I\u2019ll be honest. Right now I very much want to go to brunch. I\u2019m tired. I can only imagine how tired people are who are more vulnerable than I am.<\/p>\n
And why shouldn\u2019t we go to brunch? Why, in what is supposed to be \u201cthe land of the free\u201d shouldn\u2019t we be able to count on basic freedoms remaining in place? Why isn\u2019t it a given that people can control their own bodies, marry who they want, and have sex with any consenting adult they want? Why can\u2019t they send their children to public schools and be confident they\u2019ll be taught science and not religion, real history and not whitewashed history, real human sexuality and not puritanical ideology, and that their\u00a0 kids\u2019 sexuality and gender identity will be affirmed and not forced to conform to something that isn\u2019t them?<\/p>\n
Why do some of the most learned judges in the country think that fundamental freedoms should be subject to a vote?\u00a0How can they say that unspecified rights aren\u2019t rights unless they\u2019re \u201cdeeply rooted in the Nation\u2019s history and traditions\u201d knowing full well that this nation\u2019s history is one of domination by straight white Protestant men who own property?<\/p>\n
If you think this is only about abortion, you\u2019re badly mistaken. Dangerously mistaken.<\/p>\n Once Roe<\/em> falls, they\u2019re coming for Obergefell<\/em>, arguing that state legislatures should be able to decide who can and can\u2019t get married. And that it\u2019s OK if an adult man marries a 12 year old girl, but not OK if two adult men marry each other (in case you\u2019re confused \u2013 deliberately or otherwise \u2013 the difference is \u201cconsenting adults\u201d). Then they\u2019re coming for Lawrence<\/em>, arguing that state legislatures should be able to criminalize gay sex. Then they\u2019re coming for Griswold<\/em>, arguing that state legislatures should be able to outlaw birth control.<\/p>\n Roe<\/em> isn\u2019t even overturned yet, and Republicans in Louisiana are trying to pass a law to charge people who have abortions with murder \u2013 and Louisiana is a death penalty state. Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, is using Alito\u2019s legal logic to try to overturn the 40-year-old court order requiring states to educate all children, including those who are undocumented.<\/p>\n As Jonathan Korman<\/a> often says, cruelty isn\u2019t a by-product. Cruelty is the point.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, a number of right-wingers denied that there even was a pandemic. They said that lockdowns, mask requirements, social distancing, and such were because \u201cthey just want to control people.\u201d<\/p>\n They were telling on themselves \u2013 attributing to others what they would do if they could. What they\u2019re trying to do now.<\/p>\n They want to force pregnancy and birth, force conformity with gender norms, and force LGBTQ people into closets and celibacy. They want to force their form of Christianity on the entire country.<\/p>\n Hey Catholics: they may tolerate you because you\u2019re anti-abortion, but as soon as that\u2019s no longer on the table, they\u2019re coming for you too.<\/p>\n Along with many of my generation, I believed the arc of the moral universe would continue bending toward justice. We saw the civil rights movement, the women\u2019s movement, and the gay rights movement. We knew that justice had not yet been perfected, but we were making progress, and we assumed that progress would continue. We saw industrial pollution cleaned up and the ozone hole shrink, and we assumed we would continue to doing the right things to care for the Earth.<\/p>\n But we forgot something very important: progress is neither inevitable nor irreversible. The arc of the moral universe can be bent backwards. And it is being bent backwards more strongly than I\u2019ve seen in my lifetime.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a very real possibility that the Obergefell<\/em> decision in 2015 will be the high point of justice and freedom in the United States.<\/p>\n In a comment on my \u201clitany of anger<\/a>\u201d post on the Dobbs leak (that\u2019s anger over what was in the leak, not the fact that it was leaked), frequent commenter kenofken said<\/a>:<\/p>\n They\u2019re winning because they show up every single minute of every single day for their causes. They are willing to turn out to vote, every single time. They are willing and able to play the game by gutter fight rules. As they showed on January 6, they are quite willing to employ actual terrorism to further their goals. We on the other hand have to beg people to show and vote, some of the time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He\u2019s right. And there\u2019s a historical correspondence that\u2019s very relevant to most readers of this blog.<\/p>\n In his book Pagan Britain<\/a><\/em>, historian Ronald Hutton lists three reasons why England converted to Christianity. First, they were surrounded \u2013 all their neighbors were Christian, putting subtle pressure on the English to convert. Secondly, the rise of kings made conversion easier for missionaries \u2013 convert the king and you convert the population, at least officially. But third and most importantly:<\/p>\n Unlike Christianity, native English forms of religion were not missionary and militant faiths \u2026 the more aggressive, determined and monopolistic religion had the edge over its rivals, simply because it cared more about winning, and demanded absolute victory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I have no need to convert people who think abortion is a terrible sin, who think homosexuality is wrong, or who believe gender is binary and determined by biological sex. They\u2019re free to believe what they want, and to order their lives around those beliefs. I don\u2019t need absolute victory, any more than I need to convert Christians to Paganism.<\/p>\n I just want to live my life, let others live theirs, and be free to go to brunch.<\/p>\n And I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n Last week I came across a rant from someone I\u2019m not going to link to. The ranter \u2013 who is clearly a woman of childbearing years \u2013 was admonishing those of us who are upset over the pending demise of Roe v. Wade<\/em>. Her first argument was \u201cdon\u2019t get pregnant.\u201d Well, that\u2019s certainly sound advice, and advice that many people are taking. The abortion rate in the U.S. is now lower than it was before Roe<\/em>, not because of restrictive laws but because fewer people are getting pregnant<\/a>. But still, no birth control is 100% effective, accidents happen, and rape is a reality. For that, the ranter\u2019s advice was to take care of it the way people who don\u2019t want to remain pregnant have done for centuries.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the back-up plan.<\/p>\n But it shouldn\u2019t come down to this.<\/p>\n The poor shouldn\u2019t have to have children they don\u2019t want because they can\u2019t afford to travel to a free state. They shouldn\u2019t die in back alley abortions.<\/p>\n And all of us shouldn\u2019t have to wage a constant fight for fundamental rights.<\/p>\n But we do.<\/p>\n Because we\u2019re up against a group of religious and political zealots who won\u2019t be satisfied until they control the private lives of every single person in this country.<\/p>\n In the fall of 2020, I said the Presidential election was a referendum on the soul of America<\/a>. When 74 million people voted for Donald Trump, it was clear that the soul of America is rotten<\/a>.<\/p>\n We have another referendum coming up this November. We have a chance for liberals and moderates to turn out and vote for candidates who will support reproductive rights and individual freedoms.<\/p>\n And remember: all our current problems are originating with state legislatures. Yes, electing a Democratic congress is important, but putting Democrats in state houses, state senates, and governorships is even more important.<\/p>\n Of course, even if the election goes well, Democratic representatives still have to find the backbone to do the right thing and codify Roe v. Wade<\/em> into federal law. It\u2019s good that Joe Biden told transgender Americans \u201cyour President has your back\u201d but it\u2019s well past time he did something to show he means it. And we need court reform, to undo the damage McConnell and Trump caused.<\/p>\n Yes, I\u2019m still angry. I\u2019m angry because I believe in America. I believe in liberty and justice for all. I believe the fact we haven\u2019t done a very good job of embodying these ideals means we should redouble our efforts to promote them, not abandon them.<\/p>\n I\u2019m willing to postpone going to brunch for another year, another two years, another four years.<\/p>\n But I\u2019m getting tired of fighting for what should never be up for a vote in the first place.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have no need to convert people who think abortion is a terrible sin. They\u2019re free to believe what they want and to order their lives around those beliefs. I just want to live my life, let others live theirs, and be free to go to brunch. And I can\u2019t. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":25591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[272],"tags":[4114,4105,152,66],"class_list":["post-25585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-2","tag-abortion-roe-v-wade","tag-dobbs","tag-politics","tag-ronald-hutton"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/05\/rocks-12.05.21-01.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis is much more than abortion<\/h2>\n
Fighting an enemy that demands absolute victory<\/h2>\n
Another referendum on the soul of America<\/h2>\n
Tired, angry, and fighting<\/h2>\n