Meritocracy or Mediocrity?

[Rick Oltman]

The nomination and confirmation hearing of Judge Sonia Sotomayor is just another sad example of where we are in the history of our great country. Sotomayor, an American born of Puerto Rican descent, is Hispanic, or in her words, “Latina.” A product of Affirmative Action, she was selected for two Ivy League colleges over more qualified applicants. And, based on statements made at the time of her nomination, it is Affirmative Action that will result in her being confirmed to the Supreme Court, and that is what is sad.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent reversal of Judge Sotomayor should tell the U.S. Senate everything they need to know for their conformation hearings…she is not qualified to sit on the highest court in the land. She needs a higher authority to review her decisions because sometimes she gets it wrong in a big way. But it will make no difference.

The current hearings are required, of course. And there have been questions and posturing and, let’s be honest, lying about what was said, what was meant and all that. Statements she has made repeatedly are declared to be misunderstood, misinterpreted, deflected and whitewashed by the skilled liars who defend her. We know the drill. We have been to this dance before.

Affirmative Action was a noble experiment when it was conceived. The idea was that groups who had been traditionally denied a fair chance should be given equal access to the starting line. Leveling the playing field, it was called. Great idea. In a meritocracy we don’t want anyone to be denied the opportunity to succeed, certainly not as a result of bigotry. As individuals succeed, the community, the country and the culture also succeed. But, somewhere along the line the experiment failed as Affirmative Action mutated from equal access to the starting line, to being carried across the finish line. That has made a mockery of our intention to be fair, and made us cynical about people who may very well have earned success, but whose accomplishment is questioned because government bureaucrats had a political agenda that is, in the end, un-American.

Whether it is a firefighter or a Supreme Court Judge, I want the best. If I am passed out of smoke inhalation about to be fried to a crisp in a burning building, I want the best trained, biggest, fastest firefighter in the company pulling me out. It doesn’t matter if he, or she, is white, black, brown or purple. Whatever. I want the best. And, the firefighters who are putting their lives on the line deserve to share their risk with the best.

As for a Supreme Court Judge, I also want the best. I want someone who will pass judgment based on the supreme law of the land, the U.S. Constitution, not legislate from the bench as this nominee believes should happen. Admittedly the Constitution is not perfect, nothing man-made is. And it can be changed, there is a process for that…but that process doesn’t include the Judiciary at any level.

When mediocrity is chosen over merit, the ability of our culture and country to compete is hampered. But, that obviously doesn’t matter to the political elite. Our system now shuns the meritocracy, everywhere, including appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.

We continue to hear from the THPP (talking heads of political punditry) that any Republican opposition to Sotomayor will hurt them with the Latino vote, (and the women’s vote.) And, no doubt, some Republicans actually believe this nonsense. Some will act as though they do believe it, few will stand up to this farce. Sen. Jeff Sessions appears to be the Republican’s designated driver on this one. Sessions is asking all the right questions and good for him. But, he will be largely on his own and the final confirmation vote won’t even be a close one.

You know, that attitude that opposition to Sotomayor will cost Republicans the Hispanic vote seems, well, bigoted, dontcha think? That statement says that Hispanic American voters (American citizens) will make a race based choice at the ballot box if a “Hispanic” is opposed for… (fill in the blank, this time it’s a Supreme Court nomination). Doesn’t that statement insult Hispanic voters? Doesn’t that statement say without equivocation that Hispanic voters are race based in their political decisions? It does. If true, we really need to examine this large and growing demographic segment for its race based, un-American attitudes and the threat they pose to our country.

But, it isn’t true. And it is more than insulting, it is wrong and has been proven wrong in election after election, including the most recent presidential election. Yet this fiction continues to be repeated without challenge in the main stream media.

How will all this effect the immigration debate in our country? Sotomayor’s confirmation represents a big win for the open borders crowd. When you add Sotomayor’s comments to her membership in PRLDEF and the racist organization La Raza, can there be any doubt about how she will judge a question of law that involves illegal aliens of Hispanic heritage?

I don’t have any.

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