What is happening to the so called “Land of the Free”
Back in May I wrote about my opinions on, at the time, the idea of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Now a little over two months later, the Supreme Court has indeed overturned it and with every passing day it seems America is becoming a land of anarchy.
In a nation where the majority sided with Roe v. Wade being left alone, it still got overturned. In the same realm of majority, over 50% of Americans believe there should be a ban on the sale of assault rifles but instead the Supreme Court and Congress decide they should take away rights of women.
They don’t care about the children, they’re forcing kids to be born just for them to go to school with the possibility of there being a shooting. The Uvalde shooting footage finally got released and it is utterly sickening.
“The sound of children screaming has been removed”
That one sentence is going to haunt me for many years to come. Congress let that happen by not restricting assault rifles sooner, Congress let that happen by not ending the filibuster, Congress let that happen by worrying too much about whether or not women should have a choice about their own body.
You have to be a different type of sick person to in the first place say the issue was the doors of Robb Elementary, when 77 minutes went by before the gunman.was apprehended. There have been 27 school shootings in the U.S. this year alone, and there has been no action from Congress or the Supreme Court to stop them in the future.
According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) there have been over 300 mass shootings in 2022 alone. All this is happening while the Supreme Court is deciding that a public school football coach can lead prayer in the middle of the field.
Now I believe that anyone can choose to follow any religion, but as Justice Sonia Sotomayor put it, “In doing so the court sets us further down a perilous path in forcing states to entangle themselves with religion, with all of our rights hanging in the balance.” I think we know how the story would go if it was someone that wasn’t part of the Christian faith.
Other Justices like Clarence Thomas feel differently, and he is potentially one of the worst of the bunch. He has on record stated the Court should reconsider due process precedents like Griswold v. Connecticut (right of married persons to obtain contraceptives), Lawrence v. Texas (right to engage in private, consensual sexual acts) and Obergefell v. Hodges (right to same-sex marriage).
One of the many issues with the Supreme Court is the number of Justices, where we now have 13 circuit courts. There should be a Justice to represent each circuit court as when the last time nine Justices was established there were nine circuit courts.
Another issue is the age of the Justices, where four of the nine are of the age 67 or higher. The only time this has ever really been challenged was when Franklin Roosevelt proposed that any Justice over 70 must resign.
Not to mention all of this and more is happening while our planet is quite literally dying. No one in power seems to be in a hurry to even try to fix what big businesses and billionaires are doing to our planet.
I really don’t know what is to come of this country we live in, as it seems like every week there is a new issue arising. I’m honestly scared of what is going to happen next, I want to say I’m confident everything will be fine but I just can’t and it’s sad.
yousef • Jul 20, 2022 at 12:56 PM
Joe,
The Uvalde butchering was tragic. The gutless pathetic cowards who stood by while children were executed should be fired at a minimum and but ideally imprisoned.
Your proposed solution to the problem of banning weapons will do nothing. I went into depth as to why this is on Gabrielle’s article on school shootings.
What i find interesting is your lack of foresight in how to deal with the supreme court. If we expand the court and blow up the filibuster do you not see that Republicans will respond in kind? Harry Reid broke the cloture rules for presidential appointees in 2012 and that is how we got 3 trump appointed justices that ultimately overturned Roe V Wade.
Imagine a scenario where there is no filibuster, the republicans take congress with narrow margins and the presidency.
Obama care? Nuked.
National abortion ban? you bet.
GCA and NFA repeal? You can count on it.
10 new justices (all conservative) on the supreme court? why not?
The filibuster tames the passions of small minorities and forces compromise. If you were to nuke the filibuster then the senate rules would be updated and all future legislation would only require a simple majority.
Your comment on the age of the justices being a concern I would agree with. I think it would best to propose a constructional amendment to limit the age of those in federal office either elected or appointed shall not be greater than the age of 69 when they assume the office.
Your mention of FDR wanting supreme court justices to resign due to age was a political tool he used to threaten the court with court packing (see the history of the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937). The court at the time was striking down many of his new-deal agenda as unconstitutional (as most of it was). Eventually they capitulated to the pressure. A similar tactic is being used now to pressure the court into capitulating to the whims and cries of leftists threatening them.
Tanner Trafelet • Jul 20, 2022 at 10:49 AM
“They don’t care about the children, they’re forcing kids to be born just for them to go to school with the possibility of there being a shooting” was a particularly interesting argument. Perhaps I’ve read too far into this – but “they” is never conclusively defined in this piece – is this, then, anyone who disagrees with the author’s stance on abortion? Or is this – more cynically – similar to recent rhetoric in public discourse where those who disagree with one’s opinion are regimented into an out-group of “bad people”? Yet another dilemma I rencounter after reading this piece is the sustainability of heavily regulating “assault style weapons.” Given the deeper socioeconomic reasons behind most shootings – both the more abnormal mass & more common everyday gun violence – what happens when elected officials legislate the “quick-fix” solution of blaming shootings on guns and “crazy people” and do nothing to actually stop shootings?