One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.
In March of this year, after the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Senator Mitch McConnell said that he believed that the senate should “(g)ive the people a voice in the filling of this vacancy.” Because of the potential impact on the country, “of course the American people should have a say in the court’s direction.” In an interview that appeared in the National Journal on October 23rd, 2010, McConnell said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” When asked by the interviewer if that goal would be accomplished by obstructionism, McConnell hedged, saying, in effect that if the president proposed ideas that “the people” agreed with, he’d be more successful.
More politicians are talking about “the people,” a group supposedly in the majority in this country, easily identified by their collective political opinions and unified goals. Of course, this group of like-minded folks have the same belief systems as the politician and therefore are better qualified to weigh in on social and political issues. Indiana governor Mike Pence, now the Republican vice-presidential nominee, in commenting on the NCAA’s decision to abandon North Carolina due to the state’s discriminatory “bathroom” law, was quoted as saying, “these decisions are best made at the state level, by the people.”
In 1976, I helped to organize a group of African Americans in the small town of Madera, California. Several of us were concerned that our voices were not being heard by the ruling — mostly white — majority, and we searched for a peaceful way to insert ourselves into the conversation. The resultant group, “United People for Progress,” didn’t last long but I remember an organizing meeting where the attendants tossed around possible names. When “United People for Progress” was suggested, one member urged caution, saying that the term “people” was often associated with radical or communistic causes. Nonetheless, UPP had a short and fun run, raising money for a scholarship and entering a float in a parade before it disintegrated and the people moved on to other social activities. But I’m certain that none of those “people” are part of the group referred to by McConnell and Pence. Nor am I.
It cannot be considered good governance for Senate Republicans to refuse to hear the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, who is, according to a CNN report on March 16th, “respected across political lines.” Apparently, that is not enough for McConnell, who is holding his breath as would a petulant 5-year-old, hoping that a new president — one who shares McConnell’s politics — will staff the vacant Supreme Court seat.
When Pence and McConnell imply that “the people” support their political and social views, I have to wonder where I — and millions of other people — fit in that narrative. We are, just as Shakespeare’s Shylock was, “warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer” as the people cited as the reason for Pence and McConnell’s reluctance to be fair and gracious. I am unwilling to support laws that forbid certain people to eat at public lunch counters . . . oops: to order cakes and use public restroom facilities. “The people” have spoken, Messrs. Pence and McConnell, and despite your reluctance to acknowledge our voices, we cried out and were heard when we elected Barack Obama president of the United States, twice.
You would be wise to remember that I also, am “the people.”