American women are
almost unanimously united in the belief that justice was served yesterday with
the sentencing of Bill Cosby and his classification as a violently dangerous
predator. Certainly, I agree—women accused him in overwhelming numbers, he drugged
and raped them, and he damaged or destroyed a lot of lives. Still I found it
sad to see “America’s Dad,” old and blind, led away in handcuffs. The image
chipped away another bit of our image of ourselves as a moral nation. We are
not who we like to think we are.
Tomorrow I will
rearrange my work on my desk to watch the Senate Judiciary Committee’s
investigation of Christina Blasey-Ford and Brett Kavanaugh. I am interested to
see Ford and hope she can conduct herself with dignity, but I’m afraid my mind
is made up on Kavanaugh. His innocent “Oh gosh! Who me? I would never do that!”
act or as someone called it his choir-boy image is too much to be believed. The
way we see him fawn over government leaders on TV these days makes it easy for
me to believe he would do whatever to be one of the boys back in the eighties.
It’s not just two
accusers—one credible and one a bit uncertain—who seem to confirm his guilt. It’s
the aura of nastiness that surrounds his high school and college years. Too
many people testifying to the culture and groups he was part of, too much
inuendo, too much guilt by association. If he truly is innocent, I would think
he would be the one to request an FBI investigation. But no. I believe he even
declined to answer some questions in committee because they were too personal.
Not a privilege he can enjoy at this point.
We all know that
this SCOTUS appt. goes beyond the irreparable damage he does and can do on the
bench. The way our government treats women, the respect we’re shown, the
control over our bodies, our freedom, our lives all hang in the balance. Along
with other major issues such as fair treatment to workers, survival of
endangered species—a whole frightening laundry list.
But I think, like
the Cosby case, the significance goes beyond that and determines the image of
America as a moral nation. It’s almost a morality play with the good guys in
white hats and the bad in black. Are we going to allow ourselves to be bullied
by scum like Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn who would ram an appointment through
for the sake of party and not country, not democracy? Or are we finally at last
ready to stand up and declare that it’s time for the good guys to win?
It’s not easy.
Today a few men (and a couple of women) hold that power in their hands, and we
are momentarily dependent on their sense of morality. The Founding Fathers wisely
wrote checks and balances into the Constitution, but I fear they never foresaw a
situation where an entire party would be as corrupt as we see today.
I am a bit cheered
to hear the idea floated again of impeaching Clarence Thomas—apparently another
woman has come forward to second Anita Hill’s accusations. I doubt anything will
come of it, but it’s nice to know Supreme Court judges can be impeached in extremis. I read somewhere that if
confirmed Kavanaugh will be “impeachable.”
Call me Pollyanna,
but I still believe the guys and gal in white hats will triumph. Sometimes I'm impatient about how soon.
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