Hey Mom, so Lex called the other night, all broken up, rage and fear in her words, with all the news steaming up from down yonder. As our American cousins descend into autocratic madness, tragically, like watching a train wreck, and certain parties in the wreck just don’t seem to be aware of the danger that is before them.
Back to the wild west, of violent gun-totting trolls stalking the public spaces, and divisions of church and state eroding nation-wide, backroom abortions, privacy and the right to love and marry who you want soon being challenged, the extremest Supreme Court of America has taken control of the land of the free.
I told her it would be fine, it will be fine, they will overcome. But was that a lie? I don’t know.
Rolling around in my brain, is this story Linda told me, from when she was young and her mom used to bring her over while she visited with grandma. Back in the long ago, little Linda, early 60s maybe, and some church ladies were having tea, at the house. Linda had been exploring Grandmas vast array of magazines that she had laying about here and there, Life, National Geographic. Well, so I guess little Linda came across a word she didn’t know. Comes in with the magazine, opens it up, and says “mom, what’s Abortion?”.
Well, guess that set off a firestorm of discussion, with grandma in the lead, with all these churchie friends arguing, for and against.
So, long story short, Linda no doubt went away with an earful of what the word ‘abortion’ meant.
You know grandma, never shy about speaking her mind.
People loved her for her open, intelligent mind. But also her uncanny ability to bring divergent folks together, even if they didn’t necessarily have a great deal in common.
So, I’ve thought of that lately.
Friday though, when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down their ruling, and even though we’d been prepared for it for months, an earthquake of grief, anger, fear, and deep sorrow, as Roe vs Wade was overturned, and the right to legal abortions were pushed back to state control.
Missouri was the first, outright banning ALL forms, dooming hundreds, if not thousands upon thousands of women to certain death, from bleeding to death from an ectopic pregnancy, to a backyard abortion, to a young girl raped by her father whose little body is too small to endure the ravages of labour, they banned them all.
State after state followed suit, with laws banning it in various ways, a bunch of wealthy old grey haired men dragged the 70% majority of their pro-choice citizenry back to the dark ages.
Privacy laws be damned, next on the docket are same-sex marriages and contraception, also the courts wish to wheedle their way into American bedrooms, banning certain types of sexual relations. As Roe vs Wade was a decision based on the American right to privacy, so now the radical right-wing supreme court moves to strip away these rights to privacy.
They threw out all precedent setting decision’s of the past, based on B.S. and fragments of some messed up desire to drag the country back into the land of male white unhindered power, hitched to the wagon of some beast dredged from the dark ages.
They are swerving headlong into authoritarianism, and there is little such as us can do. But watch.
Today, mom, I watched this 13-year-old girl at a protest in front of the steps of the Supreme Court, fighting for rights we all thought her Grandma had secured for her.
Tears dripped from my eyes, listening to this young one, rage in her words, grief from the shock of it fuelling her passionate speech.
That beast that manipulates people to hate, with their biblical, self-righteousness, it has been let loose, and it would break your heart.
This anti-abortion movement, with their violent rhetoric that oozes from their pro-life bullshit, has fuelled a new generation with a terrible resolve, and the Republican Party will regret the day they got their heart’s desire.
Yet, as horrific as it feels right now, as much of an earthquake this has unleashed, the republicans have finally caught the car they’ve been chasing for over 30-40 years, and they are naive if they believe this is a win for them.
Oh, but wait, there is more. It wasn’t just overturning a 50-year-old right for women to obtain an abortion, oh no. There is so much more. This same week, the Supreme Court in the U.S. struck down New York State’s century old concealed carry law… so, guns have more rights than women in the United States of America.
So, a zygote and a gun have more rights now in America than a woman with a child-bearing womb.
Mom, I just have no words for this rage-filled grief I feel.
Those on the court that disagreed, their profound disagreement was clear:
Oh mom, I have to say, regardless of the optimistic outlook I usually try to maintain, these last few days have got me genuinely worried about the state of that Union down yonder. The anger and grief from a majority of Americans who are, well, some of them, waking up to the authoritarian right-wing extremist Christian faction that has overtaken the Supreme Court. Woken up to the real danger such a stacked court means for the majority who neither asked for, nor voted for, such extremist mandates. Watching more and more rights stripped away, as they at the same time ensure the weapons of war and murder have restrictions stripped away.
Mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts, friends, neighbours, gunned down in Synagogues, in Churches, in grocery stores, in primary schools, with weapons that wipe the faces from their prey and have to be identified with their DNA.
If this doesn’t make the non-voting public wake up, if this does not, finally, convince them of the real threat of autocracy that threatens their nation, I really do not know what will.
Anyway {sigh} as the American backward slide continues, I guess none of us can say what happens next. What moves Congress can make, or how to push back this extremist rhetoric, how to somehow lessen the impacts, what Biden can do, right now.
So, your Granddaughters head off into this messed up world, the youngest to University in the fall, and the older to many things great and growing, planty things in her eyes, we shall see how the future unfolds, in these uncertain times.
Otherwise, things are good. Have a date later this afternoon, with a really great guy, and need to finish this off, so I can get some stuff done around here. Going to check out old boyfriends younger brother’s band, at the park. You remember Gary from my BealArt days, back in the long ago? So, his kid brother has this country band, and they’re playing tonight at the Food Fest at Victoria Park. Should be fun.
Well, so, I will write soon, love you, must sign off.
Paula
by PaulaB 
Wonderfully written!! These are scary times. We can only hope that every 18-year-old with a uterus comes forward and lets their anger vote! I continue to envision a much better world!🌺
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Thank you. Definitely scary times. Which is why I guess I’ve become an optimistic cynic.
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