Reading this book helped lift my customary electoral depression.
Jeffrey Toobin's book offers a wonderful balance between the specific
and the general. Concrete discussions of court cases, the drama of
nominations, and the unique lives, habits and biases of the justices
are more than just fascinating and entertaining. These details help
the reader to understand and appreciate two general forces informing
our democracy--the force to compromise moderating the divisive
tendencies of the extremes on the right and the left. For now, it
seems the drive to the center is still winning out in the supreme
court, and this does a lot to cheer me up in this season.
One recent personal event related to this book also helped to lift my
spirits. I was reading the book on board a flight when the attendent
stopped to ask me how I like the book. When I told her I liked the
book a lot, she said 'that's good to know, because I'm planning to
read it myself.' Somehow, its comforting to know that there are
people like the flight attendant who are at least as well read as
one of the vice presidential candidates. With an electorate like this
I'm sure we'll be able to separate the wheat from the chaff on election day.
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