Artwork by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
We’ve all heard the famous quote that when one door closes, another one opens. Last week, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe -v- Wade, making abortion illegal in many parts of America, the sound of that door slamming shut in the faces of women’s reproductive rights could be heard across the world. And, make no mistake, no new door—except perhaps the door to Gilead—will open in its place.
Shock, dismay, heartbreak, and anger reverberated not only across the nation, but over the globe. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau called it “horrific.” Britain’s Boris Johnson characterized it as a “big step backward.” Emmanuel Macron of face stated on Twitter “Abortion is a fundamental right for all women. It must be protected.” Almost alone among developed nations of the free world in this repressive stance, America joins the enlightened nations of Russia, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Iraq in prohibiting this procedure.
This is hardly surprising. We should have seen it coming a mile away. All the signs were there. Doors have been closing on women, and the American people, for the past few decades—and they show all the signs of continuing to shut. It’s getting more and more difficult to vote; in some states, a photo ID and proof of residency are necessary to register. Other locales (especially in heavily Democratic districts) open and operate fewer polling stations resulting in voters having to travel greater distances and—in some cases—not being able to vote at all. Early voting windows are narrowing. And now, the entire electoral process is coming under fire.
The door to a quality public education has become harder and harder to get through. Since 1980, when state college tuition in Wisconsin was about five hundred dollars a semester, the price of higher education has skyrocketed at least one thousand percent. Kids graduating from college can owe upwards of $200,000 for an advanced degree. That’s the price of a mortgage—two for a working couple. Besides trying to put a child or two or three through college, the price of preschool childcare has also gone through the roof, strapping young families even more. Along with rising health care premiums and deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses, the cost of raising a family today is very nearly untenable.
The door to racial equality seemed to open slightly during the 1960s, but never wide enough to fully admit African Americans or Latinos or Hispanics or Asian into the mainstream. It seemed for every step forward, we were pushed back two—or more. Rodney King, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and George Floyd never even got close to that door. When Black Lives Matter rose up in protest against this injustice, they were demonized and belittled. That door has still not been opened.
Children can no longer walk through an open door to their elementary schools without fear of being massacred. Their access to the open portal of knowledge has been restricted by some elements of society who fear the specter of Critical Race Theory (which has never, by the way, been taught in public schools). The State of Oklahoma recently passed a law stating that curricula that makes anyone feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any form of psychological distress” because of their “race or sex” is prohibited (NBC News). That leaves out the teaching of Slavery, Manifest Destiny, the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement, and many other sterling moments in American history.
Door after door is being slammed in the faces of everyday Americans. Opportunities are limited, costs are up, and our government has been shanghaied from us. We are being ruled by a minority of wealthy white males who are not even pretending to listen to we the people anymore. According to Pew Research , over sixty percent of citizens believe women should be able to choose whether or not to have an abortion. According to another recent Pew Poll, over sixty percent believe semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines should be regulated or banned.
Yet, last week, a Supreme Court composed in part of three justices appointed by a former president who incited an armed attacked on the Capitol Building January 6th, 2021, and a fourth justice whose wife overtly, blatantly, and foolishly espouses this former president’s unfounded, malicious, and destructive assertion that he was robbed of the presidency, ruled to overturn Roe -v- Wade, and to also overrule a New York City law restricting open carry.
It’s a stacked court, created by the Republican Party, and all elements of the GOP are complicit in this abrogation of the American peoples’ will. Brett Kavanaugh was appointed because then Senate majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold Senate hearings for Merrick Garland, Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Scalia. McConnell held out for months until Republicans had regained control of the White House; it was then that he allowed the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to go through. However, he had no compunction about rushing through Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination after Justice Kennedy retired or expediting Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation after RBG passed. By doing so, he stacked a court willing to implement the will of the minority.
The GOP has been fighting to overturn Roe -v- Wade for decades, never mind that the majority of Americans favor choice. The GOP is the lackey of the NRA, big oil, and Wall Street. That’s who they serve. If you’re not white, male, or rich, forget it. Your opinion doesn’t matter. Consolidating and maintaining power has become so important for the Republicans that when the former president, the leader of their party, attempted to take over the American government through a violent coup, they—almost to a man—stood on the sidelines and watched. And that was the best of them. The worst of them, Marjorie Taylor Green, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, and more—many more—took an active part in the attempted overthrow of our nation.
We’re still in the midst of a coup. The truth is that it’s been going on in slow-motion for decades. The violence was halted only because of the actions of a few stalwart and principled Americans, patriots like Rusty Bowers, Gabriel Sterling, Shaye Moss, and Brad Raffesnperger. These Americans, and millions of others like them, are the keys to unlocking the doors that are being used to segregate, cloister, and silence the American majority.
Those responsible need to experience closed doors of their own—prison doors.