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> liberal lawyers (which is 90% of them) What is the basis for this claim? > believe that their position is not only correct but above debate and above the po

> liberal lawyers (which is 90% of them) What is the basis for this claim? > believe that their position is not only correct but above debate and above the political and legal process You seem to be accusing everyone who disagrees with you of malice and abandonment of all principles - more or less evil. I would counter that this kind of argument is only ever made in bad faith in an attempt to demonize those who don't agree with you. > politics and law are merely vehicles for imposing the moral views of highly educated professionals on the unwashed masses. And one could likewise say that much of conservative thought is an attempt to force people to adhere to certain religious values using state coercion. But that would just be an opinion, not a fact. What is fact is that many (possibly most?) conservative policies and doctrines do not enjoy majority support in the United States, yet are being rammed down our throats regardless because those policies are a) supported by those in power and b) convenient wedge issues or rallying cries for a small minority of the voting base - a minority that happens to be highly motivated. Even the current composition of the court was a blatant power grab to deny Obama's constitutional right to appoint a justice with a made-up rule that it was "too close" to an election. Then immediately discarding that so-called rule when Trump was in the same position. In that sense the current conservative majority is illegitimate. Regardless of how you think any specific SCOTUS decision should go I hope you'd agree that a court that the majority of Americans believe to be illegitimately stacked is not a good thing for the stability of our separation of powers. For that matter the overall tilt toward conservatives in House representation thanks to gerrymandering along with over-representation of conservative thought in the Senate due to the 2-senators-per-state rule undermines the legitimacy of Congress and the entire government. You can only get away with preventing the majority from being able to enact any significant policies for so long before a representative government collapses. Granted that might take tens or hundreds of years but in the long term it erodes the very foundation of our society. I find that very concerning personally but some people would rather win at any cost (witness Trump's recent loss and the fact that some conservatives attempted to sacrifice free & fair elections for a single win of a single presidential term. How cheaply they were willing to sell out!)

rayiner 4y ago
> > liberal lawyers (which is 90% of them) > What is the basis for this claim? https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/washington-secrets/many-top-law-firms-donated-90-to-biden-democrats https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/washington-secret... > You seem to be accusing everyone who disagrees with you of malice and abandonment of all principles - more or less evil. Not at all. I think they have the best of intentions. But their principles are different than the principles of our parents’ generation of liberals. > And one could likewise say that much of conservative thought is an attempt to force people to adhere to certain religious values using state coercion. But that would just be an opinion, not a fact. That’s a good comparison actually. It’s reminiscent of the old religious right. The difference is that these new liberals are ascendant, while the religious right is in the decline, being supplanted by the populist right. > What is fact is that many (possibly most?) conservative policies and doctrines do not enjoy majority support in the United States The irony is that liberals have consistently used the Supreme Court to overturn the conservative policies that do enjoy popular support. Roe, of course, overturned laws that had the support of the public. To this day, Roe draws a line—abortion until viability—that the public rejects: https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-us-supreme-court-abortion-religion-health-2c569aa7934233af8e00bef4520a8fa8 https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-us-supreme-court-abort... Conservative policies are popular on many other issues. As of 2013, a strong majority of Americans still opposes the Supreme Court’s ban on school prayer: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/13/south-carolina-valedictorian-reignites-debate-on-prayer-in-school/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/13/south-carol... If the Supreme Court bans racial preferences in the Harvard case, liberals will attack the Justices as racist for adopting a position most Black and Hispanic people agree with: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/25/most-americans-say-colleges-should-not-consider-race-or-ethnicity-in-admissions/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/25/most-americ... It’s “heads I win, tails you lose.” Liberals invoke the “will of the people” when it comes to Obamacare, but insist on edicts from ivory tower elites to override the popular will when it comes to unpopular liberal efforts at social engineering. > convenient wedge issues or rallying cries for a small minority of the voting base - a minority that happens to be highly motivated. When folks call abortion a “wedge issue” what they mean is that liberals feel like that they own that issue so completely it’s not even up for debate. Those issues are a therefore a distraction from the ones that they are willing to subject to the political process. Thus the intense outrage over this draft opinion, while extended ETC benefits passed quietly into the night. Imposing the social mores of (mostly white) educated liberals on the population is the #1 priority of the Democratic Party. That’s why abortion is a litmus test—rather than raising taxes on the upper middle class—in a party where 1/3 of the actual voters identify as “pro life.” That’s why Democrats are pissing away historic opportunities created by unforced errors by the GOP, and alienating Hispanic voters they depend on, by doing stuff like trying to convince parents to let them talk about sexuality to young kids. Because that’s the party’s actual priority. Your point about minorities suppressing the majority is ironic. Leaving aside that the effect you’re talking about is small—look at the Congressional popular vote, where Republicans have won an outright majority half the time since 2000–you’re correct. It is a problem when minorities overrule majorities. That’s why decades of liberal Supreme Court rulings overruling the public on issue after issue have been tremendously damaging to our political process. After decades of beating down the public and doing stuff like forcing small towns to allow strip clubs to operate in the name of free speech, complaining about the Supreme Court “ignoring the popular will” is the height of irony.

rayiner 4y ago

> > liberal lawyers (which is 90% of them) > What is the basis for this claim? https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/washington-secrets/many-top-law-firms-donated-90-to-biden-democrats https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/washington-secret... > You seem to be accusing everyone who disagrees with you of malice and abandonment of all principles - more or less evil. Not at all. I think they have the best of intentions. But their principles are different than the principles of our parents’ generation of liberals. > And one could likewise say that much of conservative thought is an attempt to force people to adhere to certain religious values using state coercion. But that would just be an opinion, not a fact. That’s a good comparison actually. It’s reminiscent of the old religious right. The difference is that these new liberals are ascendant, while the religious right is in the decline, being supplanted by the populist right. > What is fact is that many (possibly most?) conservative policies and doctrines do not enjoy majority support in the United States The irony is that liberals have consistently used the Supreme Court to overturn the conservative policies that do enjoy popular support. Roe, of course, overturned laws that had the support of the public. To this day, Roe draws a line—abortion until viability—that the public rejects: https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-us-supreme-court-abortion-religion-health-2c569aa7934233af8e00bef4520a8fa8 https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-us-supreme-court-abort... Conservative policies are popular on many other issues. As of 2013, a strong majority of Americans still opposes the Supreme Court’s ban on school prayer: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/13/south-carolina-valedictorian-reignites-debate-on-prayer-in-school/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/13/south-carol... If the Supreme Court bans racial preferences in the Harvard case, liberals will attack the Justices as racist for adopting a position most Black and Hispanic people agree with: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/25/most-americans-say-colleges-should-not-consider-race-or-ethnicity-in-admissions/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/02/25/most-americ... It’s “heads I win, tails you lose.” Liberals invoke the “will of the people” when it comes to Obamacare, but insist on edicts from ivory tower elites to override the popular will when it comes to unpopular liberal efforts at social engineering. > convenient wedge issues or rallying cries for a small minority of the voting base - a minority that happens to be highly motivated. When folks call abortion a “wedge issue” what they mean is that liberals feel like that they own that issue so completely it’s not even up for debate. Those issues are a therefore a distraction from the ones that they are willing to subject to the political process. Thus the intense outrage over this draft opinion, while extended ETC benefits passed quietly into the night. Imposing the social mores of (mostly white) educated liberals on the population is the #1 priority of the Democratic Party. That’s why abortion is a litmus test—rather than raising taxes on the upper middle class—in a party where 1/3 of the actual voters identify as “pro life.” That’s why Democrats are pissing away historic opportunities created by unforced errors by the GOP, and alienating Hispanic voters they depend on, by doing stuff like trying to convince parents to let them talk about sexuality to young kids. Because that’s the party’s actual priority. Your point about minorities suppressing the majority is ironic. Leaving aside that the effect you’re talking about is small—look at the Congressional popular vote, where Republicans have won an outright majority half the time since 2000–you’re correct. It is a problem when minorities overrule majorities. That’s why decades of liberal Supreme Court rulings overruling the public on issue after issue have been tremendously damaging to our political process. After decades of beating down the public and doing stuff like forcing small towns to allow strip clubs to operate in the name of free speech, complaining about the Supreme Court “ignoring the popular will” is the height of irony.