The Right To Life - America, are you ready for this debate?
Well, just when you least expect it the greatest of all debates will be at the proverbial water cooler in short order. With the nomination of Harriet Miers to become the next Justice of The Surpreme Court, President Bush has just injected into the country a monumental debate. One wonders if America is ready for it. Ready or not, here it comes...
Harriet Miers is an evangelical Protestant. She has never been a judge, and she has been legal council to this President who is also an avowed born-again Christian. The President says he knows her heart: ""I know her; I know her heart; I know what she believes -- remember, she was part of the search committee that helped pick Roberts," he said. "She knows exactly the kind of judge I'm looking for. And I know exactly the kind of judge she'll be." You can bet those words will be brought up again, and again.
On a purely personal level, I find great comfort in both of these people because, as some on this blog have stated, when it comes to people in positions of power the fundamental requirement to be met is that of a moral being. Someone who has an acute sense of right and wrong, good and evil. When it comes to a Supreme Court nominee, one must also simultaneously posses an acute understanding of the original intentions of the Founding Fathers. Being an evangelical Christian is not, in and of itself, enough to qualify anyone to be a Justice. It is, however, a wonderful point of departure in this new round of political grilling.
My intial sense is that she would make a fabulous Justice, but like most Americans we know little of her politics or her view of The Constitution. Make no mistake about it though, there is a whole host of people in this country that will not understand the long view of this whole matter and will immediately sieze upon and only see the religious fundamentalism that is part and parcel of Harriet Miers.
What President Bush has just done is to inject into the population a debate about the right to life, divine inspiration, and the whole notion of original sin. Mark my words, it is coming to a dinner table or a blog near you, and I for one am deeply appreciative of the President for this nomination - not because I necessarily know Ms Miers to be eminently qualified to be a justice, but rather because with this nomination President Bush has opened the door to a debate that America needs to have... and at the end of it we are all going to be a little bit smarter than we were at the beginning...
bildanielson @ OnTheBorderline
Harriet Miers is an evangelical Protestant. She has never been a judge, and she has been legal council to this President who is also an avowed born-again Christian. The President says he knows her heart: ""I know her; I know her heart; I know what she believes -- remember, she was part of the search committee that helped pick Roberts," he said. "She knows exactly the kind of judge I'm looking for. And I know exactly the kind of judge she'll be." You can bet those words will be brought up again, and again.
On a purely personal level, I find great comfort in both of these people because, as some on this blog have stated, when it comes to people in positions of power the fundamental requirement to be met is that of a moral being. Someone who has an acute sense of right and wrong, good and evil. When it comes to a Supreme Court nominee, one must also simultaneously posses an acute understanding of the original intentions of the Founding Fathers. Being an evangelical Christian is not, in and of itself, enough to qualify anyone to be a Justice. It is, however, a wonderful point of departure in this new round of political grilling.
My intial sense is that she would make a fabulous Justice, but like most Americans we know little of her politics or her view of The Constitution. Make no mistake about it though, there is a whole host of people in this country that will not understand the long view of this whole matter and will immediately sieze upon and only see the religious fundamentalism that is part and parcel of Harriet Miers.
What President Bush has just done is to inject into the population a debate about the right to life, divine inspiration, and the whole notion of original sin. Mark my words, it is coming to a dinner table or a blog near you, and I for one am deeply appreciative of the President for this nomination - not because I necessarily know Ms Miers to be eminently qualified to be a justice, but rather because with this nomination President Bush has opened the door to a debate that America needs to have... and at the end of it we are all going to be a little bit smarter than we were at the beginning...
bildanielson @ OnTheBorderline
posted by Anonymous @ 3:02 PM
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