This is not a diary about gay rights. This is not a diary about same-sex marriage. This is not a diary about the 14th amendment. instead, the topic of the day he is the process involved aqnd how important it is to protect what is left of the American way of life.
We live in dangerous times. Never before in the history of our nation have we had to deal with so many wrongheaded individuals living in our country. I'm not talking about Republicans or people who merely disagree with us with regard to direction our nation should move in. I am referring to the millions of tea baggers and the millions who strive to deprive us of rights we have enjoyed for so long. I'm also referencing those who reject the ideals on which our nation is founded. These people are trying to take over our country, and it is only judges like Judge Vaughan that stand between us and the demise of our liberties.
Even our elected representatives have done much to strip us of liberties that we have and should enjoy. 49% of our citizens feel that the birthright of citizenship should be repealed. A similar number are willing to deny equal rights to gays and lesbians.
We Americans have always relied on our Constitution and the judiciary to defend us from the tyranny of the majority. Judges who refuse to be cowed by "the majority" are conservative, not activists. They recognize that their job is to defend the Constitution and defend the minority populations in this country. The recent ruling on proposition 8 is a fine example of America getting it right.
Never before have we been faced such a large percentage of our population expressing a willingness to scale back our liberties and American rights. Because of their numbers we can't expect to beat them at the ballot box every time. In fact, more of these dangerous people are getting elected all the time and Congress is already polluted with a large number of people who can legitimately be described as un-American Matters are made even worse by the recent ruling allowing corporate entities to manipulate our electoral process through massive spending.
Even our judiciary has been affected by bad appointments that have been made by previous administrations, usually Republicans. But in the end it is only the judiciary that can defend us against these assaults on our liberties. That is why the ruling on proposition 8 is of such importance. Despite all the gains that the evil ones have made in the past decade or so, we still have some mechanisms in place to defend the true American principles.
Not all decisions are going our way. been disappointed in a number of recent Supreme Court decisions.. It will take further turn over on both benches to restore our confidence in that institution. However, what we need to do in the meantime is to vigorously support our President's judicial nominations and get his good people. To me, that is a more important task than electing a few more Democrats in November. We see on a regular basis that we cannot trust Congress to protect us. So, we must turn to the one institution that remains our guardian of civil liberties and that is the judicial branch.
There isn't a whole lot that we can do as individuals, and I have no specific suggestions here, though I hope that some of you can provide some in the comments. What can we do move forward the nominations being made by President Obama? Of course, getting some of the obstructionist Republicans out of the way will help, but as I've already noted our chances of winning at the ballot box are not particularly rosy. The problem is not with our institutions or process, but rather the fact that the quality of American citizens has gone steadily downhill ever since the days of Ronald Reagan. We still have a democracy, but are having a hard time keeping it. I lay the blame on the horrible decline in educational standards that has left so many Americans ignorant of what our country is all about. In the long run, we must address this issue to restore our nation to its previous standards. We can only be as good as our people. we must do everything we can to protect our liberties in the courts.