The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
If one had been with Robinson Crusoe on a deserted South Seas island for the past forty years and somehow he was returned to his home in the USA, he would quickly discover that American politics had become exceedingly polarized during his long absence from what it was prior his insular misadventure. Watching any cable television news network for an hour would validate that. But what would really convince the poor soul that the DC Slough of Despond had reached unimaginable levels of despondency would be to watch the Senate Judiciary Committee’s distasteful and hasty grilling of Prof. Amy Coney Barrett as the replacement for the very recently deceased Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the US Supreme Court. Judge Barrett acquitted herself very well, using the prudent minimum of words for such an horrendous torture chamber. If one needed particular authentication of the sordid nature of the process, as compared to the general authentication of the total hearing itself, the performances of the senior senator from Vermont and the perpetually maskless senior senator from Utah would more than suffice. The Green Mountain man was moderately erudite, but in an obviously aged way, and the Ute was at his snarky best, having come directly from Covid isolation to the dismaying brouhaha, perhaps infecting the nominee and some of the others in the large chamber. To have this hearing thrust upon us while the circus continues outside the capitol building and throughout the land is an assault on the body politic which the body politic can scarcely bear. Yet bear it we must. This too, as with everything else, shall pass.
- October 13, 2020
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.