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It’s customary these days to hear people wringing their hands about the erosion of so-called constitutional rights.
Let’s be frank. Right from the get-go, the patrician, white-male, land-owning Founding Fathers had little inclination to be generous to those outside their circles. The extreme power vested in the Senate and the presidency, life-long appointments to the Supreme Court, and lack of provision for gender equality are only a few of the most glaring examples. Yes, there are provisions for changing the Constitution, but the Founding Fathers made that extremely difficult, too.
No surprise then that with a shift in the political winds, a woman’s right to have an abortion has disappeared overnight.
Something similar also recently passed under the media radar with a decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding an Arkansas law limiting boycotting Israel, a similar version of which is on the books in Minnesota. In the Arkansas case , out of a matter of principle, the Arkansas Times refused to sign that it wouldn’t participate in the anti-Israel boycott, and thus the state terminated its advertising relationship with the paper. The paper sued and lost — a clear case of muzzling free speech.
In short, the most lasting tradition in U.S. law is the ability of influential interests to manipulate it for their benefit. Exploding the myth of equality under U.S. law is the first step toward rectifying the situation. Trusting the system clearly doesn’t work.
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Robert Kosuth
Duluth
