Judicial Hearing

         

             Yesterday, I and many other Americans were captivated by the Ford/Kavanaugh hearing. The drama was lengthy, compelling, and riveting. I don’t know about the other viewers, but I was both fascinated and disgusted by this judiciary circus. I was fascinated by the way Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh presented themselves. Dr. Ford, with her large, horn-rimmed glasses riding down her nose, looked a little like that bug-eyed deer in the headlights. Her anxiety and fear were palpable. Judge Kavanaugh looked like a victim of Tourette’s with his sniffling and blinking, facial tics, and frequent sips of water. My impressions of them should have had nothing to do with their believability, and they didn’t. I found them both to be believable even though their stories were contradictory. My disgust derived from the partisanship exhibited by both sides of the aisle. This was supposed to be a hearing to determine whether or not Judge Kavanaugh should be confirmed for a seat on the Supreme Court, but apparently the senators were all lined up beforehand—forty-seven Republicans saying yes, forty-nine Democrats saying no, and four Republicans saying maybe. My disgust stems from the senators’ nearly total disregard for the truth. They didn’t care which one was telling the truth. They had decided their yea or nay well ahead of the hearing on Judge Kavanaugh, and their decisions were based almost entirely on party affiliation. Why even bother with a hearing if their minds were already made up? Other than the four on the fence, was there no one of either party who waited for the testimony before deciding? And even the four undecideds are probably more influenced by party pressure or fear of Donald Trump than by a search for truth. Where are the independent thinkers regardless of their party affiliation? Is it time for a legitimate third party of independents? Why haven’t we elected any independents to the Senate? Donald Trump has done so much to divide us along party lines that a third party might bring us back together. Our nation and the world witnessed that Trumpian divide in this fascinating yet disgusting hearing. So, how does the public judge these two unhappy people whose lives will never be the same after this debacle? It all depends on which one we found most likable. The fault seems to lie partly in the nearly two months that were allowed to pass after Dr. Ford’s letter was received. The other fault is in ignoring any face-to-face testimony from those who support the stories of Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh. Certainly, actually hearing their testimony would have aided viewers and the senators in their decision to confirm or deny Kavanaugh’s nomination.