Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

You Know the Type. Do You Want Him on the Court?

With Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, the world has suddenly spun from media where sex and gender are mostly fodder for pornographers and stand-up comedians, to a place where you can’t pick up a serious newspaper or magazine without reading about it about it about it. Nonstop.

And, oh yeah, drinking beer. That’s important also. This kind of interaction between a Senator and a proposed Supreme Court Justice is suddenly acceptable:

Proposed SCOTUS: I like beer. I like beer. I don’t know if you do…

Senator: OK.

Proposed: … do you like beer, Senator, or not?

Senator: Um, next…

Proposed: What do you like to drink?

Senator: Next one is…

Proposed: Senator, what do you like to drink?

Besides showing how much Kavanaugh likes beer, the little snippet shows off his genius at avoiding a subject, and at turning avoidance into attacks on his questioners. There’s something ominous, threatening in, “Senator, what do you like to drink.” Just a shade lighter than bullying, it’s a hard tactic to deflect, as shown by the senator’s difficulty in moving along. I think it’s taught at Georgetown Prep, an elite Jesuit high school.

While that elite Jesuit thread would be interesting to follow, in this case it’s a digression. In evaluating a Supreme Court nomination, we’re looking for patterns of behavior, so we can predict how that person will act in a situation like sitting in judgment for life and ruling on the laws that affect us all, for generations. Is there a way to talk about patterns of behavior that has nothing to do with sex, gender, beer?

Yeah, there is. We can leave out the details and think about the behavior of “Human 1” and “Human A,” persons of any sex, any gender, transsexual, pansexual, gender fluid, gender free and non-addicted.

Human 1 dominates. When covered by the media, they win. They’re the ones that play the most powerful positions on a sports team, the fastest gunslingers, and they’re ones that fly rocket ships. In real life, most of them are wonderful people as well. Kind, generous, honest, fair-minded. Strong.

Sometimes, Human 1’s, knowing that they are supposed to be accustomed to winning, and very competitive, go to extremes to get their way.

Human A’s do not dominate and usually do not win, even though they may be strong and brave. They usually have less experience than Human 1’s. In media, they’re very smart and clever and perhaps even tricky. In real life, most of them are wonderful people as well. Kind, generous, honest, fair-minded. They’re usually younger than 1’s. Weaker.

So far, no beer. However, in both media and real life, when a 1 and an A meet at a party, and there’s beer, things can happen. Sometimes the things are good, like when one helps another home, finds their safe room, cleans up the barf, and lets them sleep peacefully until the next day. Sometimes things are not good, like when any of the partiers thinks they want to dominate another. It’s part of the “party culture” we’re hearing so much about. Fights can break out. Maybe an A thinks they can become a 1 by dominating in a fight.

And, now, let’s add sex. If the 1 is, shall we say “horny,” and drunk, the 1 will inevitably turn to sex as part of the fight. This kind of sex has nothing to do with love or procreation. Instead, it’s all about domination. For the A, it’s all about terror. The A can simply endure, or simply pray that they’ll survive. Usually, the A doesn’t want to talk about it later, because the experience of drinking too much and then being deprived of control of one’s own body is humiliating. Both A’s and 1’s like the saying, “What happens at the party stays at the party.”

Until the last couple of years, and the #MeToo movement, these experiences were never talked about. There were barriers against talking about the party culture just as there were barriers against cruel behavior. But, for Human 1’s, once a broken barrier turns into a win, the behavior can become habitual. And, it can become part of bonding to other 1’s. Go to a party, drink beer, fight, dominate, be the hero.

Now, the question is, which one do we want sitting in judgment in the highest court of the land? Here’s a statement from Georgetown Prep: “Principles of ethics, virtue, and justice constitute the foundation of a Prep education. These principles are but empty words unless we act on them.” And the stories are beginning to trickle out.

Clearly, Brett Kavanaugh, with his instinct for domination over weaker humans, cannot be allowed to sit on the bench and interpret laws that are supposed to protect us all. This pattern must be recognized and eliminated from the Supreme Court.

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. Her latest book is The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History. Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2018

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