Politics is the Realm of the Possible: Engage

 I want Americans to develop a backbone, to fight for themselves. Are you voting for the first time or the first time in years? Well let me tell you it doesn't stop at the voting booth. You need to be an informed voter. Follow the issues, know your candidates for every office you cast a vote for.

Engage in democracy, this great gift from our forebears and activists who have expanded the franchise to women and blacks.

Attend city council meetings and meetings of the Board of Supervisors for your county. At least 2-3X a year to stay informed and get to know their character, but especially when they are deciding on issues that you care about.

Find out their hidden agendas and who their corporate backers are. Call them out on conflicts of interest. Fight for open meetings, and make it known when decisions are being made in secret.

Strategize to block developers when their plans go against the public interests. Fight for common space, better wages and working conditions, equality for everyone, and a strong social net for those who get sick or need more help than they are getting.

Above all, ask good questions.

Write letters to the editor for your local newspaper. And if you're not sure about what's happening, raise questions, pointed questions. At least voice your views on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and any social media you are active in.

Demand the truth, and when you are blessed enough to read it, support those journalists like Julian Assange who put themselves on the line to tell it. Understand that there is disinformation spread about everyone who stands up to the powerful.

Become a warrior for freedom, and support a free press (not the corporate media who manipulate what you think). Think for yourself. Most of us have access to the Internet, even if we go to the library or an Internet cafe. Speak out. Speak up.

Your voice matters. You are important. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise, that your vote doesn't count, that your opinion doesn't matter, that nobody wants to hear what you have to say.

Use your good mind and free will. If you've become lazy about all this or indifferent, it doesn't matter. You have been disenfranchised. You have become a pawn if you just go along to get along. Just get started and build some muscles. It's like going to the gym.

We need fit and healthy citizens, people who put everything they've got into making this work, heart, body, mind and soul. Put yourself on the line. Make a difference.

Take care of yourself and your family because politics is the realm of the possible. If you take yourself out of that realm, then you may have to live with what may seem like increasingly impossible circumstances.

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Law of Eleven and the Supreme Court of the United States

I am putting on my crystal visionary hat, of empathic and shamanic wisdom, to convey The Law of Eleven. The Law of Eleven would elevate the Supreme Court of the United States to the next level of evolution.

There should be eleven judges on the Supreme Court, not nine, if we heed the Law of Eleven.

11 judges would be devout supporters of humanity. Their collective vision would be crystal clear, with a breadth of ability to see and discern truth and justice that others cannot. Eleven judges would bring a creative and magnetic energy that serves as a beacon of wisdom and hope for others to follow.

Following the Law of 11, the Supreme Court will be a channel for truth and answers that inspire us to the greater justice inherent in cosmic spiritual truths.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Left Big Shoes to Fill: How Will Amy Coney Barrett Fare?

 Amy Coney Barrett may have won the partisan vote today to be appointed Supreme Court Justice to replace RBG, but she will always be in the shadow of RBG. Although they have some things in common, there is no way that Amy Coney Barrett is in the same league as RBG, who was a major pioneer in the legal field of gender discrimination. 

 Important or not, the facts are that RBG went to law school at Harvard. Amy Coney Barrett went to Notre Dame's law school. Harvard is ranked #2 among law schools; Notre Dame is #24. https://www.velocitylsat.com/resources/top-law-schools They both graduated at the top of their class. 

Both women were law professors, RBG at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School (ranked #4 in top law schools) teaching civil procedure. Barrett taught at her alma mater, Notre Dame Law School. Like RBG, she also taught civil procedure. In addition, Barrett taught constitutional law and statutory interpretation. 

Both women served as circuit court judges, RBG for 13 years on the DC Circuit Appeals Court from 1980-1993; Amy Coney Barrett for three years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, since 2017. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued and won six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court on gender discrimination from 1973 to 1976, making strategic gains for women's rights. I don't believe that Amy Coney Barrett has ever personally argued a case before the Supreme Court, although much is made of her working as a law clerk for Antonin Scalia when he represented George W. Bush, Jr. in the Supreme Court decision that made him president. For those of us who think that the Supreme Court had no business deciding who was our president, that is not a point in her favor. 

Although it's true that Amy Coney Barrett is the first woman to serve on the Seventh Circuit from Indiana, that seems to be the only mark of distinction. Compare this to the career achievements of RBG before her appointment to become a Supreme Court Judge.: 

1. Ruth Bader Ginsburg volunteered as an attorney at the ACLU, and then served as general counsel and as a director on their Board of Directors. 

2. RBG co-founded the Women's Rights Law Reporter, the first law journal in the U.S. to focus exclusively on women's rights. 

3. She became the first tenured female professor at Columbia Law School. 

4. Ginsburg co-authored the first law school casebook on sex discrimination. 

5. Ruth Bader Ginsburg co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU in 1972. She attained a reputation as a skilled oral advocate, and her work led directly to the end of gender discrimination in many areas of the law. 

Amy Coney Barrett, so far in her career, comparing it to the early career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has not been exactly a trailblazer for human rights. She is known for being dogmatic and conservative, and usually favors big business over workers.

Amy Coney Barrett has a brilliant legal mind, which I readily admit after having read an academic paper she wrote. However, I don't anticipate that she will do anything so remarkable as RBG did that earned her the moniker, the Notorious RBG. 

I don't foresee that Amy Coney Barrett will make any contribution to the advancement of our society in particular. She may eventually move more to the center with all the pressures that will come to bear on her as a Supreme Court Judge, and she may even make some sound decisions. However, it is my opinion that she will forever be cast in the shadow of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I most certainly would like to be wrong about this, and hope that she will indeed distinguish herself.