I have to admit up front that I don’t know much about Ruth Bader Ginsburg but that she was a progressively minded Supreme Court Justice. I know she is an idol to many women who are still attempting to break through the glass ceiling. They use her as an example of a hero to be emulated. All that may be true but I see her primary legacy as a Supreme Court that will be dominated for decades to come by very right wing ideology.

It seems one of the major problems with the Baby Boomer generation, of which I am one and she preceeded, is that we just won’t let go of power once we have it. Just look the US Congress as an example. The 79 year-old senator from Kentucky is one of the primary reasons that we have the extreme gridlock that stifles almost any possibility of significant progress. One-third of the senators are above 70 and half are eligible for Social Security. It is the oldest Senate in our history.

When in 2014 some asked RBG to consider retiring to insure she would be replaced by someone ideologically similar, she brushed them off. She was just not ready to give up the power. She, like Steve Jobs, had already been diagnosed with basically incurable pancreas cancer but wanted to hold onto power as long as possible. The proof of a real leader is training people to take their places and actually allowing them to take over when it is time.

I know she didn’t expect Trump to win the election, but given her circumstances she should have taken that 2014 suggestion seriously, especially given that she was even then 80+ years old. Sadly, as a result of her actions she turned over her seat to someone who will likely occupy it for at least 20+ years who is the exact opposite of her ideology, that is now her legacy as far as I am concerned.