I recently finished “The Price of Inequality” by Joseph Stiglitz and was thinking of a way to write about it, it’s a great book (highly recommended), when I started “Bending Toward Justice, The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy” by Gary May.  I’m only about 40% finished with this book (I keep a stack of books next to my bed to read each evening) and it, too, falls into the highly recommended category.  In fact, based on news I’m reading and hearing the past few days, this is the book I need to refer to regarding my next post. (this one)

Reading about the reality of what Black Civil Rights leaders (and their supporters) went through to get the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and what voting was like prior to that makes me even ANGRIER when I think of what the Roberts Court (the United States Supreme Court – often times referred to as SCOTUS) is doing to America.  Fifty years from now it will be the Supreme Court that will be remembered as a key component of the assault on America’s foundation – whether the right wing republicans succeed in their “permanent republicnan ‘majority'” or not.

First they decided the Citizens United v Federal Election Commission in the favor of corporate interests while dissembling something on the nature of 100 years of campaign finance reform.  This from Justices Roberts and Alito who claimed they were adamantly opposed to “judicial activism” as they went through the confirmation process.  (Does that mean they’re liars?) In this case, notoriously referred to by Mitt Romney when he said “Corporations are people, my friend,” the court opened the floodgates to unlimited spending on America’s political campaigns – with the so-called “dark money” coming from “non-profit” “Super PACS” that can funnel unlimited funds into political races with no accountability (regarding where the funding originates) whatsoever!  We the people won’t even know how much FOREIGN money is used to buy our politicians.  (Alito – either foolishly or naively – shook his head as if to say “no” when President Obama breached the subject of the foreign money POURING into our elections during his the State of the Union address which followed this judicial travesty)

Largely as a result of this decision (and there’s been another almost as bad since, McCutcheon v Federal Elections Commission) we can expect a never ending blast of negative (and mostly fictitious) surreptitious TV adds during election campaigns.  We can expect never ending political campaigns (for example, this “mid term” election seems to have been ongoing since the last presidential election).  And, worst of all, we can expect even more corruption in our political process – if that is even possible.  These two decisions, in themselves, point out the EXTREME importance of NEVER again voting in a republican as president!  These judges are in for LIFE – that means my daughters may have to spend their entire adult lives living under the Roberts Court!  Right now, America’s “right wing” is represented by a 5 to 4 majority on the court and, if they get one more, the disaster could be worse.  These five judges will someday be remembered in the history books for the damage they are doing to our nation!

While the two aforementioned decisions are disasters, there’s another one that falls in the same category and could possibly end up being worse.  Last year (2013) the court “gutted” the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (passed in 1965 and extended by Congress several times since, the last time being in 2006, for 25 years) by eliminating section 4 and eviscerating section 5.  If interested in what that means, look it up – it’s real clear what their motivation is.  I’ll get into more of my thoughts on this shortly, but as I’m reading May’s book on the Voting Rights Act, it’s almost depressing to think what this court is doing to the country I love.  It’s as if the extreme fringe “right” that’s got control of the republican party is working in unison with the Supreme Court to (they say they want to “take our country back”) take this country back to the days of the Robber Barons!  And, the American public is passively allowing this to happen simply because most members of our society have no idea it is happening!  (a significant group of my peers – I’m a retired school teacher and have many friends who are “educated” – haven’t even heard of Citizens United – or if they have, they have no idea of what it is)  This last REALITY is further indictment on our so-called “liberal media.” (I’ve written extensively about that recently if you’re interested)

Thousands of American (mostly African Americans) were BRUTALLY beaten, abused, and with many of them giving their lives to the civil rights movement of the 1960’s – which included the final MAIN push for VOTING RIGHTS in Selma Alabama in 1965.  There were many members of the Black leadership community which most of us have never heard about who showed courage above and beyond what we see in this nation today.  Martin Luther King Jr. was the “point man” that most of us have learned about – and, I was aware of John Lewis (today a member of the House of Representatives) and Andrew Young (and some of the others mentioned in May’s book), but there were so many we’ll NEVER know about who stood up and risked (or gave) their lives to push this nation into giving the right of citizenship (voting) to EVERY American!  And, now – 50 years later – we have a Supreme Court which is very subtly “turning back the clock” so that MANY will be disenfranchised.

The arguments coming from the Court and their supporters kind of remind me of the support for the “high stakes” testing that resulted from the “No Child Left Behind” Act – during the first part of the GW Bush administration. (Ironically – or should I say coincidentally – it was GW who nominated [and managed to get confirmed] Alito and Roberts)  The argument was that the Latino (and other “minority”) students I was teaching (6th grade) should be able to pass the test written by WASP’s (White Angle Saxon Protestants) in order to be considered “proficient” in school.  Of course, the language in the tests was (is) totally unfamiliar to the students.  In other words, the tests aren’t set up to measure skills as much as measuring vocabulary, and they favor White Students from stable families.  From the day “No Child Left Behind” was enacted I believed the REAL purpose in the legislation was to enable privatizing of our school system.  The other thought occurring to me is that there are “leaders” in the republican party trying to create a permanent under class of citizens.

In the instance of the (now) gutted Voting Rights Act – the new voter ID laws – which the court is also endorsing – designed to prevent “voter fraud” according to their proponents (that’s the “rationale” behind them – and, I should have said “non-existent voter fraud, based on the published studies) – will disenfranchise MILLIONS of Americans (mostly poor, elderly, young, or minority voters).  And, if there is “voter fraud” it’s not something that “ID laws” would address anyway – making the Court’s motivation even more transparent.  (disenfranchising voters – most of whom would tend to vote democratic) The voter fraud which does occur is MOSTLY votes that are made through the mail.  The Court, in its decision, not only took away the protections granted in Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, but they made it more difficult to challenge the future attempts to disenfranchise voters (forcing challenges to be made via Section 2 which has been described as “costly and time consuming”)  So, in my view, the REAL reason behind this Court decision is to ENABLE the disenfranchisement that is the purpose of all the “Voter ID” laws that, curiously, sprang up within days of this terrible decision.  (Do you think it was coincidence that numerous republican secretaries of state were ready to file voter suppression laws almost the next day after this decision?  Me, I’m a bit suspicious!)

Unfortunately, this brings me back to the place I ALWAYS seem to end up.  When I try to understand why certain things are “happening” in America – that seem so WRONG – it always seems to return to what Karl Rove once termed “the permanent republican ‘majority.'”  These Court decisions make it clear that the SCOTUS is FIRMLY on board with Rove’s (and his associates) intentions.  And, the reality that MOST Americans have no idea what’s going on “behind the scenes” in their own country, tells me our “liberal media” is either consciously or unwittingly supporting the plan.  (I hope it’s the latter, I fear it’s the former)

I’ll spell it out ONE MORE TIME.  The right wing fringe of the republican party NOW has control of the Court(s) – not just the Supreme Court; there’s been a court “stacking” “plan” since the days of Ronald Reagan.  They have control of the House – with, thanks to a well thought out scheme to control “local politics,” congressional districts that have been “gerrymandered” to almost ensure republicans retain control of the House indefinitely (In the 2012 election well over 50% of Americans voted for democratic House candidates, while republicans won a significant majority of the seats – it doesn’t take a math genius to figure this one out).  Republicans are close to gaining a majority in the Senate (and, I for one, don’t believe the democrats have the “stones” to filibuster the republican agenda as the republicans have done during Obama’s 6 years to the democratic agenda) and our “liberal media” is controlled by something like 9 right wing corporations!  Are you getting the point?  If republicans can fool the American public into voting for a republican presidential candidate in 2016 the “nail” will be driven into the “coffin” of progressive Americans for the foreseeable future.  The Citizens United decision will allow unlimited funding of the propaganda “machine” that’s gotten us to this point and should Rove, the Koch’s, and their brethren succeed, it will be a tough “hill to climb” to reverse their course.

Of course, what republicans in control will lead to will very likely be another economic disaster along the lines of the “Great Recession” or Depression.  Maybe that’s what it’s going to take to “wake up” America’s working class public.  Honestly, how working Americans can vote for republicans who are so indebted to the so-called 1% is beyond me.  As flawed as the democrats are, they are WAY closer to an agenda that is aimed at the middle class of America.  This idea that funneling more wealth UPWARD to the elite “1%” is so absurd that you have to give the right wingers credit for managing to “snow-job” the American public for most of the past 35 years.  How can this happen?  Well, I just believe that “we the people” are simply no match for the sophistication of the corporate interests who are buying our politicians.

Is there hope?  Well, as of October 2014 there is still a bit of hope.  Maybe voters in America will fail to give the republicans part FOUR of their scam (the US Senate) in the 2014 mid-term elections – that, by all accounts at this point is very much “up in the air.”  And, it’s hard for me to imagine one of the possible republican candidates for president actually winning in 2016 – but, it appears that the democrats will be running another Clinton.  Wouldn’t that just “beat all” if the 2016 presidential race was Clinton v Bush?  If that wouldn’t let you know how utterly despondent this nation has become, I don’t know what would.  Of course, I believe what we need is a true STRONG LIBERAL as our president and a public willing to first – vote republicans out of congress and second – vote the corporate democrats out of congress – replacing them with people who believe in the “bottom up” approach to government which drove the “New Deal” of FDR, Eisenhower and the Interstate Hi-way “push,” LBJ and the “Great Society,” and built the greatest middle class in the history of the world.  It really is UP TO US – “we the people” – because expecting the present day politicians to “fix” our government is like expecting the fox to fix the hen house!  Unfortunately, due to the SCOTUS, stopping this republican onslaught will get progressively more difficult the longer we allow it to “hang around.”