American Democracy: The Failed Experiment
Earlier this week, a draft opinion written by Justice Alito, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, was leaked to the public. The nearly hundred page document can be read on the POLITICO website. In the draft, Justice Alito argues against the rational integrity of the ruling. The opinion draft reveals that the court is currently on track to overturn abortion rights.
Abortion has been legal in America since the 1973 Roe V. Wade trial, a milestone for feminism. The autonomy of the female body was defined as a constitutional right for liberty. In other words, the foundational argument of the case is that it is a woman’s basic freedom to have control of her body. Alito denies this logic with the claim that abortion is not a constitutional right and cannot be derived from existing constitutional rights.
If the Supreme Court’s final decision in June reflects the opinions detailed in the leaked draft, abortion rights will fall into the hands of the state. This doesn’t sound as potentially disastrous as outright banning abortion; however, it would cause chaos instantaneously. There are thirteen states with laws in place that would immediately enact strict abortion laws following the Supreme Court’s decision. America would be divided, yet again, into the infamous Red and Blue.
The leak is a defining event in American politics. Never before has the Supreme Court been undermined by a leak. The very word reminds the young American of Snapchat’s Dailymail. A cheap scheme used by tabloids to sway public opinion. The Supreme Court is supposed to be an impartial, legal institution. It is unaffected by political opinion. Such a political scandal threatens the authority of the court. The emotional hysteria already swarming the American public is the beginning. If the Supreme Court, the heart and soul of American justice, has fallen prey to the hateful polarizing politics of the past half-decade, then what will become of the rest of our government?
This week has only called attention to the dissonance already present between the ideologies and practice of American democracy. Every child in the United States’ education system knows the American mantra: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is also clear that American democracy and culture have roots in Judeo-Christian theologies. A simple example is that Presidents are inaugurated with one hand on a Bible. This is not a constitutional requirement, but it’s a tradition that only three U.S. presidents have broken.
Western thought, primarily Christian theology, as it is the most prominent religion in the United States, is distinct from Eastern theologies in that it organizes existence into a monarchical structure. The kingdom of God includes God as a monarch, who is a distinct entity from his kingdom. While the details vary according to the individual, according to the Judeo-Christian belief, the individual is separated from God and must return to “his love” through faith.
This view of existence encourages the individual to define their world through differences. We categorize ourselves and each other into distinct boxes, seeing others by how they are different from us. The individual focuses on the lack in themselves or others, also known as individuality, rather than the qualities we all share as humans.
Democracy is incompatible with monarchical theology. A predominantly Christian society, for example, sees existence into separate categories: God and what is created by God. Eastern philosophy is foreign to westerners; most are built around an unfamiliar concept: there is no separation between God and man.
A polarization of existence forces the individual to choose between the collective and themself, and much to the detriment of democracy, Americans opt for individuality. They chose to sacrifice the collective to pursue personal goals. Then exists a body in which each part does not communicate to service the health of the entire body. One leg moves forward, the other moves back. How can a democracy depend on a society in which its citizens are taught that to serve the whole body, they must pick the agenda of the right or left leg? In politics, one cannot side with the “people” as a collective body. One must pick their side. Red or Blue. Good or evil. We see this polarization begin in the individual’s perception, rippling out as a pattern into the whole civilization.
The Soviet Union is referred to as a Failed Experiment. Good in theory, faulty in practice. The overruling of Roe v. Wade, or more rather, the leak of this impending doom, could very well be the tragedy of American Democracy. Another one of history’s failed experiments.
To follow the future of this ruling and what it means for America, I recommend New York Times’ The Daily and NPR’s Up First podcasts.