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Cruel Extremists

 

Right at the time Roe v. Wade was overturned, I was finishing Jennifer Egan’s recent novel, The Candy House. In the novel, one of the characters is the creator of a social media company who develops a machine that can record your thoughts, including all that you forgot. People could either keep these boxes holding their memories to themselves or upload them to the collective for all to see and experience. No surprise that lots of people shared all.

One of the things mentioned about this creation was that it caused an increase in empathy due to people being able to experience what was going on in other people’s minds. It makes me wish we had such an invention now, but I wonder if it actually would change any of the deeply rooted extremists we have dictating our now minority-ruled country of the DSA (Divided States of America). It seems unlikely someone like Alito would change his mind. He reminds me of a boss I had who had such a chip on his shoulder from being overlooked by so many that the only way he could feel good about himself was by completely stripping others of everything.

I do wonder if Amy Coney Barrett might change her outlook after experiencing a life of a minimum wage worker. As a reminder, Barrett cavalierly mentioned during the hearing that not being able to have an abortion was no punishment to a woman since it was legal to dispose of an unwanted child at safe haven locations throughout the country. I still shake my head at that notion. It’s as if she thought pregnancy was the same as someone holding a piece of luggage for someone else in the basement until a timer went off and then you just had to grab it and get rid of it. Massive eye-roll. I would have been less surprised by a man saying something so utterly stupid, but a woman whose given birth really should know better.

But of course, she and her husband have had well-paid jobs that I’m sure included good health insurance, sick leave, and family leave. In this country, for many people $15 an hour is a good paying job, and having tried to live on that myself several years ago, I can tell you for certain I would not have been able to support myself and a child on it. At that time, pre-Obamacare, I had to pay for my own non-employer health insurance, which not only didn’t cover my birth control pills, it also wouldn’t have covered me if I got pregnant.

Of course the reality is these extremists don’t care about anyone else’s thoughts. They only care about their own black and white view of the world. For them there are no extenuating circumstances; there is no mercy. These uncaring activists aren’t even content with their big win, because they want much more, and are pushing politicians with mindsets like their own to do their bidding.

Right now Republican politicians are looking into making it illegal to receive abortion pills in the mail or even get abortions in other states where the procedure is still legal. I can foresee the dystopian world we are entering playing out with my mail being opened before it arrives in my box and being forced to pee on a stick before entering and returning to my state of residence while traveling. The fact that this type of surveillance will require ample creation and ramping up of state agencies is all the more ironic from a political party that used to claim it didn’t want “big government” meddling in citizen’s lives. I guess when it comes to women it’s a different story.

The question is: is this the life any of us want to live? I know I don’t want it. I’m prepared to find a way out of this state before it becomes more backward than it already is, or out of this country if need be. I don’t know how yet, but if I didn’t think there was a way out then there would be no reason to continue on.

 Until that choice needs to be made I’ll do what I never thought I’d do – try to help Democratic political campaigns win like they’ve never won before in November. Although I don’t think I’m ready to go door-to-door, especially since as I age there’s a better chance I might not hold my tongue when dealing with some of our loopier residents. It is worth us all doing all we can. I know it seems like the last twenty years have been about elections to end all elections, but this time I think it really is truly the end.

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