Now that Roe V. Wade has been officially struck down, we need to have a true discussion about the constitution. The truth, as much as many don’t want to admit it, is that the six conservative Supreme Court justices are faithfully following the intent of the so-called founding fathers. As a lawyer, coming to this reality has crushed my spirit. Still, it’s better to acknowledge and work to overcome the truth than it is to continue hoping for a fantasy America that was designed to never exist.
To recap, the constitution made slavery legal, classified black people as 3/5 of a person, didn’t let the public vote for members of the Senate, created the electoral college expressly to reduce the value of the will of the people, and only allowed white men who owned property to vote.
The founding fathers designed a country that revolved around the desires, values, and need to make profits of rich, Christian white men. The six conservative justices, whether you like it or not) are the kind of judges the founding fathers would have chosen. Nearly 235 years after the constitution was written, the six conservatives on the Supreme Court are ensuring the constitutional government imagined to ensure dominance of rich, Christian white men survives even though rich, Christian white men are much more of a minority than they were 235 years ago.
The constitution denied women the right to vote. The Supreme Court is ensuring men can control women’s bodies.
The constitution legalized slavery and said black people were 3/5 of a person. The Supreme Court is ensuring black people have less access to voting than they have had for more than 50 years and enabling overtly racist policing.
It has always been a sad truth that most Americans cannot face: The constitution is not a document creating a democracy and guaranteeing all Americans liberty and freedom. The constitution was designed to guarantee rich, Christian white men liberty and freedom at the expense of everyone else–who the founding fathers believed were not their equal and thus did not deserve liberty and freedom.
The problem with America is the constitution. No matter how hard most Americans will try, especially today, accurate history doesn’t lie. The conservative justices rule as the founding fathers intended them to rule.
There is no hope for those of us not in the constitutionally-created ruling class to ever have the rights Most Americans pretend they already have until most Americans accept the truth and reject the constitution.
Writing a new constitution seems impossible. But unless we try, America will be the America it has always been and most of us will do little more than serve rich, Christian white men.