The Supreme Court
And our supreme duty to America
I never thought time travel was possible. And then the American Supreme Court ruled us back into the Stone Age.
The Supreme Court ruled this week citizens may discriminate against their fellow citizens based their sexual preference. When will the signs begin appearing in Christian shops all over our nation?
“WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO LGBTQ AMERICANS”
Who will be marginalized next by judicial malfeasance?
The answer came the next day.
After having ruled in favor of a form of Affirmation Action for America’s terribly oppressed Christians who only yearn for the freedom to hate LGBTQ American citizens the Court ruled against Affirmative Action for admissions to higher education. What would the Supreme Court have ruled if an American gay entrepreneur refused to serve an American Christian?
Guess.
Today, Donald Trump, America’s Racist Reprobate-in-Chief, vowed to dismantle diversity programs.
When MAGA republicans shout “FREEDOM!” what are they talking about? The freedom to hate. The freedom to hate diversity. The freedom to hate those with whom they differ.
At least until whites become the minority in this nation. Then when that time comes watch the feckless fearmongers rediscover the virtues of Affirmative Action. Watch the feckless fearmongers rediscover the virtues of opposing segregation. Watch them rediscover the virtues of opposing discrimination in every form.
On this coming 4th of July I will proudly celebrate the American dream of freedom.
The freedom to love and marry who you wish.
The freedom to vote without hindrance.
The freedom of women to control their own bodies.
The freedom to read what you wish.
The freedom to teach our true history. Even if it makes some “feel bad.”
The freedom to attend a school, visit a house of worship, attend a concert, go to a club or shop at a mall without living in fear of gun violence.
The freedom to live without the abiding fear of what the most criminal, craven, corrupt Supreme Court since our nation's inception may rule next.
Upon the altar of Democracy let us all swear allegiance to preserving these freedoms and the ideals embodied in the simple credo “Out of many, One.”
Let us join together to defeat the smug Right-wing Fascists that have dragged this nation back to 1952, B.C., Before the Civil Rights Movement.
For this Progressive it is 1968 again and again and again
In ‘68 I was 13, following the daily news and asking why my brothers were in faraway Vietnam. That terrible dark year my politics were shaped and inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy.
And one sentimental anthem in particular.
… Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone
Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
I learned early on that America murders those who dare to question the status quo. I learned early on that America does not embrace positive change without a struggle. I learned early on to vote, to speak out and to march. And I learned there can be no act as patriotic than to question the democratic republic I love.
When I feel overwhelmed I find strength and resolve in the words of Ted Kennedy’s eulogy for his slain brother. His words still inspire me.
“My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; but be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”
Let us strive to be good and decent citizens. Most of us are good and decent.
Let us, together, right the wrongs before us. Let us do it with the same vigor with which our nation liberated the globe from the murderous heel of the Fascists and Imperialists in WWII.
Let us heal the suffering of our fellow citizens mired in chronic poverty with the same dedication that placed a man on the moon in less than a decade.
Let us end the violence that fills our streets daily with blood by defeating the gun lobby with the same tenacious devotion with which our nation defeated big tobacco.
“Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.
As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:
Some men see things as they are and say why.
I dream things that never were and say why not.”
In this time of struggle the road ahead may appear too familiar, too daunting, too despairing but you and I are ready for the fight. Ready to reclaim the word “Patriot” from the fascists. Ready to defeat them in every hamlet and valley, in every district, ward and school board across this nation.
Now is the time to dream things that never were.
And to ask why not.
Makes one wonder what RFK would think about his son's devolvement into a conspiracy theory spouting hateful nutjob. How sad.
I hereby assert my right to refuse service for non-Pagan heterosexual obnoxious white people. See you in court, Karen.
We made it through 1968 by mobilizing on the streets and voting. We will do so again. Watch for opportunities to register people to vote this fall and onward. We can do this.
Thanks, Fitz.
Well said, another insightful and inspirational commentary. Thank you!