe that such a thing wouldn't be too much to ask for, that the reality isn't so godawful that apparently even that much is far too close to being a flat-out pipedream to even consider asking, but alas...
