Politics (OT)

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 5500

Hi --

On the issue of whether the election of Dubya poses any sort of threat
to efforts by local school districts to ban books such as HP --

I agree that Bush is not evil incarnate.  He does not appear to be an
unreasonably intolerant individual.  But, his *individual* views won't
really count for much.  I am, and will remain, very very concerned about
the composition of the Supreme Court.  I think it's safe to say that any
appointments made by Dubya will be individuals with a conservative
jurist background (whether he employs an abortion rights "litmus test"
or not).  It would not take very many arch-conservative appointees in
the ilk of Scalia and Thomas to tilt the Court to the far right of
overall American opinion.  Supreme Court appointees have a knack of
sometimes surprising their appointers (I believe Brennan or Marshall or
both were appointed by Eisenhower for example).  IMO, we can only hope
that this will prove true of any Dubya appointees.

If a local school district chooses to ban books, a challenger would
likely be forced to challenge it by invoking infringement of various
constitutional rights, which puts their case into the federal court
system.  As I understand it, the federal courts are still *packed* with
Reagan and Bush Sr. appointments.  Dubya appointments will only increase
that margin.  *That* is my concern.  Yeah, Bush individually might have
read HP to his daughters when they were younger if the books had been
available.  But, if he packs the Court (and lower federal courts) with
far-right conservative jurists, then it's anyone's guess as to how they
will interpret the Constitutional issues associated with book-banning in
public schools (among a myriad of other issues).

My other concern is with the lack of checks & balances that *may* result
from this election.  It appears right now that the Republicans have a
narrow margin of control in both the House & the Senate.  I know there
are some seats that are still a bit in dispute but . . . . if it should
prove to be the case, then passage of Republican legislative proposals
will be tons easier.  In that case, then I tend to think you *could* see
more of "Jump!  How high?" in Washington.

The fact remains that if you have one party in control of the executive
and legislative branch (and in charge of appointments to the federal
judiciary), it's a concern in our system of government.  IMO.  Wall
Street seems to agree with me too -- the stock market *tanked*
yesterday.

I don't really know what will happen in Florida, but I like my husband's
musings from last night.  He said "I think Bush will win and he'll wish
he hadn't."

My 2 galleons --

Penny