Part of me has been excited to watch the Kavanaugh hearings over the past few weeks. It's not every day that politics becomes ... well ... exciting. But at the same time, I've found myself mortified at the whole circus, thanks to actions and attitudes from both sides of the aisle, and on top of that, the irresponsible biased and subjective reporting from practically all media sources.
And then in the midst of it all came a breath of fresh air: Arizona Senator Flake.
While the whole sexual assault allegations played out, both sides of the aisle did despicable things.
Republicans (especially the media) worked hard to discredit Ford and paint her as a liberal liar -- accusing her of taking payment from the Democrats, being coached on how to perform, and how to make demands -- all for the purpose of delaying. Republicans also tried to ignore the allegations (thinking they already had the votes) and refused to request another FBI investigation, which in hindsight could have avoided some of the circus.
Democrats (especially the media -- even a few historically neutrally biased outlets) decided to go ahead and presume Kavanaugh guilty when there was insufficient evidence to support such a verdict. They knew all they had to do was to speak as if Kavanaugh had actually done everything all accusers said, and the liberal base would accept it as fact.
And then the worst part about the whole thing -- we, the civilians. None of us have any influence or power to help decide the outcome of the confirmation process, but yet we just can't keep silent. We must go to Facebook and promulgate memes that represent what we think we believe. Some of us go even further and take action. Some take to peaceful protests, while others follow more intrusive paths. Some even resort to death threats.
Death threats? Really? Where in the Constitution does it say it's okay for us to threaten our selected agents into acting the way we want them to?
Then came the Thursday testimony of Ford. At the very beginning with Grassley's opening statement, it was clear that the senators were going to take every opportunity to grandstand, complain about their opponents, and in general, campaign for their next elections. During the eight or so hours that transpired, very little of the time was devoted to the actual purpose of the hearing -- determining whether or not Kavanaugh assaulted Ford.
Now, the questions asked by Ms. Mitchell were pretty good and professional. I thought it funny that people attacked those questions, as what else was the purpose of the hearing -- to give Ford pats on the back for four hours? Or was it to obtain useful information?
Every now and then a senator would ask a good question. It was Democrat Senator Durbin who helped me to understand why an FBI investigation was needed. He asked Kavanaugh: Do you want to clear your name? Then you should request an FBI investigation.
But I'll admit it. Like most everyone else, I was caught up in the moment. I had chosen my side and had readily internalized the rhetoric I was supposed to believe. The investigations done by the senators and their staff were sufficient, and no FBI investigation was needed.
However, something inside of me kept saying: "Just go ahead and do it. Get it over with, and then we would all have more professional and independent investigation results."
I could also easily see the deep division among all the players. The Republicans in the sub-committee all stuck with the "let's push this thing through as fast as we can" rhetoric, and ultimately all voted for Kavanaugh. All the Democrats stuck with "let's delay this and get an FBI investigation" and ultimately all voted against Kavanaugh.
And you should have heard all the comments I heard at work as I watched a portion of the proceedings in the break room. The US citizen coworkers had a lot to say, and it was all opinionated. Every now and then one would realize the other person was on an opposing side, and whoever felt in the minority at the time would choose to leave the room.
The more foreign coworkers commented more on how silly and worked up we were getting over the whole thing. A couple of them remarked it was more fun to watch us Americans rather than the proceedings on TV.
It's all evidence that we have become a deeply divided nation, dangerously on our way toward a strange type of domestic civil war.
With all of this in mind, I strongly suggest viewing these statements made by Senator Flake a day before the Thursday Ford hearings. He talks about the divide and about what he hoped would be accomplished in the hearing. While listening to his words, it's easy to become saddened to see what we have all become.
And then we all know what happened this past Friday. Flake reached out to the Democrats and made a deal. He would help trigger a one-week long FBI investigation.
I am personally happy with this outcome, as one of two things will happen. #1) The FBI will find something credible and Kavanaugh's nomination will fail. Or #2) The FBI will find nothing, and will help to legitimize Kavanaugh as a valid Supreme Court judge. It would be more fair to all parties involved, and would help to lock in the appropriate plan of action, given more information.
A lot of my conservative friends are calling Flake a traitor, or even a "flake." But the way I see it, he is a hero who represents the attitude we must all strive to maintain. Other than Flake, can you name even one Republican who listens to the Democrats? And can you name even one Democrat who listens to the Republicans? Did a single Republican vote against Kavanaugh, and did a single Democrat vote for him? No -- everyone else voted along party lines -- doing the best to ensure they got to keep their job at their next election.
Flake stands alone as someone willing to reach across the aisle. Note that he's not fully "defecting" to the Democrats. He still leans toward believing the innocence of Kavanaugh. All he's doing is saying it would be prudent to have an FBI hearing just to make doubly sure, and I can't argue that there's anything wrong with it -- especially when it will help to remove doubt.
We, too, can follow Flake's example. Once we realize that we're all being manipulated by carefully crafted memes and biased news articles, we can learn to be more like human beings and think on our own. We can learn to truly listen to our opponents and hear what they have to say. We can come up with compromises, and often even come up with solutions that benefit both parties.
And most importantly -- we can learn to stop hating each other. We can learn how to not de-friend people just because of disagreements. We can learn to work together and solve problems more effectively. We can be human beings that respect each other.
It's happened before, and it can happen again.
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