well, i guess i need to weigh in on the whole supreme court thing, even though no one really knows much about this guy, and even though if i tell you what i really think, which i will, you’ll probably be aghast.
scotus, by the way, is (s)upreme (c)ourt (o)f (t)he (u)nited (s)tates, not to be confused with potus, who is my stuffed monkey, at least he is until all the cats die and we get a new cat which will be named potus if i have any say in matters. then we will have not potus but poti.
anyway, the shocking thing is that i don’t give a good goddamn if this guy is confirmed or not, and i kind of hope he is confirmed. and here’s why, and then you can be aghast and tell me i’m ignorant and deluded and uncaring and illogical and whatnot.
here’s the thing.
everyone gets their knickers in a knot about the supreme court, and wails and moans, and gnashes their teeth, and does so loudly so as to maximize fund-raising. both sides being guilty of this in particular.
and i’ll admit that the supreme court has had major cases which have affected the lives of all americans.
but the vast majority of cases are about incremental, detail-filled changes in law which affect narrowly defined groups of people. and the ones which cause big, major shifts in direction for all americans get largely ignored by the public, at least initially, and the changes they make are glacially paced. take integrated schools, for instance. brown vs. board of education was in 1954. i went to kindergarten in 1968, to a desegregated school.
desegregated. for the second year.
which means that the supreme court does nothing except get the ball rolling, very very slowly. you want real, immediate change? get a law passed.
and here’s the thing which will really piss you off.
i halfway hope this john roberts dude gets on there and they really do overturn roe vs. wade. i’ve been steadily losing my rights in legislatures all over the country, and maybe if the great uncaring masses of people who vote for these ridiculous people and these ridiculous laws lose some of their own precious goddamn rights, they’ll get how i feel and stop voting my goddamn gay rights away.
is that brinksmanship? probably. it’s time for it. people need to be made aware that the votes they are making for people like george w. bush have repercussions and consequences in their own lives. and i’m sorry that people who didn’t vote for people like bush would have to suffer along with everyone else, but i feel unapologetically selfish about this, and i don’t need a right to choose.
and what few gay rights i’ve gotten from the supreme court could disappear tomorrow and i wouldn’t miss them, because i’ve lived an entire life without gay rights and i’m used to it. most of the gay rights progress has come from the private sector anyway. getting health care benefits for my partner has affected me personally a lot more than, say, the legalization of sodomy did.
maybe the brinskmanship will cause some laws to be passed that give people rights, instead of taking them away. the supreme court can’t do diddly except strike them down at a glacial pace. by which time the rights granted by these theoretical laws will be engrained in the fabric of america and all.
just like roe vs. wade is. do you think that if roe vs. wade is overturned that abortions will stop? hell, no they won’t. there are armies of women trained in safe methods of home abortion, ready and waiting for this day, and an abortion will always be a google search away. and anyway, the abortion clinics will file suit, and remain open in the meantime, while endless variations of the meanings of various laws are parsed and wind their way through the courts.
laws, laws, laws. pass lots of them that give lots of people lots of rights, and the courts will be tied up in knots and it ultimately won’t matter what they do. that’s what needs to be provoked to happen.
and if john roberts doesn’t make it, at least he still has his gig as the substitute/weekend anchor of the cbs news. just kidding.
everyone knows they’ll fire his ass.
