“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men hardly are created equal,” wrote the founders of this country.
They continued: “Those of inherent privilege are endowed by their creator with special status; the rest can soak.”
So reads the Declaration of Hierarchy, the founding document that launched a nation conceived in ideological apartheid and dedicated to the God-ordained principle that some people are screwed and deserve it.
It’s guaranteed right there in the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868: “Some people can and will be deprived of life, liberty and equal protection under the law depending on who they are. Get over it.”
I would say none of this is true — that the founding principles of this nation are as immutable as our founders (and God) decreed. But look at what the deeply compromised and politicized majority of our Supreme Court has signaled: that “equal” needn’t be taken too literally. The same applies to the “checks” or the “balance” in “checks and balances.”
— The court unconscionably paused a lower-court order that blocked our dictator-in-chief from, without due process, deporting migrants to nations not of their origin. Yes, “pause” means justice still may prevail. But judging by the controlling bloc on the court, swine may take flight first. You say director of national despotism Stephen Miller wants to suspend habeas corpus for these people? No need to if our government can just UPS a Nicaragua man to Sudan.
— The court ruled that legislatures controlled by the religious right can dictate how gender-fluid teens and their parents address one of life’s most difficult passages. New York Times columnist M. Gessen, a transgender individual, writes the court effectively declared this class of people non-existent: “How convenient it would be if trans people could be executive-ordered and legislated away.” Will same-sex marriage be next? If “equal” is no longer constitutional, sure.
— Of course, if “equal” ever meant anything to this court, it wouldn’t have ruled that the president can break any law if deemed an “official” act. To think that any president ever would go to the court seeking a pass for a host of indictable acts with trials pending. To think that any court would nurse on such a pernicious claim for precious many months instead of firing back, “Sorry, guy. Laws apply to you, too.”
As such, in a nation constructed to favor one tribe over another, and in the wake of the court majority balking at plain constitutional language that legalized birthright citizenship, “No right is safe,” as Justice Sonia Sotomayor warns
The rich and powerful can rest easy in a system and with a court that bestows on them extra privileges — super rights, if you will.
Let’s stop for a minute and consider the whole of this president’s efforts to undermine the Constitution and what he has achieved. It certainly isn’t a more perfect union.
His chief objective, and that of his MAGA movement, is to further marginalize people whom by race, by faith, by nationality, by sexuality, by political affiliation, they consider lesser and objectionable.
Serving and preserving the union? This president’s chief objectives are domination and ostracization – and his further elevation. Observe his transparently vindictive withholding of federal funds to punish blue states and “woke” universities.
On paper, this nation was built around a system that didn’t put too much power in the hands of one, vesting it in the hands of many. On paper — but not in the mind of this president. That applies as well to a court that treats the word “equal” as an uncredentialed visitor to its gated community.
Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.
