America is Being Tested

Like never before in my lifetime (DOB 1953), the citizens of our great country are being tested.  There are three pending events that will reflect and impact the consequences of those tests.  The first is the upcoming debate and conclusion of the gyormous and fiscally irresponsible infrastructure plan being peddled by the Biden Administration.  The second will be the upcoming mid-term elections in November of 2022.  The third will be the upcoming decision of the Supreme Court in the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The first item will test the upper limits of our democracy’s ability to inflict damage upon itself through the passage of over-reaching, profligate, and authoritarian legislation that makes a mockery of our Constitution.  The second event will gauge how truly gullible we are as an electorate and the extent of malleability we offer the mainstream media to guide and direct our political opinions.  The third will test our conscience…yea, perhaps even our morality…in its examination of abortion.  And as if those premises were not sufficient, it will also test the federalist nature of our very structure as a nation.

It goes without saying that these three events are not the sole arbiters of what our nation is and where it is heading.  But if you want to distill the chaotic times we are enduring as a people in today’s world, these three questions and how they are answered will render a great insight into our future as a free people and help to clarify precisely which principles we hold most dear as a democracy and as a people.

What has brought us to this infrastructure precipice upon which we stand; staring down as we are into an abyss of insurmountable federal debt and extremities of an authoritarian and intrusive government?  I believe that there are two things that have led us to this moment and this particular piece of legislation (which, by the way, has not yet been fully drawn).  When this nation elected Joe Biden as President, they did so by a historical narrow margin.  And even though, in that same election, the Democrats maintained control of the House; they did so by the skin of their teeth.  They kept their majority status with essentially a four-vote advantage.  America accurately reflected itself by splitting the Senate right down the middle between Democrats and Republicans 50/50.  We are truly a divided nation politically.

Normally, this Senate outcome could be discounted as a chance happenstance that no one could have manipulated or foreseen.  After all, it was the final result of numerous Senate elections spread out all across the country.  Who could have accurately predicted the final outcome of so many unpredictable and separate political contests?  Ah, but this case is different.  The special elections in Georgia occurred after the national elections in November.  Any person paying any attention whatsoever to this event understood that effective control of the Senate was up in the air.  They (the voters of Georgia) chose to put the Democrats in control of our government.

So even though the Democrats gained legislative control by a miniscule margin, the undeniable fact is that the voters of America put them there; albeit by a paper-thin spread.  And be it thin or be it thick, a win is a win.  Joe Biden and the Democrats made no bones about what their agenda was and America bought in.  Ignoring the fact that essentially half of the nation disagreed with their espoused ideals, the Democrats came to WDC in January of 2021 with the attitude that they had a national mandate to implement their plans for this country.  They calculated that this narrow victory was a limited opportunity to change this nation to better suit their vision.

Secondly, the Democrats were gifted with something that nobody anticipated.  The pandemic crisis had gripped America and it presented the opportunity for government at all levels to exercise authoritarian controls that had never before been witnessed.  Caught in a quandary of preserving the very lives of themselves and their families against the sacrifice of personal freedoms, we all surrendered our basic rights for what we perceived to be the greater good.  This yielding attitude by the citizenry presented an opening for the new President and Congress to spend money without reservation.

The Democrats enthusiastically embraced this opportunity to shovel out federal benefits in an irresponsible fashion under the guise of covid-relief legislation.  It was a grab bag full of goodies for all sorts of entities and purposes having little or nothing to do with pandemic relief.  Fearing the consequences of opposing legislation that the public supported (even though no one really knew what was in it), the Republicans did not oppose this bill.   Flush with this calamitous victory, the Democrats and Biden now have their sights set on continuing that “fiscal insanity” momentum with their overall infrastructure legislation.  In the Democratic world of logic, American votes can be purchased through the process of handing out federal checks.  Are they correct?

Make no mistake about it; the outcome of this infrastructure bill will largely determine the path forward for this Administration in the foreseeable future.  If the effort to pass this Trojan horse through reconciliation succeeds, our nation will be fundamentally changed in ways that will take decades to unwind.  There will be social program initiatives included in this bill that once instituted, will be nigh on impossible to discard; they will be rapidly institutionalized.  On the other hand, if this reconciliation effort fails, it will fail due the defection of a handful of Democrats.  If that is the case, the maddening rush to transform our country through congressional action will have hit a wall and the tide may very well turn back towards a moderate and more bi-partisan operation in our legislative bodies.  The Democrats’ rush to ruin will be largely put on hold pending the next decision on Congressional control.

Two years can be a lifetime in a governmental sense.  With one party controlling all three branches of the legislative tree, they can push reforms through Congress in an efficient fashion and institute changes that dramatically impact our lives and quickly become part and parcel of our cultural fabric.  If the Democrats succeed in their nation-altering legislative effort deviously labeled as infrastructure, the 2022 mid-term elections will arrive too late to prevent the  fundamental damage to our constitutional government. 

However…if the infrastructure effort fails… this rush to change the nature of our country will have been severely hampered, the Democrat’s legislative momentum will be stymied, and the mid-term elections will offer an opportunity to give Republicans control of the House and Senate and provide a firewall to the Biden Administration efforts at reshaping our nation in their liberal vision.  Please understand me; I am not advocating for Republican legislative control because I feel they are somehow a superior Party.  Both national parties have corruptive elements, bad characters, and have lost all sense of fiscal responsibility.  However, it is quite simply the case in today’s environment that the Republicans hew far closer to the constitutional premises upon which our nation was founded and they offer a far better option for preserving the essential nature of our country. 

Finally, there is the long-anticipated Supreme Court case that will truly test the judicial wisdom of Roe v. Wade; that case will be Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.  Contrary to what we will all be led to believe, the Supreme Court in this case will not decide the legality of abortion.  Instead, they will decide whether or not individual states have the right to regulate the practice of abortion within their boundaries and, in a much larger sense, whether or not abortion itself is a fundamental right under our Constitution.  It holds the potential to wrest away from our federal government the authoritarian exercise of forcing each and every state to accept abortion without reservation or, on the other hand, to permit each state to reflect the conscience of their own citizens in how they approach this emotional issue. 

Regardless of your personal stance on abortion, there can be little doubt that if federal control of abortion regulation (Roe v. Wade) is upheld and Mississippi loses its case, we as a nation will essentially be embracing abortion with little or no limitations.  However, if the Supreme Court decides that Mississippi has the right, as a state, to regulate the practice of abortions within its boundaries; then there is an opportunity for each of us to have a far greater influence on how abortion is administered in our state of residence. 

Perhaps an even larger question that will be addressed by this case is this: If we can create a fundamental constitutional right to abortion out of whole cloth; what will be the limits and choices for future judicial efforts in that area?  An affirmation of Roe v. Wade in this case may very well open the door to future efforts at rewriting and evolving our Constitution in a fashion that better conforms to a liberal agenda.  Roe v. Wade set a precedent.  Many believe it was a bad precedent.  If that precedent is confirmed through this case, it will literally change the fundamental reach, influence, and perception of the Supreme Court.

Watch closely how the pending infrastructure issue unfolds.  The outcome will largely determine to what extent the Democrats and the Biden Administration will pursue their liberal and authoritarian agenda. 

Educate yourself, inform yourself, and think very long and hard about your vote in the upcoming mid-term elections.  Never forget: WE GET THE GOVERNMENT WE DESERVE.  There is little doubt about what each party stands for these days; vote your conscience. 

Do not be distracted by the shiny objects the mainstream media will dance before your eyes leading up to and during this Supreme Court case about abortion.  If our Supreme Court is going to fill the role that our founders provided for it, it must stand as an objective and disciplined defender of our Constitution.  It must defend the document as it is written and not bend to public, political, or “personal belief” pressures that will push it to expand the meaning of simple words and clear language.  The essential purpose of our national government must be protected; but the fundamental freedom of our individual states to run their own affairs must be preserved.

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