Elayne Clift (elayne-clift.com) has written this column about women, politics, and social issues from the earliest days of this newspaper.
BRATTLEBORO-Let's get right to it: The shocking decision about presidential immunity by the Supreme Court has us non-Trumpers in a place of deep anxiety and overt fear.
We know that our lives and our kids' futures will be forever changed by a court that has become so outrageously biased and openly political that it is not hyperbolic to charge them with the end of our democracy as we've known it.
Thankfully, on July 10, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) introduced articles of impeachment against Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito because, as she said on July 1 in response to the ruling, "the Supreme Court's decision [on presidential immunity] represents an assault on American democracy. It is up to Congress to defend our nation from this authoritarian capture."
In fact, some Justices should have been impeached for lying when they said in their congressional hearings that "no man is above the law," or when they described Roe v. Wade as "settled precedent." Alito's flag tricks and Thomas's high-flying vacations are also grounds for impeachment.
So brava to AOC, and the three women Justices, for having the courage to immediately stand up to a compromised and contaminated Supreme Court.
Given the court's horrific ruling, President Biden is now free to appoint several new Supreme Court justices to the bench, with congressional approval, to clean up the highest court in the land and restore justice to Americans.
Indeed, it's time to expand the court and set term limits if ever there was one. It's at least a start for reclaiming our national sanity.
* * *
The Supreme Court ruling is a stark reminder that in November, we will be voting for democracy, freedom, and a safe, fair and humane future.
It's vital that this election restores good governance, upholds the Constitution, cleans up Congress and the courts, and saves our country from a dictatorial regime that would end life as we know it.
We urgently need to avoid a terrifying agenda of oppression and lawlessness, and we need to stop the rule of oligarchs. We need to stop Donald Trump from being king.
We need to take Trump's agenda seriously and understand how it will affect every single one of us. To put it bluntly, we need to understand that Trump et al. are a catastrophe waiting to happen.
Remember: The minute the Supreme Court ruled on his immunity, Trump called for a military tribunal to put former Rep. Liz Cheney in jail.
What's next on his list?
* * *
Anyone who has read just some of the blueprint for a Trump win - Project 2025 - should be terrified by its promises.
For starters, it's based on a platform grounded in Christian Nationalism. A February interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Bradley Onishi, a former Christian Nationalist who is now a professor of religion, led with a reference to the New Apostolic Reformation, a group that host Terry Gross described as "influential in American government and parts of the judicial system." The organization's flag hangs outside the office of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (and at the summer home of Justice Alito).
"Christian Nationalism is the idea that Christian people should be privileged in the United States in some way," Onishi said. "Many, many members of Congress from the GOP support those principles. [...] The goal is to institute people at every level of government."
If that doesn't shake you, try this.
The so-called "Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women's Health and Strengthening the Family" is an anti-abortion joint statement which which reaffirms stringent anti-abortion rules, asserts "the family [is] the natural and fundamental group unit of society," and many other chilling Victorian ideals. Some of the goals of Project 2025 derive from their document.
The declaration was introduced by Donald Trump's administration in 2020 and originally signed by 34 countries, including the governments of Saudi Arabia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Hungary, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Uganda, and the Republic of Guatamala.
Later repudiated by the Biden administration and the government of Brazil, the document continues to fuel antiabortion strategies.
One of its key players is Valerie Huber, who presides over the cleverly named Institute for Women's Health.
Huber is a crusader who has made a career out of fighting abortion and sex education. In her speech at the declaration event, she accused the United Nations and the World Health Organization of "using their soft power to pressure nations into making ideological concessions" and "[advancing] their pro-abortion agenda under the guise of helping women."
She is one of the contributors to Project 2025, the 900-page blueprint for a Trump dictatorship. It must be defeated.
That's why we all must vote in November, up and down the ballot, as if our lives depend on it.
They do.
This Voices column was submitted to The Commons.
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