On one increasingly powerful level, I feel for you, and no that's not sarcasm. I'm not talking about professional politicians, radicals, or religious opportunists. I speak here, sincerely, to the devout and decent believer, the folks who serve their local hospice, man soup kitchens and manage charities, and who descend from a line of people concerned about the welfare of their fellow man stretching back to those who argued vociferously, and at times at personal great risk, against the sin of slavery long before it was 'hip'. You got screwed, again. The only difference is, instead of being put on the back burner by the congress or Presidents you've busted your ass to elect and defend, it was Chief Justice John Robert's Supreme Court that stabbed you in the back this time around.
Many of you have been working for years, decades, in some cases your entire adult lives and then some, on a cause you hold dear. I don't agree with your views on reproductive rights, but I understand the basic rationale: you believe that embryos, fetuses, whatever term we agree to use, are human beings and are thus due protection under our most cherished liberties encoded in the Bill of Rights. Therefore, they are guaranteed Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Like any other person, they are not to be subject to Cruel and Unusual Punishment. And even those of us who disagree with you admire your passion, loyalty, and respect your right to organize and work toward those ends.
I can relate to the anger and disgust you must feel at the endless bullshit and excuses and plain indifference you experience from the leaders you elected, after you've elected them, both in principle and because we have a similar dilemma. People campaigning under our party standard promise to fight for us and address issues we feel strongly about, same as you, but when they get in power ... too often, nothing. In fact sometimes it's worse than nothing, sometimes they actively work against those very issues they campaigned on. Meanwhile, bail outs and bonuses, tax breaks for the rich, earmarks, crooked corrupt deals of all shapes and sizes between government and various organizations zip right through the legislative process. The rich get richer, we get lip service and an email soliciting a campaign donation -- if we're lucky. Then another election year comes along, and sure enough those same shills are out there again, ringing their hands pretending to feel our pain, begging for support so they can 'fight for us,' and the whole ugly cycle repeats itself.
Last week consrvatives were taught a new lesson: one tried and true way to pull off an upset and beat democrats is to run as a pro-choice independent or moderate Republican.
Presidents have ignored you, congress has ignored you, worse they've baited and switched you. And the Robert's Court, liked the one before, doesn't seem to ever have the time or inclination to look at whether the unborn are persons protected under the Bill of Rights or not. Why? I have no idea. But last week they sure managed to find the time to decide that corporations are human enough to be afforded the rights and privileges for the unborn you've been seeking from those you bust your butts to elect -- and they've been promising to deliver to you -- for half a century. So, now we know, in the eyes of the Robert's Court, defining corporations or unions or even foreign entities as people was not only right, it was a priority. Embryos? Not so much.
And with that ruling, the Court virtually guaranteed we will have even less influence than the little we already had. That's bad for all of us including you: corporations aren't about waste their money or influence in pursuit of earnings on an issue as controversial as abortion. It's not even on their radar. I don't know what we can do about it, maybe there is no common ground for us to stand on. Maybe we can't even agree to cooperate on this single item. But I'm open to ideas.