Unfortunately, that is not what we have now. Yes, we need an honest non-political court that is governed by our constitution. The recent appointees to the Supreme Court have basically misrepresented their positions on “settled law” in their confirmation hearings, won confirmation by a few votes and can now reverse a 50-year-old ruling and the will of the majority on an issue that can be life or death to some Americans.įriends of the Shepherd Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly newspaper. Wade, for example, which polls show is supported by somewhere between 62% and 66% of the population, will probably be reversed or gutted by five unelected individuals on the U.S. They see their elected representatives in totally safe gerrymandered districts able to completely disregard them and impose ignorant and unpopular laws on them. On the other side, the “elites”-the liberal, educated and professional middleclass and upper-middleclass crowd-are angry because they see American democracy being undermined. The Grievances of the Liberal, Educated Middleclass With respect to the anger from the individuals who have truly gotten the short end of the stick, the MAGA leaders have done an excellent job of focusing that anger away from the real issues and redirecting it toward various conspiracy theories and untruths blaming those they label as the “elites” along with religious, ethnic, racial, gender and LGBTQ minorities along with refugees. All this is occurring in the richest nation the world has ever seen where the billionaire class continues to grow, and where many of them pay little or no taxes. You read the various studies that show half the population cannot handle a $1,000 set back-like needing a major repair on their car that they depend on to get them to work each day. More than half the population are truly struggling and are falling farther behind while they see the other half appearing to be living quite comfortable lives, however, more and more of these middleclass folks are also struggling. Unfortunately, there are real reasons for people to be angry. What is different today from a few decades ago is that the grievances-along with the simplistic solutions -are being stoked by social media and by rightwing news networks like Fox News. This dividing of America is providing an opening for demagogues and autocrats to step in with simplistic solutions that further divide us. It is dividing our nation, our communities, and our families. People feel something is terribly wrong in America, and it is not being changed through our democratic processes of majority rule. It is hard not to notice that people are angry these days, some very angry, and it’s not a personally healthy state to be in, but it is also not healthy for our democracy.
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