With Apologies to Moore and Longfellow: 'Twas the eve of the 4th....

 

 

'Tis the eve of the 4th and all through the House,

Congress-clowns abandon their desks, they behave like a mouse.

They've fled to their districts to march in parades,

waving and grinning as they play their charades.

SCOTUS is nestled all snug in their robes,

Conservatives trusting support from their  -phobes.

Judeo-, or Islamo- , homo-, or xeno-,  it matters not which

so long as plebeians ne'er rise from their niche.

But all 'round the nation, a clatter arises;

incendiary rhetoric with no real surprises.

Bombastic behavior with lies over lies,

shrill voices raised loud to legitimize 

a coup, a fraud, and gender persecution

chipping the basis of our own Constitution.

We can just close our drapes and ignore what we know...                      

or we can rise up from our slumber, to be counted, and show... 

 

Just as through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night goes out cry of alarm
We can reach every city, each village, and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice to bring daylight, just open the door,
Defend civil rights! shall echo evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
We stand together, pledged and steadfast,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
We all will awaken and listen to hear
The echos of hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

Sincerest apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Just in case you think I'm losing it, last week you would've been closer to right. Recent decisions by SCOTUS made me wonder in what century we're living. There were moments when I expected Coney-Barrett to show up in a red robe and white cap.

I really want to believe this is going to pass, and America will return to its roots with leaves that embrace all. I want to believe as the younger generation begins serious voting, they will not walk away, but will actively advocate for civil rights, health care, reproductive rights, and an economy with opportunity for all. I can't imagine that the generation coming up is willing to settle for a country that leaves them under-insured and on the edge of bankruptcy.

The bizarre right-wing cabal called The Freedom Caucus, is cause for serious alarm. They do not even closely represent the majority of Americans, yet they manipulate Congress as though they have some sort of secret mandate. The election of McCarthy as Speaker of the House, the control they exercise over him, and the debacle of the debt ceiling should make every American sit up and take notice. 

I am seriously concerned about the outcome of the next general election. If a right wing conservative is not elected president, I am pretty sure the cabal will attempt another coup, and this time, they'll have a better sense of how to do it. A civil war could easily begin. 

With or without the civil war, I suspect that unless there is a radical shift in securing Congress and the White House against the radical right, this will be our last election as we know it. I don't know what it would be replaced with....perhaps a single party...perhaps martial law and no election at all, but it terrifies me all the same. 

I'm not advocating for an all-Democrat government; I want to see moderate and centrists Republicans....like my dad....return to navigating the party. 

As a woman who happens to be a Jew, I don't want people who want to control my bodily functions in charge of this country. I don't want Christo-fascists deciding what is taught in schools or put on the shelves of libraries. I don't want them banning anyone's right to free expression, including performers who appear in drag shows. 

And yes, that does include the lady with the hypothetical gay customer for the wedding website design business. She has the right not to serve people she doesn't want to serve, but that has to come with some constraints as to whether or not such advertisements can be in the public forum. Would the court be okay if she said, "No Christians are welcome," or "No African style wedding sites will be designed?" Is that okay with the court, or would that ruling have been different? As soon as you say it's okay to turn away customers on the basis of gender-orientation, how far is SCOTUS from saying race and creed fall into the same category? 

If she wants to advertise, let her display her wares in church bulletins and like-minded publications. But she cannot say she's open to all business when she, in fact, is not. There has to be some up-front recognition that her business is not open to the public, a prominent notification that she does, indeed, practice discrimination. That's free expression. Caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. 

This is a house of cards. The far right has created an opening in a Supreme Court that no longer views US citizenship as a guarantor of civil rights within our borders, nor believes women are sentient beings, nor supports the sanctity of life once outside the womb, and does not believe in either science or settled law. SCOTUS, instead of championing the rights of We, the People, squeezes the life out of the very foundation of our democracy: checks and balances. I am absolutely certain that the Founding Fathers never anticipated the overturning of the Constitution by the very body created to defend and protect it. After all, we broke away from England because...

...We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.                       

The Declaration of Independence ~ unanimously adopted  ~ July 4th, 1776 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day

Wishing you all, wherever you are, 

in whatever place you call home, 

a happy, safe, and refreshing 

Independence Day