31 January 2017

Governed by a Minority Theocracy

Donald Trump was elected by a minority of American voters, and he won the election because the United States uses the electoral college, a system put in place as a concession to slave states with low voting populations. This is just one of many, many fuck ups from our great 'founding fathers', a collection of rich white men who didn't want to pay their taxes (but did want to own slaves, obvs). I'll give them credit: they were willing to die for it, which counts for something.

As a result of this minority election victory, Trump gets to nominate an appointment to the Supreme Court, and his first nomination is a deeply religious man who holds Scalia in high regard. Many conservatives do, as Scalia was their flag bearer on the court for decades: a great friend to big business, to religion, to discrimination, and especially to bigotry, all in the name of a strict interpretation of the 'letter' of the law. Reports indicate that Gorsuch will vote against a woman's right to an abortion, perhaps because it is not explicitly mentioned in the constitution, but more likely because he is a religious nutjob that wants to impose his religious views on as many people as possible. 

Religious dogma is rubbish whether it is coming from a bible-humping neocon like Gorsuch or a koran-humping imam, and it belongs in the trash. Gorsuch reportedly prefers to determine constitutional law based on the intentions of our founding fathers, who, as I have reported in this space before: thought slavery should be legal; did not think women or anyone who did not own land should be allowed to vote; believed firmly in oligarchy; did not believe in an income tax; and did not have the benefit of what we would now consider even the most basic science education. (Your three year old that washes their hands after using the toilet knows more about germ theory of disease than they ever did. Think about that for a minute.) Their gross ignorance in matters of science and physics aside, I feel comfortable saying that maybe those guys weren't as great as people make them out to be. Anyone trying to figure out what the founding fathers intended should remember that they put it to a vote and most of them decided that, on the whole, slavery was cool and good and why would we ever let a woman vote are you insane? 

One thing they were clear on was the separation of church and state (from that hallowed slaveowner Thomas Jefferson!), but that's another area where Trump, et. al. are doing all they can to ignore and revoke your rights, and it's another thing that Muslims and Christians have in common: they both believe they have God on their side, and their righteousness and piety will lead all of us to glory. Fuck them and fuck their nonsense. It deserves your contempt, and you should reject it without exception. 

Here's the key point: religious dogma injected into your government deserves your contempt regardless of what is written in the US constitution, because it is a terrible way to govern. 

The constitution was written by a bunch of men that didn't have the benefit of a modern college education, or the foresight of what our country would become. That's our job as citizens: to move forward. Trying to interpret what they 'intended' by reading the tea leaves makes as much sense as trying to fly an airplane by talking to someone on the ground that died 200 years ago. 

Neil Gorsuch is probably a very nice man, kind to his children, good to his friends. He is also a man that wants to enforce his religious views on as many people as possible. I say no to that, and no to government by a minority theocracy. Resist

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