Beware America

Usurping women's right to choose

One more manifestation of the Republican party's moral bottom is its treatment of women, especially denying them the right to abortion. Here we have white haired reactionary Republican men, controlling red states from governor's mansions or legislative bodies, deciding what women can or cannot do with their bodies. How dare they? For 50 years they have been trying to reverse the landmark law Roe v. Wade ruling, and the Supreme Court, with a majority of conservative justices, is now poised to do just that.

This conservative-dominated Supreme Court is thoroughly politicized and the justices' assumed impartiality gives in to dogma on hot-button issues, and lately they have been putting ideology above remaining faithful to the letter and the spirit of the rule of law. The Court, which is tasked to uphold the sacred right of every American, is becoming an instrument in the hands of the Republican party, which has manipulated the nomination and confirmation process in recent years to ensure as many conservatives on the Court as possible. The overturning of Roe v. Wade will not be the end of the conservative assault on women's rights but only the beginning. We can be sure that laws limiting access to contraception, prohibiting same sex marriage, and denying the rights of the LGBTQ+ community will be next.

To understand how debased the Republican party has become, all we have to do is see who most of the party's leadership follows. Trump represents a new moral bottom, a new definition of sleaziness, a new standard of sheer loathsomeness. Trump is not only a traitorous, lying, narcissistic con man - he is literally the embodiment of the rot and moral decay that is consuming America's spirit. Trump is a cancer on the body politic and the longer the Republican party allows him and all that he represents to remain and fester, the closer this Republic will inch to suicide.

Trump's grip on the Republican Party is a sad testament to the spinelessness of its leadership, the majority of whom still subscribe to his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen; in recent primaries, those who backed his claim were predominantly rewarded. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that even if Trump is not the Republican nominee in 2024, whoever is will in all likelihood be aligned with Trumpism and even transcend it by their extremely twisted conservatism, which rivals even the most backward extremists such as the Taliban.

A victory for Trumpism in 2024 will mean that this country will continue to see its democratic institutions and processes attacked and gradually eroded; toxic white supremacy will thrive and anti-immigration policies will be the order of the day; environmental deregulation will continue apace, and economic inequality will keep soaring to new and unprecedented heights. America's global leadership will evaporate and spell the end of the country as we know it. Trumpism is literally poison that will destroy this country from within if it is permitted to grow.

There are thousands of loyal and dedicated Republican officials who are just as concerned as I am about the future of this country but remain silent, fearing the wrath of their fellow party members. They must remember that their allegiance is to the country and to the constitution, which they took an oath to defend and protect. Their solemn duty is to raise the alarm now and save America before the extreme right destroys what this country has stood for, fought for, and sacrificed for over two and a half centuries.

If the Republican party in its current ideological makeup ends up in control of both Congress and the presidency, it will be to America's everlasting shame. It will be a confession that we have lost faith in our Constitution and in this Republic. The noble principle of electing a government of the people, by the people, and for the people will tragically vanish.

I am only adding my voice to the thousands who preceded me. No one can say we were not warned. Beware America; time is running out. If we do not act now, it will be us who wrote the obituary of the American dream.