Freedom?

This week, the Supreme Court ruled in the Hobby Lobby case.  Everyone should be concerned and upset about this ruling, especially women.

Reproductive Rights and Equality for Women
I'm still in my 40's, so I can't claim to be a groundbreaking feminist, though I have had to fight for equality a few times.  But mostly, the heavy lifting was done before I came along.  I grew up expecting my reproductive rights to be there.  By the time it affected me, Roe v. Wade was old news.  

I took an interesting medical ethics class in college, and we studied the law and controversy around abortion, around things like frozen embryos, cloning, etc.  It was one of my favorite classes.  (I took it the same quarter I took a logic class -- and I think the combination of the two proved very beneficial for my ability to analyze an argument!)

The problem, as I see it, is that these same arguments continue today.  I'm a bit shaken because this is supposed to be settled law.  The state can't prohibit these forms of contraception, because, even if they WERE "abortifacients," the court held in Roe that the state has no interest in proscribing it until the point of viability.   

So now... we have states that are imposing regulations designed to put abortion providers (most of whom do SO much more than that) out of business, and they are allowed to do it.  We have individuals with money and power restricting access to contraception for people who, by definition, do not have money or power.  And now, thanks to this ruling, we have just permitted the wealthy to impose their religious beliefs on the working class and the working poor.

Five old men just decided a very personal issue for tens of thousands of women immediately, and potentially millions -- when they have no business being involved at all.  And the same five old men just decided that it's okay for ignorant idjits to yell and scream at rape victims trying to get help, from a position that is up close and personal.

I am watching rights I took for granted rapidly erode for my daughter.

Corporatism
The SCOTUS used to rule in favor of corporations 50% of the time -- this was the case for over 40 years, including most of my life.  But since 2011, the court has ruled in favor of corporations 88% of the time!  The court has embraced a notion which is absurd on its face:  That corporations are people and entitled to rights.  A corporation is not a person.  It's a legal construct, designed for convenience in doing business, and to insulate owners from legal and financial liability.  A person can be held accountable for its actions; but beyond the value of its assets, a corporation can't.  A person isn't immortal.  Corporations used to have a 17-year maximum life -- but today, corporations are potentially immortal.  And so on, and so forth -- corporations aren't people or persons.  They do not have rights.  And to treat a corporation with any sort of deference in matters which impinge upon the rights of human persons is beyond absurd.

The people who own corporations do have rights.  So they each have the right not to use birth control. They do not have the right to ignore, or be exempt from, a law that requires them to provide comprehensive medical insurance to women if they provide medical insurance at all.  The Hobby Lobby ruling is wrong in every way, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg only scratched the surface of its flaws in her brilliant dissent.

Citizens United ensures that the rules will continue to be skewed in favor of corporations, now that they have a magnified political voice in terms of money, as well.  With the Citizens United and Hobby Lobby rulings, in combination with the recent union-related rulings, the court is consolidating corporate power. We are about to be ruled by our own corporate constructs, instead of "the people."  
We the corporations.  

In reality, that means we'll be ruled by a plutocracy.  (This is, apparently, exactly what the Kochs want -- as do Hobby Lobby's owners, who have donated millions of dollars to creating "Bible-based" curriculum for public schools to perpetuate their own notions of what our children should believe.)  The wealth of a few citizens has amplified their ideas and beliefs to the detriment of our entire society.  These court rulings are not about freedom; they are about power.  Well, they are, in a way, about freedom: The ever-diminishing freedom you and I are losing because of the exaggerated influence of a few.

Religious Freedom
Religious freedom has previously been understood to be an individual matter.  Each of us has the right to practice (or not practice) religion in the manner we see fit.  But like all other rights, our right to religious freedom ends where it impinges on the rights of another.  For an extreme example:  I can't sacrifice someone else on an altar, even if my religion dictates it.  This ruling permits wealthy corporation owners to impose their religious beliefs on others.  It's like giving one voice a huge megaphone to drown out everyone else.  It's wrong.  It's antithetical to the principles on which our nation was founded.  It's, frankly, unconstitutional.

A small minority of religious fundamentalists (24% of our population are evangelical Christians, some of whom are appropriately categorized as "fundamentalists") is ruling the rest of us, claiming that their ideas are "mainstream."  They aren't. They never were, and their numbers are declining.  But they seem to have an inordinate amount of political power.  This would not be so problematic if they did not continually insist on imposing their religious beliefs on the rest of us (abortion, birth control, same sex marriage are examples of their hot button issues).  Our nation is making progress on some fronts, but not others.  Many, if not most, Evangelical Christians are not supporters of women's rights.  Most Evangelical churches do not believe women should be in positions of authority over men, etc.  And I won't even go into the "headship" of men or the "quiverfull" concept.  

Let's just say that religious fundamentalists of ALL stripes tend to view women as second class citizens at best, property at worst.  They are not advocates for women, or supportive of equality for women.  And they have an unreasonably and disproportionately loud voice today.

Beyond the immediate implications of the ruling, which are terrible enough, the unintended consequences of the ruling could be vast.  Let's see how fast there's a lawsuit the first time a Muslim fundamentalist who owns a business decides not to include coverage for polio vaccinations (this is why polio is having a resurgence in the Pakistani border areas controlled by the Taliban).  Or better yet... refuses to hire women at all, because they should be at home.  Or decides to require its female employees to cover their heads.  Or faces.  Because, after all, corporations are people with, apparently, the right to make decisions for their employees.  

This was a decision based on religious belief, intended only to support one religion in a belief with which the five male, Catholic justices who made this decision are comfortable.  Someday, either we will extend this right to religions which are outside those justices' comfort zone, or this ruling will be reversed.  Because some religious organizations are salivating at the chance to pick and choose the laws they obey.

Bottom Line
Rulings like this are eroding freedoms for most of us -- in favor of granting a privileged few the "freedom" to dictate how the rest of us live.  It's dangerous. It's unfair.  It undermines the concept of "one person, one vote" and freedom of speech.  It affects our privacy rights.  

I hear people talk about a return to the "traditional values" of our nation.  Older people think of our traditional values as an Ozzie and Harriet/Father Knows Best/Leave It to Beaver existence.  I think of them as a world where women have equal opportunity, racism is on the wane, and opportunity abounds.  I thought by the end of my life, women would be equal, period.  I thought racism would be a thing of the past, period.  I thought religious freedom would be unquestioned.  I thought we'd be at peace with the rest of the world. I want MORE of where I thought we were going in the late 90s's and early 2000's.  The last thing I want is Ozzie and Harriet!  How about Star Trek TNG, instead?