In the Spotlight of the Senate
Tonight, in the spotlight of the Senate we find two individuals caught in the cameras and comments of the media. What does this do to such people? What is the cost of such commitment to their ideals? What is the true power of the Senate as it relates to these two people?
Justice Kavanaugh is pursuing an attempt to become a Justice of the Supreme Court. In his attempt he faces the claim that he committed attempted rape. His accuser, Professor Christine Blasey Ford, after 35 years has publicly attached Kavanaugh's name with an attempted rape on her.
The trial is being held in the court of public opinion with the media acting out the roles of attorneys. The judge is the American public.
Ford has received death threats but is still willing to testify to the Senate if the proceeding can be fair, by her standard, not by the Senate standard. I wonder which is fairer, her standard or the Senate's standard. Does she know something more than the American public does? Is it that the Senate committee has bias, because it is filled with politicians? Or is her sense of fairness just that a Professor should be free to tell her story on her own terms without any harassment from anyone? Truth or lies? One thing we know, her action to bring her story forward is bringing death threats.
Death threats are now also being experienced by Judge Kavanaugh's family. In America the public tries and judges the case even before the proceeding can begin. Yet, so far, the Judge is holding firm in his attempt to grab this prized judicial position. Is it because of his innocence? His determination? His sense of justice? His ego? Truth or lies? One thing we know, his action to bring his story forward is bringing death threats.
Perhaps the greatest story left at the end of this battle is the ending. Will the Senate be able to provide a venue that works and is just for both participants? Will the Senate be able to get the stories out and make a decision before the American public kills one or the other or both participants? Will the participants be judged and sentenced by the American public before they can present their cases before the Senators?
It appears that the Senate committee has no true power in the sense that it may not be able to save these individuals' lives. The cost of such commitment from both individuals is great. If they survive, their lives will be unalterably changed. If Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed he will forever live in the eye of public opinion as the rapist Judge. And if Democrats have their way, they will find a way to remove him from the Supreme court even though it has never been done before. If the Judge is not confirmed or he bows out, he may lose his judgeship anyway as the court of public opinion demands its punishment of him for attempted rape, even though never charged or proven true. The man may be ruined as a certainty.
If Professor Blasey Ford has her opportunity to tell her story, the court of public opinion will side with her despite the absence of proof, 30 plus years beyond the situation, in a place she doesn't know and a time she doesn't know and possibly with assailants she may have mistaken. We live in a time where public opinion sides unequivocally with the woman who steps forward with the accounts of attempted rape. This may be for the best, but the court of public opinion does not demand the standard of innocent until proven guilty, it only requires the verbal claim to judge and sentence the accused. The public seeks no equality in presentation of fact, rather it assumes the claim as true and the accused as guilty. Then it stands ready to serve the punishment. At present, that punishment is death, by public opinion and public action.
Professor Blasey Ford will nevertheless be linked with her claim for the rest of her life. There will be no easy living at any time in her future. She will fear the public despite her convictions. Her life has been changed by an event that shaped her life when she was a teen. Her career will change in the future as she finds that she needs respite from the spotlight. She will known as brave and fearless and a liar. If she does not present her side before the Senate committee she will be viewed as cheated out of her justice and alternatively as the professor who cried wolf. Her life beyond these next few weeks will never be the quality that it was. The scars will be deeper.
And what of the Senate Committee? Will it be known as the committee that got it right- that provided justice for both sides? Or will the committee be judged as incapable of finding a new Supreme Court Justice? Will it prove to be truly ineffective and powerless or will it prove to have great power and great justice? Will it matter to a divided American public? Will it be a faithful representative of both individuals' rights? Will the American public be able to say that it was represented fairly in future committee meetings or will the American public continue to be deceived by its representatives?
The spotlight of the Senate judicial committee shines at the moment on two sides of the two individuals' stories and on two deeply held views of justice by the American public. Time is always the arbiter of the issues and time will shine a light on the American public's final verdict. Will the verdict of the Senate committee match the verdict of of American public opinion? Will these two individuals have any quality of life left at the end of this story? Time will tell.
Justice Kavanaugh is pursuing an attempt to become a Justice of the Supreme Court. In his attempt he faces the claim that he committed attempted rape. His accuser, Professor Christine Blasey Ford, after 35 years has publicly attached Kavanaugh's name with an attempted rape on her.
The trial is being held in the court of public opinion with the media acting out the roles of attorneys. The judge is the American public.
Ford has received death threats but is still willing to testify to the Senate if the proceeding can be fair, by her standard, not by the Senate standard. I wonder which is fairer, her standard or the Senate's standard. Does she know something more than the American public does? Is it that the Senate committee has bias, because it is filled with politicians? Or is her sense of fairness just that a Professor should be free to tell her story on her own terms without any harassment from anyone? Truth or lies? One thing we know, her action to bring her story forward is bringing death threats.
Death threats are now also being experienced by Judge Kavanaugh's family. In America the public tries and judges the case even before the proceeding can begin. Yet, so far, the Judge is holding firm in his attempt to grab this prized judicial position. Is it because of his innocence? His determination? His sense of justice? His ego? Truth or lies? One thing we know, his action to bring his story forward is bringing death threats.
Perhaps the greatest story left at the end of this battle is the ending. Will the Senate be able to provide a venue that works and is just for both participants? Will the Senate be able to get the stories out and make a decision before the American public kills one or the other or both participants? Will the participants be judged and sentenced by the American public before they can present their cases before the Senators?
It appears that the Senate committee has no true power in the sense that it may not be able to save these individuals' lives. The cost of such commitment from both individuals is great. If they survive, their lives will be unalterably changed. If Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed he will forever live in the eye of public opinion as the rapist Judge. And if Democrats have their way, they will find a way to remove him from the Supreme court even though it has never been done before. If the Judge is not confirmed or he bows out, he may lose his judgeship anyway as the court of public opinion demands its punishment of him for attempted rape, even though never charged or proven true. The man may be ruined as a certainty.
If Professor Blasey Ford has her opportunity to tell her story, the court of public opinion will side with her despite the absence of proof, 30 plus years beyond the situation, in a place she doesn't know and a time she doesn't know and possibly with assailants she may have mistaken. We live in a time where public opinion sides unequivocally with the woman who steps forward with the accounts of attempted rape. This may be for the best, but the court of public opinion does not demand the standard of innocent until proven guilty, it only requires the verbal claim to judge and sentence the accused. The public seeks no equality in presentation of fact, rather it assumes the claim as true and the accused as guilty. Then it stands ready to serve the punishment. At present, that punishment is death, by public opinion and public action.
Professor Blasey Ford will nevertheless be linked with her claim for the rest of her life. There will be no easy living at any time in her future. She will fear the public despite her convictions. Her life has been changed by an event that shaped her life when she was a teen. Her career will change in the future as she finds that she needs respite from the spotlight. She will known as brave and fearless and a liar. If she does not present her side before the Senate committee she will be viewed as cheated out of her justice and alternatively as the professor who cried wolf. Her life beyond these next few weeks will never be the quality that it was. The scars will be deeper.
And what of the Senate Committee? Will it be known as the committee that got it right- that provided justice for both sides? Or will the committee be judged as incapable of finding a new Supreme Court Justice? Will it prove to be truly ineffective and powerless or will it prove to have great power and great justice? Will it matter to a divided American public? Will it be a faithful representative of both individuals' rights? Will the American public be able to say that it was represented fairly in future committee meetings or will the American public continue to be deceived by its representatives?
The spotlight of the Senate judicial committee shines at the moment on two sides of the two individuals' stories and on two deeply held views of justice by the American public. Time is always the arbiter of the issues and time will shine a light on the American public's final verdict. Will the verdict of the Senate committee match the verdict of of American public opinion? Will these two individuals have any quality of life left at the end of this story? Time will tell.
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