Opinion: Why I Have Lost Faith in Our Government (Hint - It's not Trump this time)

By Neel Lakhanpal ‘16

Sadly, within hours of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, his memory had faded and a complicated political battle had just begun. In the wake of this tragedy, the Supreme Court is in a precarious position in the eyes of many; the conservative Scalia’s loss has translated to the potential for a liberal majority in the court. In this situation, as has been done for hundreds of years, the President nominates potential justices and the Senate approves them if they seem suitable for the position. Republicans (who hold a majority in the Senate), knowing Obama will nominate a liberal with views compatible to his own, have vowed to not approve any nominee the President presents them. The Republicans claim that the American people, in an election year, ought to be able to choose their nominee by way of choosing the presidential candidate this November. Or, in other words, they are terrified of the prospect of a liberal majority in the Supreme Court.

Personally, I would not have voted for Obama if I could have in 2012. But he won by over five million votes. The American people democratically and constitutionally elected Obama to be the president and fulfill the duties of the office. That being said, I do not like most of Obama’s policies. But he is the president. The Republicans, however, are preventing him from doing his own job. It is frankly disgusting to see this hypocrisy occurring in our government. The Republican Party obsesses over the Constitution and is all about cracking down on government ineptitude. Now they are violating the former and contributing to the latter. For candidates like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz to talk about loving the Constitution so much and adhering to it, it is inconceivable to me why they would then claim that this year the President doesn’t need to do his job, leaving a vacancy on the Court for an entire year. Elizabeth Warren, an all-but-socialist Massachusetts senator with whom I agree on just about nothing, did sum up the situation quite well in a Facebook post a few weeks ago:

“Article II Section 2 of the Constitution says the President of the United States nominates justices to the Supreme Court, with the advice and consent of the Senate. I can’t find a clause that says ‘except when there’s a year left in the term of a Democratic President.’

Senate Republicans took an oath just like Senate Democrats did. Abandoning the duties they swore to uphold would threaten both the Constitution and our democracy itself. It would also prove that all the Republican talk about loving the Constitution is just that – empty talk.”

This controversy has all proven to me a sad reality as a first time voter excited to participate in the political process this fall: our leaders are in it for the power and the political expediency. The Senate Republicans are showing me and everyone else in this country that they put party politics above the Constitution and the people they were elected to serve. I personally am very saddened by these developments, and I am sure that Justice Scalia would be too if he could witness them today.

Photo courtesy: http://www.albertmohler.com/2016/02/14/a-giant-has-fallen-the-death-of-justice-antonin-scalia-and-the-future-of-constitutional-government/

Quote courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/senatorelizabethwarren/?fref=ts