The View from Rattlesnake Ridge Wayne D. King
A Firestorm is Brewing
The Supreme Court Prepares to Pull the Pin on Democracy
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| Flying into a Gathering Storm |
If it wasn’t bad enough that Russia has attacked the peaceful, democratic country of Ukraine and now threatens the world with the deployment of chemical and nuclear weapons, here in the good ol’ USA the Supreme Court is threatening a pseudo-nuclear attack of its own on our democracy.
The Right, having unleashed one attack on our democracy on January 6 of 2021 is now watching in an almost giddy state for their Supreme Court to foment the same response from the other side. There is nothing they would love more than all-out holy war.
If you think that watching them lose their minds over mask mandates in the middle of the pandemic was bad, think of what they would be doing if this were directed toward them. Let's face it: if this were being done to men in this country, they’d be blowing shit up.
Fortunately, women and the men who support them in their bodily autonomy are far more rational. But do not mistake this for complacency. It would not take a lot for things to turn very ugly.
Now I am not advocating violence. I am saying that the Supreme Court is about to invite it. Furthermore, the broader they cast the net, the more they invite it. What happens when they broaden their target to birth control - as some are already proposing. What happens when marriage equality is undone and LGBTQ rights are undone because that is surely on the agenda of the religious right.
Don’t tell me that there is precedent for this and then go back to Brown vs. Kansas (Board of Ed) or Plessy. When the Supreme Court ruled on these things and overturned precedent, each time it was to grant greater freedom and equality to citizens, consistent with the vision of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Overturning Roe will have exactly the opposite effect. It would be a statist powerplay against half the population, but we would all pay for it in the long run because when we allow such basic control over our bodies to be dictated by the state it will not be long before they cast the net wider and wider.
Leave aside the fact that as many as 80% of Americans believe women should control their own reproductive choices, and the theft of at least one member of the Supreme Court has placed us in the path of this oncoming train.
Leave aside that the majority on the Supreme Court has sprung from two elections where the conservative, anti-choice, candidate lost the popular vote, only to become president because of an arcane electoral college system.
Leave aside the fact that most of these judges who are poised to overturn Roe outright lied - under oath -when they testified before the Senate in their confirmation hearings.
Trashing the fundamental right to privacy reinforced by the Roe decision is the final nail in the coffin for the personal privacy of American citizens, male or female, black, brown, white, and native. All of this led by a cabal of lawyers at the Federalist Society, spending hundreds of millions of dark money dollars to remake the Supreme Court with the specific intent of “transforming the foundational understanding of rights in America”.
Yet, as bad as the attack on privacy is, Americans should also be aware that the First Amendment, the most basic freedom granted by our constitution, is also be on the chopping block. In a nation where religious freedom is considered a hallmark, a handfull of fundamentalist christians are now intent on deciding what freedoms are to be accorded to which Americans. They have decided that their chosen religious dictates give them the right to tell every other American, irrespective of religious beliefs, or non-beliefs, how to live their lives. If they are allowed to do this freedom of and from religion will become a thing of the past and Americans will no longer be bound together by a grand idea, still unfolding, but by the celestial dictator concocted by a small minority and we will be no better than Iran or North Korea.
Why am I - a male with all of the privileges already attached to that - speaking out about this?. My Alice, who was my north star, would never forgive me if I stayed silent. Alice and I endured the heartache of 5 miscarriages. Each one a long personal journey into darkness and grief. The thought of us having to also endure an authoritarian-driven government investigation into the question of whether it was actually a miscarriage is unthinkable. Alice is no longer with us to speak for herself, I feel compelled to speak for her and for my sisters, and for every woman in America, including those who oppose abortion. Freedom is only found in the right to search our hearts and minds to determine what decision is best for ourselves and our families and to exercise our own bodily autonomy. The fight for Choice is the only position that respects the rights of all religions including atheists and agnostics, by allowing that choice to be made by those most directly affected, individuals.
Notes and links:
Frank Schaeffer once produced propaganda films that helped launch the Christian right. Now he feels regret for what he calls an 'anti-family' movement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25JyC5Whhvc
Schaeffer interview with Terry Gross
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/97998654
Wayne King is an author, podcaster, artist, activist and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, he was the 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor and the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published four books of his images, most recently, "New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon. He lives in Thornton, between Rattlesnake Ridge and the Waterville Range. He proudly flies both the American, Iroquois and Abenaki Flags. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing
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