It hit me suddenly: probably because my wife and I have been dealing with some life, possible death, issues recently. Isn’t odd how death surrounds us, enfolds us, every day? People die about as much as they’re born, but we celebrate one, sweep the other under ceremony and ritual. Unless it’s someone like Scalia. Then it often becomes a national case of over the top angst.
I hate it. I worked long enough in cemeteries as a young man to feel most of this is phony, artificial and outright weird. A lot of what we do seems to have nothing to do with Christianity, or any other faith. Pumping up a body with formaldehyde? Really? God can walk again as Jesus, build Adam out of dust and dirt, but needs chemical help? Is he in league with big chemical, or on the board of Pfizer?
Those who know my politics can quickly guess that I am not a Scalia fan. Even if I agreed with his stances more, his acerbic, his obvious partisan skew as a justice was exactly what we didn’t need. That’s no matter what side any Supreme is on. But he didn’t deserve this.
I must address recent comments about his replacement. One wonders, if roles were reversed and we had a President Romney, McCain, or W. back, would they be making noise now about waiting for the next president? I think we all know the answer to that.
It’s obvious Congress will do what they can to step in the way of any new justice, especially any not to their liking: read that as anyone who isn’t, basically, them. To be honest, even if Barack would suggrest someone like them, I think they would obstruct. This goes way back to the Caucus Room Conspiracy.
#8194;Barack owes these folks nothing, and also has a duty. Please do it as well as possible, Mr. President. I hope you choose wisely, and if there is an ounce of honesty left these pols will respect his right to choose. They don’t have to agree. They just need to cut out the panty twisting and all the demands that the president wait until they might have a president to their own liking.
That’s not how the system works. Never has.
I’m sure there will be pomp, circumstance, and the pols will play “nice” during that… while pundits do their usual foam at the mouth routines, some no matter what side they’re on.
Frankly I find all this an insult to the living, and the dead. But I’ve felt that long before all this. I’ve felt it at least since they turned JFK’s assassination into a week long mourn-fest, and when my mother died.
We don’t do death well, in my opinion. Unfortunately I doubt, if he could speak, Scalia would care about any of this: especially the hole left in the court. In my opinion his whole concept of the Constitution was as his own personal toilet paper he could use to wipe his ever abundant partisanship up with, and then to throw at everyone who dared to disagree with him. And his concept of how his death should be treated was probably about as self serving.
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Inspection is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 40 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks, and into the unseen cracks and crevasses, that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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