Spring is the time of year when we have NCAA March Madness, which reminds us that Butler really is a college somewhere.
Spring dumped snow on the Northeast. It was whiter than a Trump cabinet meeting. Private enterprise stepped in to help when Boston and New York, which could not even plow the snow off their streets, were offered help from the adult site Porn Hub. From what I have seen, the nurses on that site seem more helpful than those on the ObamaCare website. Yet even as a libertarian, I’m torn on whether the porn industry should be providing government services. I know for sure that when they send out a plumber for a house call, he really never stays on task.
It’s Trump’s first spring as president; hopefully, he will do some “spring cleaning” in Washington. Liberals will name it “Springtime for Hitler,” but there is real work to be done.
It seems every time Democrats try to oppose Trump they end up as disappointed as Rosie O’Donnell’s prom date. But Trump must use his honeymoon period judiciously, and not have fights over trivial matters, as he seems prone to do.
What does matter is that Trump will appoint his first Supreme Court Justice. I know this will not mean as much to many Americans as when American Idol had to appoint a new judge to replace Simon Cowell or Paula Abdul, or Celebrity Apprentice appointed Arnold Schwarzenegger to that post, but it’s important.
Like everything Trump does, it gets a lot of press. He narrowed his choices down to two guys and finally gave the rose to Gorsuch, announcing his choice on live TV. It was the first time an episode of Judge Judy was interrupted for a judicial announcement.
Chuck Schumer, speaker for an opposition who dramatically ties themselves to the railroad tracks for everything Republicans try to do, said this of nominee Neal Gorsuch in a NY Times op-ed piece: “The judge was clearly very smart, articulate and polite, with superb judicial demeanor.” This, of course, means, Schumer is against him. I think Judge Gorsuch’s first action upon taking his seat on the Supreme Court should be to order Schumer to push his Rite Aid reading glasses up on his nose when he speaks. It seems arbitrary I know, but it would be good for the people and would let ’em know who’s in charge.
I hope it’s not a contentious vote. In the last 26 years, the narrowest margin in a Senate confirmation for a Supreme Court Justice was Samuel Alito; the vote was 58 for and 42 against. To demonstrate how rancorous the process has become, Reagan nominee Antonin Scalia was confirmed with a 98 to 0 vote.
Neal Gorsuch is very smart and knows our country’s Byzantine legal system of laws laid upon laws. Trump’s first test of Judge Gorsuch was to have him explain the parking signs in Washington, D.C. Only three of the 25 judges under consideration for the nomination could do it.
There are areas of agreement on which we could focus. Libertarians and Democrats can agree with most Republicans that we imprison too many people in the USA. According to Hillary Clinton and Rand Paul, we have 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the prison population. It’s costly and often based on selective prosecution. This is happening against a backdrop of decreasing crime in the last 20 years. As government grows, our freedoms diminish.
We need fewer laws. Who can marry and where they potty in North Carolina should be none of the government’s business. They cannot even plow the streets in Boston and NYC. Let gay marriage stand; it is not hurting anyone. For a crime there really needs to be a victim who is actually damaged. Gay marriage is between two willing parties. If you think about it, it’s just like regular marriage with a lot less argument about who left the toilet seat up.
Even Dick Cheney came out for gay marriage. To be fair, some have speculated that he only did it because he views marriage as a form of torture.
If we keep legally tinkering with bathrooms and gay marriage, the next frontier would be a ruling on bi-sexuality. Which could go either way.
A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron’s appears on CNN, Fox and NBC. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
