The Kavanaugh confirmation process has been perhaps the most profound illustration of partisan politics in my lifetime.  I can’t recall seeing a congressional hearing that was actually substantive, but this one is embarrassing.  In addition to the Democratic senators desperately hurling spitballs at Kavanaugh and hoping something will stick, the hearing has been interrupted several times by choreographed protests from the public gallery.  ABC News describes the situation this way: ”The protesters are part of a nationwide campaign to disrupt the confirmation process. A broad coalition of activist groups, including abortion rights groups, gun control organizations and labor unions.”  Senator Feinstein offered an ambiguous, halfhearted apology to Kavanaugh for ‘the circumstances’ but also stated “it was imperative everyone understand how strongly Democrats and progressives feel about Kavanaugh’s ascension to the nation’s highest court.”  Apparently a disregard for civility and disrespect for public decorum are critical measures for the strength of these feelings. We should be very impressed.  

Sadly, this is not extraordinary.  The left has long conflated protest and purpose, assigning nobility to the former that must be earned by the latter.  Martin Luther King was driven by a strong purpose that necessitated protest.  His legacy is the change he brought to race relations in America.  But purpose requires conviction, thought, justification, rationale, persuasion, and appealing to a sense of reason and fairness.

That’s hard.

Skipping straight to the more visible protest actions is an attractive shortcut. Rosa Parks was a heroine for refusing to bow to an unjust social policy.  Colin Kaepernick can’t even explain what he is protesting, much less his purpose. But Nike wants to paint him as a hero.

Conservatives are typically not predisposed to such public tantrums, which is perceived as soft conviction for their values.  They don’t take to the streets, disrupt public discourse, turn over cars, smash windows and set things on fire, or drive people out of resturants so they get categorized as spineless sheep who can easily be bulldozed back into the basement by a strong, vulgar display of offensive behavior.  So this becomes the strategy of the left.

What is especially bewildering is that after losing a presidential election they were supposed to win – and losing to a brash, inexperienced ‘buffoon’ – the left still refuses to acknowledge the 62 Million+ voters who have a voice in American democracy.  Instead they are indignant.  They are enraged that the Democratic process has worked against them.  They feel cheated.  Something must be broken. The entirety of the Democrats’ focus in the past 22 months has been to find a way to invalidate the results of the 2016 election, in other words to force conservatives back into irrelevance.   This is not lost on the Trump voters.  Nobody on the left has suggested a policy to reach out to them with an alternative plan to channel their frustration.  Instead, the unspoken strategy of the left is to create a political process that does not include them. What Democrats and pundits don’t recognize is that the more voters feel ignored and marginalized by Washington and the media, the more they are galvanized against their oppressors.  These relentless efforts to disenfranchise them just pours fuel on the fire, which the left won’t even acknowledge exists.

Which brings us back to the Kavanaugh confirmation process.  Since Roe v Wade the left has realized that it’s far more convenient to advance an agenda via courts than the laborius process of persuading the electorate.  Laws to legalize abortion would have never passed in 1973 but the Supreme Court made legislation irrelevant. Gay marriage failed nearly every state ballot initiative but Justice Kennedy alone made it legal.  No one can rationaly defend a law that the US should have no borders but the same effective result can be achieved if a few justices declare as unconstitutional any efforts to enforce such policies.

This is why the left is so panicked about this judicial appointment.  It’s about to get much harder to find new constitutional rights in the Supreme Court.  Rather than campaign to appeal to ALL the people, Democrats still shun the process that wins elections and codifies laws of the land.

They still believe the most effective policy is to throw their toys out of the crib harder and farther.