Sept. 20, 2020 – The Supreme Court is not a kitchen table issue. The issues that count for most people, the kitchen table issues, are keeping or finding a job, not getting laid off, paying the rent/mortgage/electric, food on the table, school for the kids, child care, health care, parent care. The one thing that dramatically impacts all these concerns is the covid pandemic, the paramount issue of the campaign until two days ago.
The issue that we have allowed to displace it, the Supreme Court succession, is not any part of this. We who are politically active appreciate the important consequences of a U.S. Supreme Court appointment for the nation, but most people don’t begin to see that connection.
Most voters don’t know or care who sits on the Supreme Court. Most voters barely understand how the Supreme Court works. Most voters would laugh at the political parlor games that are being played now over the propriety of a nomination, the timing of a confirmation, the Senate’s obscure rules – give us a break!
The Supreme Court is the latest shiny object, the latest thing Donald Trump points at to distract us, to get us off the main track. Unlike most Trump distractions, the Court is an important matter, and hence more potent than most. But the compelling main-track issue is still covid, the plague that’s killing our people and destroying our economy. Donald Trump has not only failed us in this crisis, he’s caused and ignored mass death.
The point is made by a report that some GOP genius suggested calling the Republicans The Party Of Life, given the pro-life cast of Trump’s prospective Supreme Court nominees, but then I guess someone else recalled that we reached a total of 200,000 Americans dead from covid yesterday, and that idea was discarded.
Trump is desperate to get our attention away from covid, because it’s sinking his campaign. Let’s not let him do it. Let’s not fall for his old distraction caper. Let’s all of us Democrats, as we work on the vote in the battleground states, show respect for the late Justice Ginsburg, but keep our focus on the main issue – the covid crisis and the president’s criminal negligence and how he’s hurt our families. Not only is that what people care about over anything else, it’s what has gotten Democrats proven traction over the last month.
Let’s not get sidetracked, let’s keep it up!
About George Lynch
George Lynch is a fifth-generation Long Islander and a fifth-generation Democrat. He and his wife Ursula live on Aspatuck Creek in Quiogue. For much of his career as a tax lawyer, George represented New York City, defeating a number of high profile taxpayers in court, among them Donald Trump.
George joined the Southampton Town Democratic Committee in 2008 and became its Treasurer in 2009, but his forte is generating campaign material. As Communications Chair, he has turned in countless lines of copy, organized a successful letter writing group and helped launch the Committee’s blog. With others, George is now working on remaking and targeting the Democratic message for 2022 and beyond. He loves the people and he loves the fray.
About George Lynch
