"reign over the underlings by fiat from the judicial bench" is a bit severe. The fundamental aspect of American government is none of them can be trusted so we divide them into competing factions, each with a veto over the others. 535 elected representatives are typically venal politicians as likely to oppress the rest as any other group of dictators. The courts only determine whether the edicts they produce are consistent with other requirements, which is itself an opportunity to oppress, but is normally more or less fairly done. The constraint within the courts is cases must be agreed among a string of judges, and ultimately by a majority of the nine supremes. The fact that most cases that reach the court of last resort are decided by a thin 5-4 majority is a strong clue of the hopelessness of allowing anyone to make decisions for anyone else.
But the ultimate authority always remains with the people with their pitchforks and other tools who can rise up at any time and replace the oppressors who carry their authorities too far. Unfortunately, the people are as psychotic as the government, so life becomes an unending sequence of irrational acts from an unending string of those seeking power over others, from households to communities to nations and recently by international players with unprecedented delusions. In the end, we each make our own choices to conform or consent. Some do it better than others which is, at least, highly entertaining.
I have mixed feelings about this, which I articulated in depth here - https://wholistic.substack.com/p/roe-v-wade-and-vaccine-mandates - the short version is that I think the timing on this is really bad (as if there was ever a good time) and it's likely to give the government more control over everyone's bodies (i.e., vaccine mandates).
"reign over the underlings by fiat from the judicial bench" is a bit severe. The fundamental aspect of American government is none of them can be trusted so we divide them into competing factions, each with a veto over the others. 535 elected representatives are typically venal politicians as likely to oppress the rest as any other group of dictators. The courts only determine whether the edicts they produce are consistent with other requirements, which is itself an opportunity to oppress, but is normally more or less fairly done. The constraint within the courts is cases must be agreed among a string of judges, and ultimately by a majority of the nine supremes. The fact that most cases that reach the court of last resort are decided by a thin 5-4 majority is a strong clue of the hopelessness of allowing anyone to make decisions for anyone else.
But the ultimate authority always remains with the people with their pitchforks and other tools who can rise up at any time and replace the oppressors who carry their authorities too far. Unfortunately, the people are as psychotic as the government, so life becomes an unending sequence of irrational acts from an unending string of those seeking power over others, from households to communities to nations and recently by international players with unprecedented delusions. In the end, we each make our own choices to conform or consent. Some do it better than others which is, at least, highly entertaining.
I have mixed feelings about this, which I articulated in depth here - https://wholistic.substack.com/p/roe-v-wade-and-vaccine-mandates - the short version is that I think the timing on this is really bad (as if there was ever a good time) and it's likely to give the government more control over everyone's bodies (i.e., vaccine mandates).
Why would anyone want a woman that wants to kill her own child to become a mother?
What kind of a terible mother would such a woman be?
Truth is always a thing of beauty. Thank you.