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Gil Degenhardt is a retired Cape Girardeau businessman who continues to engage in business counseling.

Reflections on the Clarence Thomas confirmation process

Well.....things have certainly taken an unexpected turn in the Clarence Thomas hearings. Probably, many of us (as I had stated in a previous public letter) had accepted the "reality" that judge would be confirmed and would be a capable and faithful member of the Supreme Court. However, it bears repeating that he is not the most eminently qualified candidate while he is the most politically qualified.....politically qualified, in that he is supposedly a black "conservative," making it very difficult for "liberals" and Democrats to vote against his confirmation. Judge Thomas has lent himself to the political strategy of the Administration.....now the "heat is in the kitchen".

A heavily weighted emphasis has been repeatedly placed on his rise against great odds to his present stature in the judicial stream. Now comes another such one in the person of Anita Hill, also having risen to significant stature against similar odds. She accuses him of sexual harassment. It's now her word against his, and vice versa.

Without leveling accusation, it is possible (as we have seen numerous times in our society) for a perfectly respectable person to have severe and unbelievable "skeletons" in the closet. To plead "fairness or unfairness" in the present situation is hardly appropriate, given our national behavior. Going back just a decade, Jimmy Carter was vilified for suggesting that America has limitations and must act accordingly. This was pounced on as "destroying the American dream." We were "sold" on the fantasy that there would be "no new taxes"; that we would balance the federal budget in short order, while compounding the federal deficit several times over. The present administration lent itself to the Willie Horton innuendo to achieve election. Efforts have been successful to vilify "liberals," while glorifying "conservatives" to the extent that many folks find it fashionable to be known as "conservative," hardly knowing what that entails.

Certainly, Judge Thomas is right about the level to which our society has sunk in making its judgments.....but what else is new? Even the Supreme Court as a theoretically objective body has been swayed throughout its existence by various contemporary political temperaments. We have long been a people that has thrived on ballyhoo, rhetoric, innuendo and downright accusation.

This is a chronic disease for which we have been groping long and hard for a "cure." We have continued to feed the fires of simplistic understanding of issues, casting them in terms of "liberal" and "conservative," black and white, etc. The Clarence Thomas hearings are simply a current demonstration of our on-going political life.