Where to start? Well, I have always thought that the Supreme Court would be the great protector of our liberties even though there have been instances in the past where the justices’ reasoning was open to question. Never before was it as bad as now. The original Roe v Wade decision settled for the most part the nightmare that women in our country had faced over their reproductive health care decisions. To return to a patchwork of laws across the states, back-alley abortions, to carrying a fetus that is the result of incest or rape, and to ignore the health of the woman are unconscionable acts to exist at all much less with government sanction!
The idea that the Court should follow some originalist theory is to close your eyes to the world around you and write your opinions as though you are living in the eighteenth century. To leave such a universal decision to the states is to assign rights to individuals based on political boundaries or zip codes for which there is nothing in the Constitution that suggests that was the Founders’ intent.
Likewise to decide gun-related cases based on eighteenth century lifestyles is ludicrous. The Founders recognized that without a standing army it may be necessary for citizens to own weapons for the national defense. To say that anyone should be able to own and carry guns that blow people to pieces is unconscionable. The Second Amendment relates to a “well-regulated militia” and not to everyone owning whatever weapon in whatever number they may individually choose.
I have sat in shock listening to the testimony of appointees of the former president about his active participation in seeking to overturn the results of an election. The peaceful transfer of power had always been a hallmark of American democracy. The former president should be charged with treason. He goaded his followers with lies about the election, although dozens of courts found his assertions to be lies, and he encouraged his supporters to attack the Capitol, the ultimate symbol of our democracy. These actions should not go unpunished.
At the state level there are members of the current administration who deny the connection between health and race, who are actively working to take resources from the public schools and give them to charter schools of their design, and who want to limit the role of education with assertions of critical race theory and other dubious claims to create fear in the electorate.
Ultimately, those who share the concerns I have expressed must work harder than ever to attract good candidates to run for public office, to support them in every way possible, and to get our friends to vote. An active electorate can revive confidence in our democracy.