Subject: Re: Advicier and Consentier
It's nomination confirmation time! It'll be interesting to see how serious the Senate takes their confirmation responsibility.

Obviously they don’t take it seriously at all. Not that there aren’t a lot of whack jobs in both the Senate seats and on the nomination list. And yes, a few are OK but some are so far beyond the pale - given the standards that I have grown up with these past many decades - men credibly accused of sexual harassment, corruption, inexperience or outright incompetence would never have been put on a list, much less nominated.

I actually believe a simple solution could be found by making the vote process anonymous, that would relieve the rank partisanship which is being wielded and a club over so many of the votes (no, this is not the first time in American history this has happened, it just seems to be the best example of it in 225 years). And I would argue for anonymous voting for impeachment trials as well. Each vote should be the conscience of each voter, not some calculation as to making friends with higher-ups or concerns about re-election because of an “errant” vote.

Alas that will never happen, but it’s a pity to see.