A MOMENT OF CLARITY: THE SUPREME COURT AND WHAT WE DO NOW

You're fed up. Here's what you do about it.

Hey everyone. Thank you for reading DISPATCHES FROM A COLLAPSING STATE. It is a tough time in the history of the United States, and this project is dedicated to examining the problems, giving them historical context, and hopefully leading to a better future.

As you know, I’ve been on the authoritarian beat for going on eight years now and have seen a lot of this stuff coming. It isn’t because I have some kind of special power, but because most people aren’t willing to look at what is actually going on in this country and doing so isn’t particularly popular. It doesn’t feel good, after all, but it is necessary.

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Unfortunately we’ve had to talk about the Supreme Court a lot lately.

It’s totally and undeniably corrupted justices and why the Democratic Party refuses to do anything about it.

And, here we are again. Because the Court has been stolen and because it is programmed - both originally and currently - to serve as a backstop for conservatism and seeing out the goals and agendas of the wealthy and powerful.

It would be incredible if we didn’t have to do this. If someone would step up to the plate and say the hard things that need said.

For those who haven’t seen President Joe Biden’s interview with Nicole Wallace on MSNBC it is an exhausting experience. Biden opens the segment by admitting the Court “has done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history.” But when Wallace gently pushes - noting his “love of institutions” - and asks if Biden might consider “court reform,” Biden makes it abundantly clear that he considers expanding the court a no-go. After all, he doesn’t want to “politicize” the court.

Sigh.

Of course, the Supreme Court is politicized. It has always been politicized. By its very nature it is political. The idea that it isn’t is a convenient fairytale we tell ourselves in order to pretend that laws are tantamount to covenants and the liberal system that replaced the religious orthodoxy of power is largely the same and just as binding.

For more on the history of how liberalism replaced religious rule and how systems of laws and representative democracy were meant to stave off the chaos and bloodshed of orthodoxical, hierarchical rule, pick up a copy of THE MIDNIGHT KINGDOM: A HISTORY OF POWER, PARANOIA, AND THE COMING CRISIS

Supreme Court Justices are not priests. They are inherently political and biased and the laws and the Constitution they represent are political and biased. Hiding behind this reasoning is cowardly and embarrassing. And watching Biden struggle to even begin wrestling with his unwillingness to do anything is cringe-inducing. In the above video, at roughly the 5:30 mark, Wallace follows-up on the notion of “court reform,” and all Biden can do is stall and say he thinks the Justices are beginning to worry enough about their appearance of “legitimacy” that they might…I don’t know…give up their lifelong goals and change their deeply-held ideology?

It’s pathetic. There’s no other way to put it, especially as women have been relegated to second-class citizens, people of color are losing their voting rights, institutions like higher education are being returned to their white supremacist roots, and any program that might actually help people is being declared dead upon arrival. Biden’s “hopes” simply aren’t enough.

A massive sea-change is necessary. When it comes, and we’ll make sure it does, it will change the Supreme Court, but it will also have to address the corruption that seethes throughout the court, the halls of Congress, and throughout the institutions of the country. It will not come fast, and it will not come easy, but it will come. We’ll see to it.

DISPATCHES FROM A COLLAPSING STATE has largely been oriented toward diagnosing the problems of this declining America, but I want to offer some advice today. Something you can do with your rage and frustration. Something that might help get you to the next step in the process. I want to be productive and not in the internet sense where something you read makes you feel something but not necessarily do something.

So here is my advice on what to do in this moment and how we start.

1. Process how you’re feeling

Writing is an incredible thing. Actually grab a notepad or open up a Word document. Spend some time actually processing how this situation makes you feel. Social media and the 24 hour news cycle keeps us in a perpetual state of anxiety and information overload. With every new story we are overwhelmed and left feeling as though the world and its myriad events are much too large and abundant for us to keep up with much less reckon with. We do not need to feel this way, and it is counterproductive for what we need to do.

For the writing, spend some time simply expressing your anger. Your rage. The way this unfairness makes you feel, what it makes you think. The beginning of this exercise will probably be an explosion of intensity. It doesn’t have to make sense. You’re letting go of a lot of the feelings you have that you probably only let go if you’re talking with someone you know over drinks or when it overcomes you unexpectedly. Maybe it’s even poured out when you least expected it. Maybe you took it out on someone else, on your job, on something besides the thing that is bothering you.

When you get past that initial blast, try and communicate why it makes you feel this way. It’s injustice, sure, but what about it is unfair. The situation. The particulars. Get into all of it. What you’re doing is creating your own perception of what is happening as opposed to what the media and its army of pundits and analysts tell you to feel. What about you? What about your experience of the world?

2. Back it up

After you’ve had your chance to vent and process, it’s time to take what you’ve written and start seeing how it stacks up to reality. You can look into any number of the actual issues associated with these rulings, including abortion laws, affirmative action, student debt, you name it. What you’ll find pretty quickly is that your instincts are right. This is a pretty damn unfair, all the way around. It is obvious if you’re approaching it objectively as opposed to someone who has spent their entire lives and careers dedicated to serving the whims of the rich and powerful. If you’re not someone who has benefited from a billionaire benefactor.

Build yourself an argument. This helps with a lot of things, including conversations with people who may not agree with you or have no opinion on the subject. You can become an expert in a lot of things given the time and effort. Our media does a hell of a job of making you feel like you don’t need to understand the nuances of things, and as a result you get stuck in emotional-based arguments that are perfect fodder for the trench warfare of culture war.

Get some real information behind the rationale.

3. Figure out how to share it

Once you’ve got your argument, it’s time to figure out what to do with it. A good move anytime is to figure out who in your life will receive it. This might be someone who agrees with you, including friends and family, and it might be someone who vehemently disagrees with you. It really doesn’t matter. Social media has trained us to unconsciously believe we’re being rewarded for our opinions and signifiers when in fact it’s just a container for them that provides cheap dopamine hits. Real life communication matters more. And has realer consequences.

Chances are, your friends and family disagree with a lot of these rulings. They have surface-level opinions that are largely drawn from social media and cable news segments. That’s a starting point. They could probably use a quick run-through of this list themselves. But reaching out and saying, Hey, this is something really messed up, I think you should know about it, is extremely powerful. It mobilizes. It starts conversations. You might even find you could convince someone you never could have imagined or that you forged a connection you never expected.

4. Reach out to representatives (hear me out)

This is the place in any recommendation where you get told that your representatives are there to hear your opinions. They are, but that’s not what they’re actually there for or what any of this is about.

I want you to send your thoughts to your representative, but I want to be honest. They’re not going to read them. A staffer probably won’t even glance at it. Most letters and emails from constituents are replied to with either a form reply or a standard letter that your representative won’t even bother to actually sign. This is frustrating, but rightfully so.

Once you compile your thoughts, I think you should try. Because that is how things are supposed to work. But before you hit “send” or lick that stamp, I want you to make yourself a promise. You will have an actual emotional reaction to the outcome. Don’t give in to apathy. Make a promise to yourself about what you expect. What is an acceptable outcome? Shouldn’t a representative (local, state, national) be responsive? Don’t you deserve to be heard? Don’t you deserve more than a brushoff?

If you believe that, and you should, then the inevitable form reply should be taken for what it is: a notice that your prescribed lanes of action do not actually exist. That something, somewhere is wrong. That representative government has been largely co-opted by the rich and powerful and the veneer of representative is largely an illusion.

Do it so you can know. Do it so you don’t have any doubts.

5. Find others

After you have received your brushoff, or maybe after you’ve sent it, it’s time to decide if this matters to you. I’ve talked about in the past that, for some, politics is largely about the appearance of principles versus what you actually care about. Is participation in all of this about identity or passion? If it’s the latter, and I suspect it is, decide what comes next.

I still maintain that what is going to save this country from itself and what is going to save democracy from this authoritarian push is you and us. Biden doesn’t have this fight in him. The Democratic Party has been turned into a largely complicit body that neutralizes its less complicit members. It’s going to take outside pressure and organizing to make anything begin to happen.

Donating to campaigns and organizations and politicians isn’t enough. That’s often just throwing money at the problem in hopes that someone else will take care of it. We’re past that point. It’s time for you and people like you to put your shoulder to the wheel.

Start small. Those friends and family you wrote? Did you find someone in agreement? Start talking about what you can do. Is there a local group you could join? No? Maybe it’s time for you to start that group. Though social media can create the illusion of movement, it can also be handy. Chances are you know people from Facebook or Twitter who are nearby. Maybe you should grab a drink or lunch or hop on a Zoom call. Maybe writing your representative together could yield better results. Or, maybe you should find somebody to primary that representative or take them on in the general. Maybe you should or your friend or your community members.

Until we start moving this is going to get worse. The Supreme Court is about done with this term, but there are so many powerful forces preparing for the next one. And the next one. And the next one. And the rot of corruption is worsening with every single day.

It’s time for a gut check. These steps aren’t going to deliver the country back to you when they’re finished. This is about getting active yourself and starting the process. And you’ve got to start somewhere.