Today is the 4th of July, America's birthday, what we call "Independence Day".
It's supposed to be a day of celebration.
But I'm not feeling it.
It's hard to be in a celebratory mood in a country where our future, our freedom, how independence is under constant assault.
Or as Ken Levine said in his blog on July 1st, "They’re going to need a new name for 'Independence Day' now that they’ve taken away our independence."
The United States has not always been true to the ideals of it's founding, that all men are created equal, that we are due inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We have have tried to move forward, to move the reality of our lives as American citizens closer to those ideals.
But in recent weeks, the Supreme Court is moving backwards, taking away rights and giving power of a minority over the will of the majority.
The title of today's post is taken from an old issue of Shazam! published in 1978 where Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family confront a menace where time is being reversed.
Writer E.Nelson Bridwell took the title from the opening line of a poem called "Rock Me To Sleep" written by Elizabeth Allen (1832-1911). Here is part of that poem:
Backward, turn backward, O Time in thy flight
Make me a child again, just for tonight
...
Over my slumber your loving watch keep, —
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep
I think the Supreme Court expects us to sleep as they turn time backward, rolling back rights the court had previously affirmed.
The Supreme Court is under the sway of a conservative majority that does not represent the majority of Americans.
They do represent a hard right religious minority subset of America that is determined to impose their believes on all Americans even if all Americans do share them.
Hulu will have to reclassify The Handmaid's Tale as a documentary series if the Supreme Court has it's way.
We are falling into an autocratic theocracy, the sort of thing our Founding Fathers were dead set against. It's the first words in the first amendment of our Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".
Yet one aspect of one religion (Evangelical Christianity) has influence over all Americans through their control of the Supreme Court.
The recent rulings of the Supreme Court are less about law and more about adhering to a certain ideology.
Our Founding Fathers were not perfect. Even as they expressed the ideal that "all men are created equal", many of them owned slaves for crying out loud. But even they recognized their inherent limitations which is why the preamble of the Constitution says "in order to form a more perfect Union". No matter what you may think of our country, it can be better. We learn, we expand out knowledge, our wisdom and we add to our collective spirt as a nation as more people can enjoy the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We move forward.
The Supreme Court would have us move backward.
When any part of our citizens have less rights today than they did the day before, this is anathema to the ideals of our nation's founding.
A founding that today is meant to commemorate in celebration.
Forgive me if I do not feel like celebrating.
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