When good politicians vote in bad ways

It's time for another book from the Long Reading List.

Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas by Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson.

Putting this on the list seemed reasonable because I was trying to be ready to help young girls, and sexual harassment could be an issue. As it was, workplace harassment among adults felt different enough that it didn't really resonate in that way, though it was still a very interesting book. It filled in some details that I had not known about something that nonetheless made a strong impression on me.

These hearings are where I picked up my contempt for Orrin Hatch. I did not really remember Joe Biden's involvement, though he played a big part. Since I read the book a movie came out - Confirmation - with Biden portrayed by Greg Kinnear, so I think everyone should be caught up on that now.

I like Joe Biden. I smile when I see him. I know the memes about him are not real, but I think they capture something. I don't crush on him like Leslie Knope does, but if I lived near him I might purposely leave quarters around to see him pick them up. I believe he is a good man.

I also believe he handled the hearings wrong. He should have called the other three witnesses. He should have called experts on sexual harassment. He should have been more protective of Anita Hill, which would not have been a matter of preferential treatment or coddling, but simply a matter of recognizing how she was being treated and demanding respect for her. She was not on trial, but that's how senators treated her.  

I imagine it was very similar to how many rape victims were treated by defense attorneys (and maybe even prosecutors) at their rapists' trials. I believe we have made progress, but a lot of the vestiges are still remaining. Look at the judge's deference to Brock Peters. Looks at the rape kits that have remained untested not because of budget constraints but because the police did not think the victim was credible.

That looks like a tendency to assign the blame to the wrong person, but I think it's more that it reflects a discomfort with the crime. Stronger people should be allowed to victimize weaker people, men should be allowed to pursue gratification, and you are making us all uncomfortable by reminding us that the law disagrees and that there are valid reasons for the disagreement.

My strongest impression from the confirmation hearings was not that they didn't believe her, but they resented having to deal with it. A president had chosen someone, and now if they didn't confirm him it would look racist. Of course, give it a few years and racist members of Congress would feel completely comfortable not even scheduling hearings for a presidential appointment, but that was more the other side, wasn't it?

This leads us to one major problem: Democrats have been too accommodating for a while. They want to get along and compromise and not rock the boat. That makes sense when you are dealing with reasonable people with honorable intentions, but that ship has sailed. That ship has sunk.

There are going to be no brownie points for voting "yes" on the least egregious appointments and saving your fight for the worst ones. Yes, they will be appointed anyway, and it sucks, but you do not join them just because you can't beat them. Beating them will come in the long haul by throwing off every policy where you decide that the people they hate most are expendable so you can throw a sop to the less vulnerable.

Because really, Thomas was a horrible candidate. The harassment showed a poor moral character, but he was not a great legal mind either. He was chosen as a token Black man who would reliably toe the party line - it looks like a nod to Thurgood Marshall but it was really an insult to his legacy. Congress should have required the president to do better.

None of this means that we need to hate Biden now, but that he could go along with the easy way is exactly why we need to be better. What society will tolerate allows "good" people to do horrible things. Fine church-going people participate in lynchings, and people keep practicing slavery by another name after the Emancipation Proclamation and they lie and murder to cover it up.

People police train stations and rip up the tickets of Black families who try to leave the South, or prevent boats from landing when there are Black passengers waiting. Police say they shot because they feared for their lives, even when it was shooting into the backs of unarmed people.

People justify sexual harassment because of a blouse, or a hemline, or "Boys will be boys", or suggest that the harassed person should teach kindergarten. And the blouse and hemline or thinking that you could have dinner together without owing him anything is also justification for rape.

The better people don't do the worse of it, but because they go along with the others, believing them to be reasonable people, the system is perpetuated. We do not have to tolerate that.

Any good that we can salvage is going to come from listening to the most marginalized and protecting them. We don't have to cast off anyone to do that, but if they try to go alone with the worst, if they try and say to focus on the "working class" now and the rest will come later, the answer is "no". It has to be.