In 2022 there is nothing to celebrate about the 4th of July in America. We are not honoring our commitment towards ” . . . a more perfect union”.
Rational thinking has all but disappeared. Religious fantasies have captured too many in its cloak of belief-based ignorance.
At critical junctures in the history of the world, there have been bursts of enlightenment—major steps in the evolution of consciousness—an awakening of rational measure and experiment.
Today, we are navigating the infancy of the Technological Age. And, like previous transitions in our forward movement, new discoveries invite new ways to ‘take advantage’ of a system not yet established through laws and regulations, that protect the innocent, consumers—”The People”.
Our current Supreme Court includes five intelligent, but pathological and narcissistic egos, making feeling-based judgments for all of humankind based on their personal values and judgments. Their personal judgments are not a factor in the measure of law given them by the Constitution. Their oath to the Constitution, their given purpose and expectation, is to insure and advance the balance of power—the rights of individuals vs the State, community, and world.
The Supreme Court, on June 23, 2022, struck down a New York law that restricted concealed gun carry, the Sullivan Act of 1911. The Supreme Court ruling found that the law violated the Second Amendment by giving authorities broad discretion in deciding who would be given a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Thus, denying individual states the right to protect the citizens of those states, regarding an ever increasing gun violence epidemic raging across our nation. Huh?
This is one example of Supreme Court justices ruling on personal values, their personal values . . . not precedent, not state’s rights, not common sense.
Yet, at the same time they have taken away federal protections regarding the right of a woman to manage her own body and well-being—to make her own choices about pregnancy—whether or not she chooses to be a mother.
Then there are other determinations necessary to protect the community from what the individual may carry or bring that puts the community in jeopardy. The obvious one being contagious, biological infections and disease, which we can only fight collectively. This is not about individuality.
Like pollution, climate vulnerability, water, land and air, all depend on such for survival. Where private owners have been given constitutional protections in the name of profit and commercial need, at the expense of the rest of us, is where the economic dialogue has been distorted, as we allow the injustice of abusive powers of ownership.
The word responsible is lost in the special interests of power and ownership. Wealth has come to the point of serving itself at the expense of the community, and at the same time putting the lifeboat of Earth’s environment in jeopardy—they too, are passengers on life support.
Balance is not being served by this Supreme Court, as they grant the wealthy few such advantage over the majority. We cannot continue on this path if Earth and humanity are to survive.
The 4th of July is a dream starved in its forward intent because of the success of exclusive self interests.
Today, democracy’s dream for life, ” . . . liberty and justice for all” is failing. It has become a cancer of greed and self-service. On this day there is little of its integrity left to celebrate.