I have deliberately stayed away from blogging recently -- partly because the news is moving so fast that I have no ability in these days to get above the fray and take a longer view of things, and partly because the Internet is already swamped with too much instant commentary and reaction. Indeed, I dare say that trying to stay on top of today's news as it develops from minute to minute could become hazardous to one's sanity.
The recent Senate hearings on nominee Brett Kavanaugh are a perfect case in point. Was it ever the case that the national networks wasted so much time on such political grandstanding, demagoguery, and posturing -- which had no relevance to the candidate's fitness to occupy a seat on the nation's highest court? Such politicization of the "advise and consent" role the Senate plays in judicial nominations distorts the real role that Congress ought to play in our government.
I could go on, but there is thankfully a much more direct and forceful way to make my point. Just watch this amazingly candid and absorbing opening statement by Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, delivered mostly ex tempore on September 4. You will never spend a better eleven minutes listening to such a brilliant dissection of what so ails our current, broken system, and this blog can serve no better current purpose in these hysterical times than to bring it to your sober attention:
Reasoned, informed and articulate.
ReplyDeleteHe's right, of course. Congress has delegated too much authority to the executive branch. And the judiciary has involved itself much, much too often in what it thinks policy ought to be rather than in reviewing what legislation actually says. If this latter tendency were not the fact, a Supreme Court nomination wouldn't be a cause for hysteria.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if SCOTUS rediscovered the non-delegation doctrine. That is Congress cannot delegate its authority to legislate to another branch of government.
ReplyDeleteThe modern administrative federal state has overruled the Constitution of the United States of America.
ReplyDeleteThis video is spot on, and it's sad that there are people who want to make it more complicated.
ReplyDeleteAt Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, I waited in vain for someone to ask him to explain his theory of the place for the 10th amendment in our government.
ReplyDeleteThere's a good Q & A with Senator Sasse in the regular "By the Book" feature in today's New York Times Book Review:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/books/review/ben-sasse-by-the-book.html