You've written the portrait of a man whose natural reservoir of empathy has been irrevocably damaged.

We could argue whether or not empathy is necessary to interpret the Constitution and apply it to legal decisions. But there is no doubt that without empathy, a society is unbearably harsh, unforgiving, irreconcilable.

Thomas reflects his milieu, unfortunately. The ideological divide in America is all of those things: harsh, unforgiving, irreconcilable. Those who are not with us are against us; those who do not agree are enemies, traitors. That language and those emotions have desensitized us across the political spectrum. We send vast numbers of our citizens to prisons of nearly medieval cruelty; our police have been transformed into armed, violent militias; we don't think twice about pre-emptive wars or their human costs; we strip Constitutional rights from anyone we suspect of being against us; we disdain the UN and world opinion; we despise the underclass, whether they are native or Mexicans just looking for work, and expect hatred in return.

How long can democracy endure without empathy, conciliation, compromise? Down that road lies fascism. Thomas' ideology on the Court is a very dangerous thing.

Clarence Thomas is nothing but a goddamn puerile house slave who with his alignment of the Republican Party years ago unknowingly with all of his education and self hatred buried lost and deeply became the enemy. And I got news for you, that aint one small step for mankind neither people.

Very well said. The right has never been shy about claiming everything not nailed down, to include an exclusive right to persecute anybody not lockstep like them. Gays? Put them in jail. Blacks? Keep them in poorly funded schools. Jobs? Send them to Taiwan. Foreign policy? War or lable them unpatriotic.

Clarence likes to claim that he is harmed by being criticised, but in fact, he is the plague. He is part of The Man. He can't say, "Oh gee, I was a poor black kid," join the other side, and then say, "But, but, but, I was a poor black kid." That's just rediculous.

The bartender is cutting you off, you've had one too many shots from the political bottle.

Look at every single one of your points and ask yourself - how many people do you know PERSONALLY who have been impacted by even one of your examples.

"We send vast numbers of our citizens to prisons of nearly medieval cruelty"

I happen to have 2 relatives who work in prisons, I certainly wouldn't describe prisons as medieval - sterile perhaps.

"our police have been transformed into armed, violent militias"

I am close friends with about 5 police officers, none of them are violent without due cause and certainly not militia members - they are armed though.

"we don't think twice about pre-emptive wars or their human costs"

You'll have to do better than this to demonstrate that even our involvement in Iraq was the result of someone NOT EVEN THINKING TWICE about the consequences. Disagreeing with someone about the reason doesn't mean it wasn't thought out and planned. It's not always about you.

"we strip Constitutional rights from anyone we suspect of being against us"

Does that mean you strip rights as well? Or is that limited to certain organizations and/or people? Are we stripping rights from US citizens, or just people from other countries who don't actually have our Constitutional rights? I mean when I go to France I don't expect the right to free medical and to right to vote in elections - I wouldn't mind if it was offered to me. I certainly wouldn't expect tourists here in the states to have the right to carry firearms.

"we disdain the UN and world opinion"

Any particular person in mind here or every single citizen of the US?

"we despise the underclass, whether they are native or Mexicans just looking for work, and expect hatred in return"

We do? Maybe you do, but I certainly don't. Again, did you have a specific person in mind here or just people you know?

Your entire post is a dreadful collection of generalisms, false rhetoric, and poor undefendable arguments.

The right wing has been in charge of this country for at least 6 years now. Number of gays imprisoned for gayness: 0; level of unemployment: historic low rate.

Are you in touch with reality?

Level of unemployment: historic low rate?

In general, I would agree with you about posts on this site and on political topics especially, but are you being funny or ironic when you write the above comment and follow it with: "Are you in touch with reality?" I do not follow you.

According to the Bureau of Labor, the unemployment rate is at 4.7% as of September 2007. Here's a link: <link> It was 4.4% in March '07 and October '06 which is the lowest it has been at any time in the last 6 years during Bush's Presidency, with the exception of the first 5 months of 2001. And as the budget and policies that were in play at that time were from the Clinton administration, I do not think that we can give full credit to Mr. Bush.

In 2000, under Clinton, the unemployment rate was under 4% for the year, with a low of 3.8% in April, so I do not see how anything we are experiencing now is historic unless your definition of historic is 'within the last 6 years' or if you are like some people who define words to mean whatever they want them to mean and hope that nobody notices their deceit.

you all do know that all the things negative you can say about any and all admins...none of any are new, your just too young to remember,,,the same yes, very same problems all lament about occurred many, many times before, and will again....same shit, different day...

oicuateonetwo: What are you on? Is it good? I hope that at least you are enjoying the trip. Noone else is. You are either stoned or possibly so set in your ways, as you yourself imply, that you can not work up the necessary human feeling to even care anymore. Being old does not make you wise, just old. Or as the saying goes, "there is no fool like an old fool."

Seriously, do you believe that because mistakes were made in the past and not corrected, wrongs committed and not made right, injustices allowed to stand, that I should do nothing now and just not try? Maybe that works for you-to thine own self be true-but not me. Perhaps you should change your name to amanw0mpathy or Eeyore. Doesn't matter which, your choice.

sorry for the delay, yes, you are an old fool....

not accepted.........