Freedom
Life in the “land of the free” seemed to get less free last week, when a rogue Supreme Court packed with right-wing extremists took away women’s freedom to control their bodies and reproductive choice.
In doing so, they reassigned women in the US to second-class citizenship, dialing back decades of gain.
Just days before, the Court had stripped Americans of their freedom from the danger posed by unvetted persons who want to wield a gun to act out their pain and resentment. This, too, dialed back gains in policing and social responsibility.
In both rulings, the Court rulings carried no balance or compromise. They went full bore to the extreme position and ignored the future toll that these decisions will bring to countless Americans.
Up next, some extremists have vowed, will be depriving LGBTQ people, same-sex couples, interracial couples, immigrants, Black and Brown people, and the poor of their freedoms.
At that point, the USA will have returned to what it was in 1776 when a “declaration of independence” declared people equal and deserving of freedom, but in fact denied that freedom to the 16% of the population who were slaves, the 50% or so who were female, and the uncounted indigenous portion whom the signers considered “savages” deserving only death.
Over the next 246 years, Americans fought a Civil War to emancipate the slaves, then had to fight it again piecemeal when the South refused to honor the Declaration and Constitution. Women won the right to vote but had to keep on fighting to gain economic freedom, sexual freedom, and personal dignity. LGBTQ people won the right to exist openly, but still must march for the basic human right of “pride.”
Now those 246 years of progress seem in danger. A relentless, merciless right wing is on the march. Bullies, cowards and corrupt autocrats have ascended to leadership.
In fact, if you read the text of the Declaration, https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/resources/text you will notice that its lengthiest portion enumerates the brutality and perfidy of the British crown – and those particulars are exactly what the tyrants of today are doing. The parallels are eerie – until you realize that freedom always runs into these forces of darkness.
The signers had their blind spots, and those flaws were egregious. But they also had courage and a willingness to sacrifice their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” for liberty.
How can we regain two and one-half centuries of progress, and then move onward to more progress in the name of freedom? We must defeat the right wing. Not by asserting our superior opinions, not by getting more expert in the rituals of outrage. We must defeat the right wing at the election booths, in the legislatures, in the courts, in education, in public opinion.
The call to liberty in 1776 launched a fierce struggle carried out by common people. The call to liberty in 2022 can only be carried out by the sons and daughters of those same people, joined now by the emancipated, the immigrated, the decent and law-abiding citizens who won’t descend to cruelty and white-nationalist delusions, but join hands in the cause of freedom.