It is time to stop pretending that judges are impartial. They never were, and now the veneer of civilization has fallen off the court's already crumbling mask. Masks and illusions and symbols are important, and can sometimes make society work better. Despite howls by the Shruggers to claim that only the concrete is best, illusions can do a lot of good, like making a piece of paper exist as money. It's certainly better than gold.
But that illusion is gone now. Rampant politics, not the rule of law is the order of the day. Citizen's United was a big crack. Bush V Gore was another. But this pretty much only allows paint chip eaters to pretend the Supreme Court is anything but a team of who supports which crowd. Oh, I grant you, sometimes there are shocking combinations on the court...but it is almost always for the 1% rather than the 99%. After all, they're almost all wealthy, and they're there for life.
Electing judges has had a 'bad' effect in state politics for a while, but at the same time judges do respond to their constituents. There is a reason people elect district attorneys and the like. In fact, perhaps we should start electing all major office holders...judges, secretaries, generals, admirals, ambassadors....make them all accountable to the public at large.
Money only goes so far, but in every historical case, unelected bodies like the old senate, become corrupt and beholden to the wealthy. Money still does a lot in politics, but corruption runs most rampant when you can buy a few, rather than the masses. Our Less Fortune Friends love to harp on and on about how democrats stay in power by providing 'goodies' to the plebes, but Our Less Fortunate Friends instead just elect folks who keep the 1% in power...
And they're just general idiots.
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