Posted by
Jeff S on Saturday, June 06, 2009 8:40:23 PM
By now we've all heard the 'richness' quote from Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayer, ad nausea. I won't recount that but I think it is worth looking at the implications of that statement. What exactly comprises such experiences and why does it make for the ability to make better decisions. I'm sure you can guess that I might not agree.
First, I have a question; what is it about the Latina woman's experience that makes it rich?
By implication of the statement, it gives her an edge in decision making. Now, I think the ethnic background of most folks can be very interesting I think one of the thing about America is that we can meld these things in to one strong nation. I don't discount any experience excepting for the part wherein it makes for better decision making. Does it make the ability to make better decision than me, a white male?
To be clear, anyone with a great education and wherewithal is capable of making better decisions than me. As I sit here typing, I'm wearing fire engine red sweat pants, an orange t-shirt and big gray slippers that are almost like the old school Run-DMC Adidas. So maybe that onus is not particularly high but you get the idea.
What she could have said was that the 'richness of experiences' gave her a unique perspective that may not be available to others on the court. She didn't say that. She said it lets a woman of her like to make better decisions.
What of these experiences? I can't speak on the cultural aspect because my 'richness' would be from a Scandinavian perspective and that means Lutefisk, IKEA and ancestors that pillaged the Northern Hemisphere. I digress.
However, life experiences do make who a person becomes and this must be true for the Honorable Judge Sotomayer. She has, as often repeated, rose from some very humble circumstances.
So did I. Perhaps I have not been nominated for the court but I'm not qualified. Then again...Oops, I digress again.
In my youth as a son of a single mother, a mother that made near minimum wage during the inflation inflicted seventies, I had a number of experiences that have made my life rich.
When our washing machine went down, we had to go to the laundromat with garbage bags of clothes and a handful of change to have clean clothes. Not uncommon but not the life of a privileged youth. When money was tight; my mother, be the ever democratic and fair woman, called us teens and said we were not going to be able to make all the bills and that we had to decide, going in to a Minnesota winter, whether we wanted heat or electricity because we couldn't afford both. We chose electricity because our oven was electric and we could run it for heat. Again, not exactly the idyllic picture that seems to be implied by Sotomayer that would make me absent the ability to make good decisions.
Perhaps during my young adult years living in a basement apartment where the foundation was so bad that when it rain, half my apartment would be an inch deep in water. The same apartment that has a kitchen where everything was within arms reach. Or, perhaps struggling in a trailer park where each month was in fear of eviction might have added to my experiences.
Do I have 'richness'? Not my call to make.
Since my meager days, I've become an entrepreneur wherein with an '18 hours a day' ethic, the company I started with a mere $300 now grosses over a half million. With partners, I have become a silent partner these days. Since, I've become a corporate lackey but have a very good paying and difficult to get job at a Fortune 500 company.
What does this give me? Well, about the same experiences as millions in our nation. The spectrum of meager to success circumstance is what the American dream is. Nixon did it, Clarence Thomas did it, Clinton did it, most every business was started from someone who had nothing.
My story is not special nor is Sonia Sotomayer's. She's achieved. Great. Hard work will do that for you and should be commended. She's not the first.
If ethnicity be such an important aspect, then it should have been the same for conservatives such as Thomas or even the Bush appointees of Hispanic descent. It was not important then, when it was for Republicans, nor should it be prominent now.
Yes, this should be about skill. Then again, we are Republicans and that's what we think. Seems that an interesting story makes for a good candidate and not skill. If skill be the case, we would have Bork on the court.
So, as we watch this odd nexus of liberal wont with the important need to have a competent justice, what is it that an experience gives you? Well, it's everything you have as a person.
The point is, it does not give you anything more than any person of another ethnicity. Not when it comes to interpreting the constitution. I think that might be education.