Merrick Garland on Service

I have mixed feelings about Biden's nomination of Merrick Garland to serve as Attorney General and lead the U.S. Department of Justice.

I remember reading on Garland's record when Obama nominated him for the Supreme Court. A progressive Garland is not, more like an old-school Republican, the kind that are extinct. 

Obama chose Garland precisely because of Garland's conservative approach to the world. Obama was betting (hoping?) that the Republican Senate wouldn't dare further dismantle social norms when the candidate was so obviously a comity offering, a conservative for conservatives.  

As we know, the Republicans were more than willing to go there.  It turns out that Republicans have changed (and well before Trump). Garland was not the kind of conservative that Republicans care for anymore. 

[Hindsight is 20/20 but it does seem clear that Obama would have been better off nominating someone whose nomination would have generated a lot of excitement (Elizabeth Warren? Kamala Harris?),  someone whose rejection would helped spur voter turnout.  In contrast no one was excited about about Garland, no one was that angry over the stonewall that meet this nomination. In the end voter outrage over the deadlock was muted, and turn out of the Dem base did not go up - it went down.]

Interestingly, Biden is once again using Garland's politics as a shield.  This time to insulate the Department of Justice from any accusations of politicization.  What a bizarre political landscape. The Republicans twisted and pushed the Department of Justice to raw political ends far beyond any norms  in living memory (seeing a pattern here?) and yet it is Biden who has bent over backwards - at least in optics - to insulate against charges of politicization. Whether that works, we'll see. In any event, let's hope that Garland turns out to be an iron fist for justice in sheep's clothing.

At this point you may be wondering, is this post going to be about anything kinky? I'm happy to report that comes up next.

Five years ago I was driving across the Bay to clean house for a Domme who was generous enough indulge (and enjoy) my kink for service and sex. I was listening to Merrick Garland on the radio, speaking live and publicly accepting Obama's nomination.

And while I was crossing the Bridge I heard Garland talk about service. At that time in my life, I was thinking a lot about the role of the dominant and the role of the submissive.  I thought (and still think) of domination as a gift to those who serve.  I understood that my Domme did not need my service - she taught me that she could get by quite fine without me - and that I should not look at our relationship as some kind of gift to her.  She helped me to understand that she was giving me a gift - the opportunity to engage with her in service. 

As I drove, I listened to Garland talk about the work of being a judge, the work of a Supreme Court judge, as an act of service.  He said that he thought himself lucky to be a public servant.  And he shared this wisdom that had come to him:  "...service is as much a service to the person who serves as it is to those he is serving."  

I was stunned at this affirmation of service as gift to those who serve and amazed at the confluence of my inner thoughts with the greater world and the national stage of politics. And I was delighted to see the intersection of kink and the mainstream - and on the question of service.  Almost like convergent evolution!  An affirmation of kink.

At the time, I thought Garland's name would fade into the footnotes of history - a better fate than most, but still a footnote. 

So, I was pleasantly surprised to see Biden nominate Garland.  I'm still opposed to his conservative politics, but I love his take on service.  And I get the opportunity to share this #FemDom graphic.  : )