Buoyant hope (#2571)

     I feel a sense of fresh or newness from yesterdays news that their is now an opening on the Supreme Court. Not that I don't feel the loss of a soul, but beyond that I feel like a real opportunity to change the direction of a democracy crushing agenda is upon us. Much like the feeling I got after reading Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", in the book "The Republic". Where a soul finally unleashes his binders and fetters and crawls out of the cave to see the sunlight and the panorama of the horizon for the first time. A new era is upon us as a stalwart strict constitutionalist is no longer on the court. Antonin Scalia's view was that our constitution was a dead document, not alive like most of us see it as.
     Scalia's philosophy, originalism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Originalism was that what was in the constitution as it was written was what we should only hold sacred. The problem is that the constitution came into force in 1789, over 227 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution. Which doesn't allow for innovation and modernization to be interpreted in many cases. Most of us believe that our constitution is a living document https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Constitution. Able to be flexible enough to factor in intent and ever changing societal evolvement to further the democratic ideal.

     This is where I get the buoyant hope. Our current makeup of our court is now 4 conservatives and 4 liberals with one of the conservatives, Kennedy, on some issues more liberal. The next appointed justice will make the court a majority liberal if President Obama is able to get his appointed justice through the nominating process in the Senate. If not, then the next elected president of the United states will have that honor. Depending on who is elected President, so goes the majority on the new court. Democrats seem to have the best shot at winning the next presidency but until the votes are taken and counted, nothing is a foregone conclusion.