I have returned from ‘the great road trip’ that took me down to Arizona, across to Southern California and then back home.  It was originally going to be a motorcycle trip but after looking at the temperatures in Arizona and the California desert, I wisely opted to drive rather than take my motorcycle. 

It will take me a day or two to get back up to speed on what has been happening because I literally did not turn on the TV in any place I stayed.  I did have my iPad and phone and checked the news that way, but I watched zero TV.  I guess I didn’t miss it that much!   That said, I will re-engage and start ranting in this blog once again – until I head for Portugal at the end of October.

Today I’ll just make a couple of observations from my trip to get my fingers and brain warmed up to start writing again.

I stopped by Hoover Dam on my way down to Arizona and looked at Lake Mead.  The water level drop is astounding.  I think it was down 147 feet when I was there.   This is truly a disaster in the making given the millions of people who are dependent upon this as a source of water. 

While the stark reality of the water level was shocking, what I found even more interesting was the fact that no matter where I went in Arizona or California, there was very little evidence of any kind of water restrictions/conservation.   Golf courses were green.  Swimming pools were full.  Sprinklers were operating.  Life looked pretty normal.  I don’t see how this is sustainable.

I would think that California would be building desalinization plants as fast as they can, but every time they try the project gets bogged down in litigation and ultimately fails to materialize.  I know from having worked in the Middle East that building desalinization plants is quite possible without totally screwing up the environment.   I have a degree in Ocean Engineering.  I am all for protecting the ocean.  However, if there is no water for people to drink, any discussion about potential impacts on a small section of coastline will be moot.  It is easy to imagine a dystopian future in which wars and civil strife are caused due to a lack of water.  Something clearly needs to be done.

The other observation I made on my trip was about gasoline prices and use.  Gas prices in Montana were just under $5.00/gallon before I left and when I got to California, I was seeing the $6.00+ price per gallon.  As we all know, there has been a lot of press coverage about the price of gas and lots of people are feeling the pain and complaining.

One would think, if the price of gas were truly an issue adversely affecting a lot of people, people would take steps to try to conserve gas by driving a little more conservatively or a little slower.  In general, a vehicle is 28% less efficient¹ and uses more gas when going 80 mph versus 50 mph.   I’m not recommending everyone drive 50 mph but even the difference between 70 mph and 80 mph is 11%.  If you drive a lot, that mounts up to a significant amount of money.

I saw zero evidence of people trying to conserve gas by just driving the speed limit, for example.   If the speed limit was 65 mph, people are routinely driving between 70 and 80 mph.  Out on the highway when the speed limit was 80 mph, I was routinely passed by vehicles travelling well in excess of that speed.  One can only conclude that a lot of people like to bitch about the high price of gas but are unwilling to personally do anything to try to mitigate the impact. 

Well, those are just my observations from my trip.  I will get caught up on the news today and re-engage tomorrow.  It appears as if there is no shortage of material to discuss.

1. Gas Mileage Calculator

I’m on the road and just wanted to make a couple of observations. Nothing political, just notes from the road.

I headed out this morning down towards Big Sky and West Yellowstone with the ultimate initial goal being Phoenix in a couple of days. I was originally going to ride my Harley but a bout of sanity came over me and I am driving my SUV instead. In any case, this morning I was following a semi on the road between Big Sky and West Yellowstone when a deer just appeared from nowhere and jumped right in front of the semi while trying to cross the road. The trucker had no time to react and hit the deer full force and sent it flying. The trucker slowed down and pulled off at a turnout a little ways up the road. I have no idea what kind of damage the truck sustained but I’m pretty certain the deer was killed. The whole thing was pretty ugly.

Had it not been for the semi, maybe I would have hit it – and that would have been really bad. A lot of people don’t realize how fast a deer ( or elk) can just appear and how much damage they can do to a car if they get hit. So, just a word to the wise when you’re traveling through game country, keep the old eyes peeled. It can happen fast – I saw it right in front of me.

Which brings me to my next observation. It appears to me that most people driving cars have flunked or not taken physics class. This, in combination with the fact that most people seem more interested in getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible rather than just enjoying the journey between Point A and Point B, increases both the stress of driving and the probability of accidents.

There is a stretch of highway between Big Sky and West Yellowstone that actually cuts through Yellowstone Park. The speed limit on this section is posted ( frequently) at 55 mph. And why is it 55 mph? Because there are also tons of signs warning of the possibility of animals on the road – like the deer that got hit a few miles before! I often drive with my cruise control on and through this stretch I set my cruise control at 58, a nice compromise I thought, and thought I’d check out the scenery to perhaps spot a moose grazing or see a deer before it leapt into the road. You’d have thought, rather than driving through a corner of Yellowstone Park with an opportunity to see wildlife, we were at Le Mans!

People would sit on my ass, and this is where the physics comes in, they would not have had a prayer of avoiding me if I would have had to slam on my brakes for an animal. What the hell? I actually saw a guy up ahead of me pull out, cross a double yellow line, and almost play chicken with a car coming the other way, just to get around a truck which was going the speed limit AND there was a signing notifying of a passing lane in one mile! Lunacy.

The last observation from today – the higher the posted speed limit, the higher the probability someone will tailgate you! I swear, people would actually be closer when doing 80 mph than when the speed limit was 55 or 60.

But, in spite of all that, it was a pretty easy drive. I don’t fight with the crazies. I just get out of the way and try to enjoy the scenery and the music! That said, I’m glad I decided to leave the Harley home for this trip.

One more rant before I head down the road and disappear for about three weeks. 

In spite of Congress patting themselves on the back about the bipartisan gun legislation that was recently passed, as I predicted, it has done zero to solve the problem of mass shootings as we all witnessed over the Fourth of July in Highland Park, Illinois and in Philadelphia.  As long as people have access to assault style rifles and high-capacity magazines and there are not universal background checks – this problem will remain unsolved. 

I am tired of ranting about this same issue over and over.  But as I thought about this, I realized that the problem is not with Congress failing to act.  The problem is with ‘WE THE PEOPLE.’  This is our collective problem and so far, we have been unwilling to solve it.  As long as ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ continue to elect people to the United States Senate and the United State House of Representative who refuse to enact any type of REAL legislation to deal with this problem, it will never be fixed.   People hold up countries like Somalia and El Salvador as examples of dangerous places to live.  Pretty soon, the United States will join that ‘elite’ group because we elect politicians who cater to firearm lobbies and people who are obsessed with weapons.  A weapons fetish perhaps? 

WE THE PEOPLE are responsible for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade because ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ allowed someone like Donald Trump to be elected president and we allow someone like Mitch McConnell to stay in office so he could control nominations to the Supreme Court.  ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ continue to elect politicians who either have or are supported by people with a ‘fetus fetish.’  The definition of a fetish is: “a form of sexual desire in which gratification is strongly linked to a particular object or activity or a part of the body other than the sexual organs”.  Synonyms for ‘fetish’ are: compulsion, mania, weakness, fancy, taste, fascination, craze, fad, idée fixe.   These people and the politicians they elect are willing to sacrifice democracy because of some maniacal obsession with fetuses, and yet, WE THE PEOPLE elect them.

‘WE THE PEOPLE’ got exactly what we asked for.  If the polls are correct and they have been very consistent over the years, the majority of American did not want Roe v. Wade overturned, so it begs the question, “Where the hell were these people during all of the elections that led up to this?”  WE THE PEOPLE got exactly what we voted for.

WE THE PEOPLE continue to elect politicians who are blocking legislation on climate change every chance they get.  These are the same people who applaud the overturning of Roe v. Wade and refuse to enact real gun legislation.  Now we will have hundreds of thousands of babies born into a world that is less and less habitable and more and more dangerous.  How the hell does that make any sense at all?  And yet, WE THE PEOPLE continue to elect officials that enact these nonsensical policies. 

The problem in this country is not with Joe Biden.  The problem in this country is not with Congress.  The problem in this country lies directly at the feet of WE THE PEOPLE.  And as long as WE THE PEOPLE continue to vote in people who answer only to big dollars and one-issue special interest groups (e.g., abortion, guns) we will be unable to solve any of these problems. 

Right now, WE THE PEOPLE appear to favor a government that will force hundreds of thousands of babies to be born into a world in which many of them will die due to climate catastrophes or increasing gun violence.   Pro-life my ass!  But, unfortunately, that is what WE THE PEOPLE voted for.

Until such time as WE THE PEOPLE get off our collective asses and get our collective heads out of the sand and start electing people who are actually interested in solving problems instead of kissing politically expedient asses, pandering to vocal minorities and are more interested in getting re-elected than exhibiting some political courage and putting country before self, we are doomed.

We have met the enemy and he is an ill-informed and/or complacent ‘WE THE PEOPLE’!

In ‘celebration’ of the 4^th of July, I have taken the liberty of rewriting the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence to reflect the current philosophy of the Republican Party which appears to have abandoned the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution in favor of a new document, the Declaration of Control.  [The text of the first two paragraphs of the original Declaration of Independence is at the end of this post.]

Declaration of Control

The unanimous Declaration of the Republican Party, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with the Constitution, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind required that they should declare the causes which impel them to seize control by any means required – legal or illegal.

We do not believe that it is self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.   That to ensure these rights are not secured, Republicans are intent on controlling Men, deriving their powers by rigging elections and suppressing votes.  That whenever any Form of Government disagrees with Republican philosophy, it is the Right of Republicans to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such Big Lies and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their retention of Power and Happiness.  Prudence, indeed, will not dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.  But when a long train of abuses and usurpations are alleged to have occurred regardless of factual evidence to the contrary, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute allegations of Democratic Socialism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for the future security and retention of power by the White race.  Such has been the impatient sufferance of these Republicans; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government via gerrymandering, voter suppression laws and a concerted effort to undermine future elections by propagating lies regarding voter fraud.  The history of the present King of Mar a Lago is a history of repeated lies and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.  To enable this, Republicans will deny all Facts submitted to a candid world and kneel in supplication to the King of Mar a Lago.

Happy 4^th of July!!

Original text of the Declaration of Independence.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Just for fun today I thought I would include the entire transcript of the Declaration of Independence.   Most of us are aware of the key phrases often recited from the Declaration of Independence but, the fact is, most of us have never read it in its entirety, particularly the list of grievances against King George III.  I have bold faced some of those grievances that I find particularly relevant to many of the issues and conflicts facing the nation today – some 246 years later!  Happy 4^th of July!  Celebrate it now.  If the Conservatives and the Supreme Court continue to dismantle the foundation upon which this country was built, there might not be many more.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Montana now has the distinction of having the highest percentage of gun ownership in the country!¹ Yahoo!!  It’s nice to be number one in something.  In one of the articles I read discussing this statistic, the author tried to make the correlation between the lack of mass shootings in Montana and the high percentage of gun ownership.  Really?

I think that is quite a stretch.  There are quite probably a whole host of other factors as to why Montana is not subject to the mass shootings that seem to happen in many other states.  First of all, Montana is the 4^th largest state in the union by land area.  And in this ‘Big Sky’ country there are just over 1 million people.   The population density of Montana is 6.8 people/square mile which ranks it 48^th out of 50 states. 

There are not a lot of people who live here and they are widely spread out.  So, who does live in Montana?  Montana is primarily white.  It is a very homogeneous population.  Eighty-six percent (86%) of the population is white!    Six percent (6%) of the population is Native American.  [ Those figures were probably reversed about 150 years ago before the white settlers came and slaughtered the Native Americans and stole their land!]  Only 3.8% of the population is Hispanic and other non-white minorities make the difference.  Only 2.16% of the population is foreign born.   The fact is, Montana is as about as homogeneous a population as you will find anywhere in the country.

Many of the mass shootings that have occurred in this country have been driven by racial/ethic hatred of one kind or another.  Here in Montana, there just aren’t large populations of people to hate!!  That is probably a better explanation of why there are so few mass shootings here rather than the argument that the state is flooded with firearms. 

One of the arguments that is often used for the proliferation of guns here and the push by the state legislature to allow concealed carry without a permit is for ‘self-defense.’  My question is, “Who are Montanans supposed to be so afraid of that carrying weapons is required for ‘self-defense’?  Other white guys with guns?  The argument makes zero sense in this state.

The one statistic that the gun lobby does not like to talk about however is the fact that Montana has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation.  I think we currently rank third in the nation but we have been in the top 5 for the last 30 years!³ Over 60% of those suicides are by firearms!   I haven’t done the statistical analysis but my guess is there is a stronger correlation between the widespread ownership of firearms and the high suicide rate than there is between the high number of firearms and the lack of mass shootings.

It is a given that a lot of Montanans hunt and that certainly accounts for some percentage of the firearms in the state.  However, the whole argument about Montanans needing guns for self-defense is ridiculous.  I ask again – from whom do we need to be protected?  The gun lobby works very hard to develop this culture of fear so people will buy more guns!  The more fear – the more guns they sell.  And not just any guns, tons of assault rifles.  If you walk into any sporting goods store here, it looks like a National Guard armory – seriously.  It’s just business and it has nothing to do with reality.   Create fear – sell guns!

The fact is, the only thing most Montanans need to be afraid of is hot-headed, drunk white guys with guns and a state legislature that is hell bent on stripping rights away from its citizens and retaining power at all costs. 

1. Montana Leads the Nation in Gun Ownership Rates | Outdoor Life
2. Montana (census.gov)
3. Suicide in Montana – Facts, Figures, and Formulas for Prevention (mt.gov[)
4. Montana | Data USA

I suspect there may be another gun control case on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the future which, if it happens, will be an interesting test of the push in the current U.S. Supreme Court towards States Rights.  I have posted in this blog previously about the legislation passed by the Montana state legislature allowing students to carry weapons on college campuses in this state.  Montana is one of the states where no permit is required to carry a concealed weapon.  Any Tom, Dick or ‘Dirty Harry’ can walk into a store here, purchase a handgun, and carry it with no training or permit required. 

The Montana state constitution gives complete authority to set policy on college campuses to the Montana State Board of Regents.  The Montana state legislature tried to usurp that authority by passing HB 102 which authorized students (and faculty) to carry weapons on campus in complete contradiction to the Montana constitution.  Like so many of the laws enacted by the Republican-controlled legislature during the last session, this law ended up in litigation.

Fortunately, the Montana Supreme Court just ruled that the Board of Regents does, in fact, have complete authority to set policy on college campuses and, therefore, HB 102 does NOT apply to college campuses.  The Board of Regents can and will restrict the carrying of firearms on campus – for the time being.  I say ‘for the time being’ because I would not be surprised if our state attorney general files a lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court to have this decision overturned. 

If that happens, the irony would be astounding.  The Republicans in the state legislature continue to scream about ‘states rights’ and applaud things like the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return that decision to the states.  Of course, if our own Montana State Supreme Court issues a decision with which the Republicans disagree, they want the Federal government to intervene to overturn that decision.  I guess ‘states rights’ is only a good thing when you get your way.

I suspect it is likely that the Montana attorney general may go down this path because of a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a state law in New York regarding the ability of people to carry concealed weapons in that state.  The current U.S. Supreme Court has a history of siding against the regulation of firearms and broadly interpreting the Second Amendment in favor of gun rights advocates.  Given this environment, it would not surprise me if this local Montana issue finds its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.    However, for the time being, students and faculty are prohibited from carrying weapons on campus! 

Like some many things that find their way into our judicial system these days, this issue is much bigger than the ability of students to carry weapons on campus.  If the Montana State legislature is allowed to usurp the authority granted to the Board of Regents under the state constitution with respect to weapons, what is to keep them from interfering with other areas that are the responsibility of the Board of Regents?  Will they decide to start imposing restrictions on certain courses or curricula?  It’s hard to imagine that could happen in this country but, then again, who would have thought a few years ago there would be such a push to ban books like we are seeing now.

I assure you, this decision by the Montana Supreme Court is not the end of this issue.  The negative feedback is already starting to surface from Montana Republican state legislators and, in addition, to the very real possibility this will try to find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Republicans are already having discussions about rewriting the Montana State constitution and/or changing the way justices are nominated and elected to the Montana Supreme Court. 

For the time being, regulation of carrying weapons on campuses is under the purview of the Board of Regents and is currently restricted.  Stand by.  Those who yell the loudest about ‘law and order’ don’t like this decision so they will try to change or circumvent the law and create more disorder until such time as they get their way.  This is, after all, not about ‘law and order’ or ‘freedom’, it is simply about power and control.

Much of the discussion these days has been about the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.  The Supreme Court overturned this decision and ruled that the decision about abortions really is up to each individual state – States Rights!  Of course, we all know that this decision, in spite of reassurances from Justice Alito that this was only about abortion, is simply the harbinger of things to come.  Some states, based upon this same argument will start attacking same-sex marriage, and potentially consensual sex between non-married adults and access to contraception.  However, this push by Justice Clarence Thomas, towards States Rights is likely to have even more far reaching consequences for the future of democracy in this country.

If anyone has been following the hearings from the Jan. 6^th committee, it is clear that this country came very close to having a coup on our own soil.  Yesterday’s testimony by Cassidy Hutchison, a former top aide to Trump Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, really painted a very grim and disturbing picture of what was going on with Trump and his allies surrounding the Jan. 6^th insurrection.  Remember, the rally and subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6^th was really a last-ditch effort for Trump to retain power because the other plans had failed.  Which brings me back to the Supreme Court.

Trump’s effort to stay in power, despite legitimately losing the election, was a multi-pronged strategy.  One of those plans was to have some states, particularly those whose state legislatures were controlled by Republicans, submit alternate slates of electors to the Electoral College.  The hope was that if there was a dispute about the legitimacy of any of the slates of electors, the issue would be decided by the Supreme Court.  Enter the current Supreme Court and fast-forward to 2024.

Even though Justice Amy Coney Barrett was newly positioned on the Supreme Court due to the parliamentary legerdemain of Mitch McConnell, the Court had not really found its stride with the new conservative majority.  However, now the Supreme Court is clearly feeling its muscle and is clearly more under the control of Justice Clarence Thomas than under the control of Chief Justice John Roberts.  And don’t forget that Ginnie Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, is an active Republican activist and was, in fact, at the Jan. 6^th ‘rally.’  (The entire optics of this is just atrocious!)

Fast forward to the 2024 election.  Trump acolytes are running for positions in various states that will give them the power to oversee elections in those states.  Some of these people will likely be successful in winning these elections.  If the same or a similar scenario happens in 2024 when state legislators and election officials decide to not certify the slate of electors reflecting the vote of the people and decide to submit an alternate slate of electors based upon whatever bullshit reason they conjure up, the issue could very easily end up at the Supreme Court.

Given Justice Thomas’ continuing issuance of opinions to dismantle Federal authority and push everything to the states based upon arguments about States Rights, I can easily envision a scenario where the Supreme Court will argue that the governance for presidential elections is the responsibility of each individual state and therefore, the states have the right to submit whatever slate of electors they deem to be correct – REGARDLESS OF THE VOTE OF THE PEOPLE.  If you think that is not possible, I would argue, given the current makeup of the Supreme Court and their penchant for disregarding legal precedent, it is more likely than not.

As I have pointed out in these blogs previously, one of the standard pages out of the authoritarian playbook is to stack the courts, particularly the highest court in the country, with loyalists who will interpret the laws in such a way as to benefit the leader.  This is what has happened in Turkey and Hungary, regimes that are now only democracies in name only.   The simple fact is, the recent Supreme Court decision about Roe v. Wade and states rights, is far more consequential than anyone can imagine right now.

There was a time when most Americans believed that the Supreme Court was the last line of defense to protect our democracy.  I don’t believe we can believe that any longer.  The Jan. 6^th committee hearings have shown, in spades, how close this country came to losing the democracy that so many people have fought and died to protect.   It is bad enough when you have one political party trying to undermine democracy but it is even more disturbing when that democracy is also under attack by the highest court in the land. 

‘We the people’ are now the last line of defense for American democracy.  If people are not motivated enough to vote for people who are willing to swear allegiance to the Constitution rather than an individual, ‘the great experiment’ of American democracy will likely come to an ignominious and possibly violent end.

There is no doubt that the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the banning of abortions in almost half the United States will follow the Law of Unintended Consequences on steroids.  We already incarcerate more people than any other country in the world!  And now, there is the very real possibility that we could add to that population family physicians, OB/GYNs, midwives or anyone else ‘abetting’ a woman who seeks out an abortion. 

I can see where those corporations who make money from running prisons would applaud the overturning of Roe v. Wade – it will be good for business.  There are probably already proposals on the table to expand our prison system with prisons designed specifically for ‘abortion offenders.’  (Does this sound a little too much like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?)  In addition to having the distinction of incarcerating more of our citizens than any other country, we could soon have the distinction of having the highest percentage of physicians housed in our prison system.  What a country!

There has been a lot of talk about the need for exceptions for cases involving rape or incest, or to save the mother’s life.  But let’s think about a more common scenario that, as much as many people would like to put their heads in the sand and pretend doesn’t or won’t happen, is pretty normal.  I live in a college town.  During the academic year there are about 16,000 students attending Montanan State University here.  A lot of those college students have sex!  I know, that comes as a complete shock.

Let’s just assume we have a typical couple of 18-year-old college students.  They are ‘in love’ or they just go out drinking one night and have a consensual sexual relationship. (By the way, Justice Thomas would like to revisit the previous Supreme Court decision that allowed adults to have consensual sex outside the bonds of marriage – but that’s a different blog post).  Our couple, whether during a night of passion triggered by love or during a night of drunken debauchery, have unprotected sex which results in a pregnancy. 

The 18-yearold girl at this point has no more choices left if our governor and the Republican-controlled legislature get their way.  According to the die hard ‘Right to Lifers’, she will be forced to carry that baby to term.  That could very well be the end of her higher education or, at a minimum, it will be put on hold for some indefinite period of time.   Economically, she will be forced to make a choice to either keep the baby or put it up for adoption.  And, quite frankly, that is a decision that most 18-yea-olds are ill-equipped to make.  In either case, whatever decision she makes will have long term consequences on her mental, physical and financial well-being.

Our 18-year-old guy, on the other hand, is off Scott free.   He has no obligation to do anything at all.  He can just throw up his hands and say, “Shit happens, good luck,” and walk away to potentially impregnate another college student at another drunken party.  Not only is he completely off the hook, he has the right, at 18 years of age, to go down to the local sporting goods store, purchase a hand gun, and carry it around campus.  How can anyone it their right mind think this is reasonable? 

The 18-year-old girl has the same right to go down to the sporting goods store, buy a handgun and carry it in her purse at school, which most people would agree is a pretty big responsibility – and yet, she will not have the right to do anything other than carry the baby to term while the guy just skates away.  Think that scenario won’t happen – guess again. 

The thing that makes this scenario even crazier is the fact that the same people who are so adamant about forcing women to carry babies to term are the same damned people who want to restrict access to birth control for girls and young women.   This certainly smells like The Handmaid’s Tale where the only purpose for young women is to breed and have babies. 

We all know that criminalizing abortion will not stop abortion.  It will expand the prison population.  It will keep prosecutors in Red States busy.  It will result in the development of a black market and perhaps another ‘Underground Railway’ to be able to get women to places where they can legally have abortions.  The lives of many, many women forced to carry babies to term will be ruined.  And many, many women will die needlessly.  I would be willing to bet huge sums of money that all of the above will happen as a result of this barbaric and Neanderthal decision.

The argument used to overturn Roe v. Wade, is the same argument that Justice Thomas stated should be used to revisit those decisions which legalized same-sex marriage; consensual sex between non-married partners; and access to contraceptives.  If you think this is the end of the inane decisions from this Supreme Court, you are sorely mistaken.  It will take decades for this country to recover from this nightmare, if it is even possible.  We are well on our way going back to the 50’s – the 1850’s!

1. Private Prisons in the United States (2021) | National Institute of Corrections (nicic.gov)

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court, for the first time in American history, stripped away a Constitutional right that has been in existence for 50 years.  Throughout the history of this country, the Supreme Court has handed down opinions and the Congress and states have enacted legislation and added amendments to the Constitution that, in general, have expanded rights of American citizens.   The exception was the 18^th Amendment which introduced prohibition and that turned out to be such a disaster it was repealed via the 21^st Amendment a few years later.  This is a dangerous path that we just embarked down.

If anyone believes that this is a standalone ruling that will only affect abortions, they are sadly mistaken, in spite of Justice Alito trying to calm the waters by stating in his majority opinion that this ruling was only about abortion.  In a parallel opinion by Justice Thomas, he stated that he believes the court should revisit those cases that resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage and the use of contraceptives.  As people may recall, Justice Kavanaugh stated at his confirmation hearing that he believed Roe v. Wade was settled case law and, yet, he just voted to overturn it.

This abortion ruling is just the tip of the iceberg.  Some Republicans are already stating that if they win control of the House and Senate in November, they are thinking of enacting a ban on abortions after 15 weeks ACROSS the nation.  So much for ‘states rights’.  We are well along following the path of Viktor Orban of Hungary in his push to institute an ‘illiberal democracy’ in that country based primarily upon ‘Christian values.’  People keep saying that it can’t happen here and it is already happening here.  I don’t know what it is going to take to wake people up.

Long before the events of January 6^th, I predicted in these blogs that Donald Trump would never leave office peacefully.  That turned out to be true.  I predicted when Justice Cavanaugh and Justice Barrett were confirmed to the Supreme Court that Roe v. Wade would be overturned.  That turned out to be true.  I and many others predicted that because of the propagation of the ‘Big Lie’, the enactment of multiple voter restriction laws in Republican states and the election of Trump acolytes to positions overseeing state and local elections, the activities by Trump to overturn the 2020 election were just a dress rehearsal for 2024.  That also turned out to be true.  In New Mexico, the ‘Trumpians’ elected to oversee the recent election there, refused to certify the ballots because of some bogus charges of fraud.  This is just the beginning.

This is the scenario I see playing out going forward.  Given the current inflation pressures upon all Americans, I am pretty confident that the Republicans will retake control of both the House and the Senate in November.  The incumbent party usually does poorly in the midterms and when you add the inflation on top of that, it is a virtual certainty that the Republicans will regain control of Congress.  One would hope that this Roe v. Wade decision and the Jan. 6^th hearings which are clearly demonstrating the criminal acts of Trump and his co-conspirators to institute a coup in this country would be enough to galvanize the electorate to vote most incumbent Republicans out of office.  Unfortunately, I believe most Americans will be willing to ignore the existential threat to our democracy in exchange for ‘hoped for’ lower gas prices based upon empty promises from Republicans.

When the Republicans retake control of Congress, and emboldened by this latest Supreme Court ruling, they will stop any and all parts of Biden’s legislative agenda, they will disband the Jan. 6^th committee if it is still in existence, they will block any nominees to any Federal court across the country who do not adhere to their ‘originalism’ doctrine which just resulted in the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and they will begin a campaign to strip away even more rights that have been granted to American citizens over the last few decades.  We will no longer be a country of possibilities and a beacon of democracy for the rest of the world, we will instead become a relic of the past as the rest of the industrialized world moves forward. 

I believe that if the Republicans regain control of Congress in 2022, it is virtually a 100 percent probability that whichever right-wing Republican runs in 2024 will win the election, not necessarily because of popular policies or winning the popular vote, but by the mere fact that they will by then control the election ‘machine’.  I would like to believe I’m wrong, but you can see it coming from a mile away.  We have met the enemy and he is us.

For me, the prediction is that by the time the 2024 elections roll around, I will be living somewhere else.  I have already set the wheels in motion.  There are many places where human rights are more important than guns!  I intend to take up residence in one of those places.