No More Pretense

Two things have become very clear in the last week or so. Things that have always been pretty obvious, but now there's no denying it.

First, Antonin Scalia, in his language in his DOMA dissent, has dropped all pretense of being some kind of objective originalist reader of the Constitution. His invective -- his entire argument, really (I admit I'm no legal scholar, however) -- had no place in a dispassionate reading of the law. Whether it's true or not, for example (it's not), that those who freak out over homosexuality are demonized, it's NOT a relevant legal argument.

Second, as quick as several red states were to institute their racially discriminatory voter ID laws and redistricting, i.e., while the ink was still drying, it's no longer a mystery: today's Rs have reckoned that there's no way they can win based on the reasonableness of their arguments or attractiveness of their policies. So their only hope, given the pre-failed notions on which they base their politics, is to prevent from voting as many people as possible whose eyes are open to reality. People who know their needs -- and the needs of the country -- will never be addressed by a formerly coherent party, now dominated by the ideals of teabagging the face of the future.