The decline of the United States as a beacon of democracy could not have been better illustrated than by the events of the past week: The Supreme Court (an obvious misnomer) decision on revoking a woman’s right to abortion; the Supreme Court (words fail me) decision to permit anyone to carry firearms in public in New York State; and the Texas Republican convention adopting a platform that defies the imagination. Decline of the United States doesn’t even come close to describing the idiocies perpetrated this week in the name of American democracy.
Let’s start with the least of the three evils presented this week. In the Texas Republican Party convention, over five thousand delegates (5100 actually) voted for a party platform that:Top of Form
- Requires Texas students “to learn about the humanity of the preborn child,” including teaching that life begins at fertilization and requires students to listen to live ultrasounds of gestating fetuses.
- Amends the Texas Constitution to remove the Legislature’s power to regulate the carrying of firearms.
- Treats homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice”.
- Deems gender identity disorder to be “a genuine and extremely rare mental health condition,” requiring official documents.
- Repeals the 16th Amendment of 1913, which created federal income tax.
- Abolishes the federal Department of Education.
- Abolishes the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank, and guarantees the right to use alternatives to cash, including cryptocurrencies.
- Accosts U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw over his criticism of Russia. A Navy SEAL veteran, Crenshaw lost his right eye to a bomb in Afghanistan.
- States that social misery, crime, drug abuse, and high gas prices are all part of the Democratic Party’s plan to permanently transform American society.
- States that the Democrats want three things for future elections: To steal elections, suppress Republican votes and federalize elections.
- Claims that President Biden has ceded control of our borders to paramilitary, narco-terrorist cartels.
- And, of course, that Donald Trump had the last presidential election stolen from him.
- Finally, the platform promotes the idea that Texas should investigate the possibility of ceding from the union.
(I think we should actively encourage and promote that idea, and then we should encourage and support a Mexican initiative to reclaim its former territory).
The Texas lunatic asylum could not have produced a more regressive and idiotic platform but, it does seem to represent the views of a large number of Americans who, unfortunately, can breed and vote.
As I said, the decline of the United States doesn’t even come close to describing this atrocity.
The second unbelievable event this week was the Supreme Court’s decision to revoke the New York State law that prohibits the carrying of firearms in public. “Gunfight at the OK Corral” can now become “Gunfight in Time Square”. AND, that decision opens the door for public gunfights in every city and town in the country.
Finally, the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish a woman’s right to abortion is probably the most regressive step the U.S, has taken in over a hundred years. The Supreme Court has not only lost its way as an institution, the original design that allows Supreme Court judges to be appointed by politicians, has finally been exposed as a major constitutional flaw that badly needs correction.
And, all of this happened in the same week. Maybe, I should have said at the beginning of this blog, “The immediate demise of the United States” – it has already lost its claim to be a civilized country, and these decisions only emphasize that reality.
One of my readers sent me a picture of a line of women, all aiming their rifles at the camera, with the caption, “If women took up arms to defend their right to control their own bodies, the male dominated legislatures across the country, and in Washington, would abolish firearms yesterday”. I can’t think of a better way to end this blog, other than to repeat the statement, “The Decline of the United States” is accelerating every day.
