To the editor:

There are no liberals on the Supreme Court. Only a liar or a lunatic would call Kagan or Sotomayor liberals. President Obama, himself not a liberal, nominated Garland, the centrist jurist who McConnell refused even to consider 10 months before the previous election.  He now gleefully awaits a Trump nominee just before this election.  Way to go, Mitch. 

The opinion leaders on the far right have been abetted in recent years by Trump’s outrageous lies and crazy assertions. They have pulled America so far to the right that centrists are now called “radical liberals.”  This, of course, is complete nonsense.  

We so-called “radical liberals” support (1) affordable insurance coverage of pre-existing medical conditions; (2) high quality public education; (3) prompt federal action to counter global warming; (4) reducing pressure on police by investing in other ways to assist those who suffer mental illness or homelessness; (5) addressing our systemic racism with honesty and humility; (6) debating and passing fair and comprehension immigration reform; (7) creating a fair tax code; and (8) promoting and protecting the voting rights of all citizens.  This is a “radical liberal” agenda?!

If so, what in the world might a rightist agenda look like?  Might it focus on tax brakes for the wealthy?  The denigration of science?  The conscious wreckage of the environment?  The suppression of voting in minority populations?  The vilification of any political opponent as un-American?  The plan to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security?  The treatment of states depending on the governor’s political party?  The continuing withdrawal of international institutions we created to keep the peace after WWII?  

Ask GOP friends if they support a woman’s right to control her body and her life, or if they support LBGTQ rights.  In short, ask them a fundamental question:  Does America belong to us all?

No, there are no liberals on the Supreme Court. Nor would Joe Biden nominate one. A huge majority of Independents and Democrats are common sense moderates. More and more Republicans are, too.  A far right nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court will likely cement a mean-spirited, rightest agenda for many years, giving us the odor of the Trump term for a very long time.  Time to wake up, America. 

Will Newman

Tiverton