Clarion Call

There Is No Tomorrow

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard that the Supreme Court has taken at least a preliminary vote and decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, the signal decision that permitted a woman’s right to choose to carry a pregnancy to term or not. This is truly a tragedy of epic proportions…for the Republican party.

(Not to minimize the chilling effect this will have not only on women’s rights but on civil rights in general, from voting to gay mariage to segregation)

The timing is curious, and that’s the aspect I’d like to focus on. That the SCOTUS took this case ahead of a midterm election was, frankly, pretty astounding since no matter how they ruled, they were bound to drive voters to the polls.

That they’ve decided to *overturn* Roe v Wade in a midterm election year is staggering, and here’s where the hurt to the GOP begins.

For fifty years, the Republican party has made hay on the issue of abortion, specifically overturning Roe v Wade. It’s driven their fundraising, their party platforms, their “get out the vote” drives, every aspect of their electoral strategy.

And now, it’s here — assuming that the vote supporting the February decision is still extant. There’s a school of thought that says one of the majority — we can guess it was a 5-4 ruling based on John Roberts’ questions in chambers last December. He seemed reluctant to just overturn a standing and famous decision — has defected and so the unprecedented release of this draft begs comparison to the final decision.

To finish up this sidebar, we know it’s not Alito who defected from the gleeful tone of his decision. You can practically hear his hands rubbing together in anticipation of issuing this from the bench. And we can pretty much rest assured that none of TFG’s appointees (Keg-anaugh, Coney Island Barret, or Kneel Gorsuch) switched, leaving just one possibility: Thomas. And there’s some political and tactical reason to believe that, given the shitstorm that has beseiged the Thomas household over January 6.

So now that…well, you know the fable about the dog who chases cars: What happens when he finally catches one?

A dog can let go. The SCOTUS and the conservative wing of America cannot, once this decision is official.

Americans were comforted by the lip service to “settled law” that recent appointees have parroted. They won’t be so comforted now. Those marches we saw in 2017 and going forward? Those are going to be strolls in the park compared to what’s to come this year.

I think we understood the political theater that Roe v Wade created in this country. I don’t think we grasped the depth of the mendacity of Republicans in general and conservatives in particular, tho, because I think for decades now, they’ve known about this wing of the party that was hellbent on hurting women. Call them the Tea Party, Freedom Caucus, or MAGAts, all they wanted was revenge for losing their maniacal grip on authority.

I’m not trying to put a Pollyanna spin on this story: the repercussions of overturning this decision (and this is in Alito’s opinion) is an assault on nearly anything that takes supremacy away from old white (supposedly cis) men, from gay marriage to voting rights.

I feel awful about this — and I’m trying to avoid contemplating the absolute worst outcome of recent developments in the Republican party — and I suspect you do too. But there are things we can do, now.

We have work to do to protect all these groups and it’s on us. And by “us,” I mean you (I live in one of the bluest states and have already reached out to my representatives, altho I do have one more task I have to complete here.)

First things first: in the Senate is Tammy Baldwin’s Women’s Health Protection Act, introduced in the aftermath of the SCOTUS announcing they would take on Roe v Wade. I urge you to call your representative and make sure you speak on the record for your support of this biull besides asking him or her to vote for it.

Next most important thing you can do is to write to the White House and ask the President to come out publicly opposing the filibuster and suggesting changes so that Baldwin’s bill can pass with a simple majority. He doesn’t have to urge the dimsnatling of the entire filibuster process — altho I wish he would — but in this one instance, he could create landmark legislation a la Obamacare.

And as long as you’re talking to one of the nice staffers at the White House, ask them politely to ask the President to add two seats to the SCOTUS. That’s wholly within his power, subject to approval of the expansion by Congress (and so the clock is ticking on that).

American history suggests that rash decisions and radical changes get rebuffed and overturned rather quickly. My fervent hope is that this entire debacle since 2016 takes out the GOP, permanently.