If you want the perfect example of this take the case before the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) right now. 7 doctors are seeking to have the medical abortion pill Mifepristone banned so that they do not have to face the risk of prescribing it themselves. They can and do, already, refuse to offer this solution to their patients. However, they want to ban this 20 year FDA approved safe medication for some 200 million American women because of their feelings on the matter and the risk that they may accidentally prescribe it themselves. This patently ludicrous review of a federal appeals court decision is what SCOTUS are busying themselves with whilst delaying dealing with Trump prior to the November 2024 presidential election. This is American democracy hijacked by special interest groups in the 21C.
“At the center of the legal battle is the pill mifepristone, which is taken along with another drug to terminate an early pregnancy. Approved by the FDA in 2000, more than 5 million patients have taken mifepristone, according to the agency, and studies cited in court filings have shown it is safe and effective.”
SCOTUS Has Robbed The American People Of Their Power
For those who do not know, the Supreme Court is the final arbiter in the United States system of government. The fact that Trump stacked SCOTUS 6-3 with conservative activist justices during his term in the presidency has rendered democracy mute on an increasing amount of lawful government business. SCOTUS is sticking its conservative nose into more and more areas of American life. It has removed the federal right to women’s reproductive rights and delivered that power to the states in overturning Roe vs Wade via the Dobbs decision. This has galvanised American women across the nation and will likely defeat Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency. However, the SCOTUS imbalance in favour of extreme conservatives means that democracy has been denuded and the American people have lost their ability to effect legislation and laws as determined by their will.
America At The Mercy Of Special Interests
America has been at the mercy of special interest groups for a long time. Congress has been largely bought by vested interests via the efforts of lobbyists and campaign re-election donations. Congress representatives who are backed by funds from the pro-Israel forces or the gun lobby are much more likely to win their contests. Similarly, the enormous financial reach of Big Tech and Big Pharma ensures that their favoured candidates prevail. America is all about money. Everything is for sale in the USA. This includes its political process, as millions and millions of dollars are spent on getting representatives and senators in the house. American members of Congress are free to invest on the stock market without much oversight. Corruption is a relative term in American public life without much bite.
Women’s Reproductive Rights In America
Even away from what many of us would call the corrupt influence of financial imperatives driving the political process the basic role of special interest groups gazumps the silent majority. Those that make a lot of noise in the American democratic system, those with a single issue story, do better than the rest of voters who are largely defused in their impetus. We can observe this in the current zeitgeist around women’s reproductive rights. This empowering and motivating issue has turned red seats blue in red states. The polarisation of America by extreme conservative MAGA forces is being undone on this issue alone in contests held in 2022 and since. The right wing think tanks at the heart of the Trump 2024 campaign want to take away women’s rights more generally and return America to some imaginary time back in the 19C. This will not happen, as women in America are rising up in support of their freedoms and will fight at the ballot box.
True Conservatives Cannot Back Trump
America is and has been a largely conservative place, politically speaking. The Republican party has been an ideologically anti-socialist and anti-union movement for much of the 20C and beyond. Progressive causes have been homed under the Democratic party in the main. Now, under Trump the GOP MAGA forces are anarchic and rabidly anti-government. Many conservative Americans are confused as to where they should place their vote and trust in 2024. President Joe Biden is tough to demonise, as this basically decent politician is an old man and doing good things for the American economy. Polls indicate that most senior Americans will vote for Biden in 2024. The instability of Trump and his backers are concerning for true conservatives who don’t buy the false narratives peddled by the GOP in 2024.
The SCOTUS Conspiracy To Derail Democracy
American democracy hijacked by special interest groups continues and is ramping up under SCOTUS in 2024. Billionaires and big business want to roll back government regulation so that they can make more money unhindered by rules protecting the people. America has been a perpetual battle between the very wealthy and everyone else. Money talks in America, of course. The Gilded Age is celebrated by some as a time of great investment into the nation. However, this came at a cost and the Great Depression resulted in many Americans suffering. The GOP has never taken responsibility for this and their lies and denial established an MO which continues to this day. The Chevron deference and SCOTUS:
“The high court announced Monday that it is taking up a case squarely aimed at killing off the nearly-four-decade-old precedent that has come to be known as Chevron deference: the principle that courts should defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous provisions in congressional statutes and judges should refrain from crafting their own reading of the laws.”
This SCOTUS wants to rule on every aspect of American life, despite having no expertise on these matters. It is a conservative activist conspiracy to disempower the elected government and its agencies from running the country. The American people are being disenfranchised from their constitutional rights. Extreme right wing power brokers know that they will not win elections with their unpopular policies, so they are retaining power by other means. Trump is a sideshow. The SCOTUS 6-3 imbalance must be redressed if democracy is to be returned to its natural state and the American people are to get their will back.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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