VOTING RIGHTS, THE JANUARY 6, INVESTIGATION, REVEREND WARNOCK, BIDEN, JIM CLYBURN AND OF COURSE SENATOR MANCHIN

These last few weeks the political landscape was rocked by a number of events including the unexpected suspension of negotiations on Biden’s Build Back Better legislation by the mercurial conservative Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin. He then inexplicably indicated he would still be involved in discussions. He is the crucial fiftieth vote on anything Democratic. The Democrats pivoted from Build Back Better to voting rights as the number one priority as the number of voter restrictions and repressive legislation measures proposed by “Republican” State Legislatures increased to two hundred and sixty - two. 

A simple illustrative example of the expansiveness of the draconian measures is illustrated by what has transpired in Lincolnshire, a small County in the State of Georgia. All electoral officials will be replaced by “Republican” nominees and polling booths have been reduced from seven to one making it extremely difficult for minorities to vote, some living twenty - three miles away. There is also a Georgian State Law that voters standing in lines could not receive liquids or food. There is little doubt that voting rights face their biggest threat since Jim Crow. 

Joe Biden presumably responding to the dramatic and underreported intervention from Raphael Warnock, the first Black Senator ever elected from the American South, confirmed in a Commencement address, honoring Jim Clyburn that the most important issue facing the country were the two Bills to avoid voter suppression that were languishing in the Senate. Not surprisingly Joe Manchin is crucial to their enactment as well as his vote is needed to overcome the arcane filibuster. Manchin has authored one of the two Democratic pieces of voter legislation. However he appears to rate “bipartisan co operation” more than democracy itself and is loth to axe the filibuster rule that requires sixty votes instead of fifty to pass voting legislation. This in the face of the filibuster suspension

the week before to allow for the raising of America’s debt ceiling. Senator Warnock’s appeal for the advancement of the franchise bills was met with high praise by all including Joe Manchin who stated it was “moving” But whether that means Manchin will deliver his vote only the divine know. 

All this to the backdrop of another explosive Covid variant wave and the earth shattering reports from the January 6 House Investigating Committee. The latter whose aim was to prevent another assault on democracy would only be relevant if a democracy existed to be saved.  

THE JANUARY 6 INVESTIGATION AND DEMOCRACY.

As the unbelievable, yet believable, revelations from the January 6 Investigating House Committee are released, reinforcing what so many hypothesized, that January 6 was just the giant symbol of a vast conspiracy to overthrow democracy in the USA. The abomination, like Watergate is pointing to the deep involvement of the Presidency and those surrounding him. That is where the comparison ends. While both scandals involved the democratic process and accountability, January 6gate represents the survival of democracy itself and the very essence of what America purports to stand for. In addition the unraveling of Watergate was for the large part bipartisan while January 6gate has very limited participation by the self same Republican Party. 

Part and parcel of subverting the result of the 2020 Presidential election the revolutionaries want to enshrine into State law provisions that will both facilitate future “Republican” victory and in the event that this is not achieved, mechanisms whereby the result can be reversed. That is the text, the sub text is race and a continuation of America’s historical suppression of the voting rights of those of color.

The House Committee investigating January 6 may well be able to uncover criminal activity and refer the conspirators, financiers and organizers for criminal prosecution. They should be able to frame legislation for example that confirms the outcome of elections as well as protocols that ensure that the citadel of American Democracy is never so exposed to an insurrection again. However it is the States that set the rules for their elections and their ratification and unless there is a Federal Law that ensures that the franchise is available to all and that they can be fair and free, Congress’s power will be meaningless. All they would be able to do would be to formally ratify the slate of the electors presented to them by the States who would have conducted a elections according to their own discriminatory legislation. 

The two Democratic Bills address the problems of the States’ efforts to suppress the voting rights of minorities and giving politicians the right to declare an election invalid. The inaction on this crucial issue brought forth a speech by the Reverend Raphael Warnock that was in the genre of Martin Luther King. He laid bare the hypocrisy of his colleagues on both sides of the Senate.

THE REVEREND RAPHAEL WARNOCK INHERITOR OF THE KING MANTLE

Placing the King mantle on Senator Warnock is intentional hyperbole. But for King, Warnock not to mention Obama and Harris would never have been.  Reverend Warnock serves in the very same church in Atlanta Georgia, the Ebenezer Baptist Church, that King preached. He hasn’t the license that was afforded to King who as an activist could tell it as it was. Warnock is a politician who is involved in the arena of compromise and persuasion. However all the civil right change that King managed to give birth to is on a line as the autocratic Trump movement has moved to keep this country white. Warnock has the gravitas, the turn of phrase, the eloquence, the humility and the sense of history that so characterized Martin Luther King in his all too short life. In a brief intervention he exposed the hypocrisy of his colleagues who abandoned the sixty vote filibuster threshold to pass an economic bill but are refusing to do so for voting rights.

So began Warnock: “I come to the floor today after a long week of wrestling with my conscience. Before we left Washington last week, we in this chamber made a change in the Senate rules in order to push forward something which to all of us is important. We set the stage to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, and yet as we cast that vote to begin addressing the debt ceiling, this same chamber was allowing the ceiling of our democracy to crash in around us”.

Then he continued: “So.. I will be honest, this has been a difficult week for me as I’ve pondered how I am going to vote on this debt ceiling… I feel like I’m being asked to take a road that is a point of moral dissonance for me, I believe that both our democracy and our economy are important. I believe that it is misplaced to change the Senate rules only for the benefit of the economy when the warning lights on our democracy are flashing at the same time. I happen to believe that our democracy is at least as important as the economy…..Well the people of Georgia and across the country are saying voting rights are important enough. And so we cannot delay. We must continue to urge the party of Lincoln not to give in to the very forces of voter suppression that Dr. King described in that 1957 speech while standing in the shadow of Lincoln. 

The Pastor of King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church ended his short admonition: “…..we cannot wait. With uncanny and eerie relevance, Dr. King’s words summoned us to this very moment. He said the hour is late. The clock of destiny is ticking out and we must act now before it is too late.” 

Whether this moved Manchin and any Republicans enough to support the dropping of the filibuster remains to be seen. Manchin hasn’t axed this proposal yet and added that the Senator, “…did a very good job making his case”. Certainly following Warnock’s speech Biden publicly repeated his assertion that voting rights were the domestic priority 

BIDEN, CLYBURN AND WARNOCK

President Biden makes very few Graduation Commencement speeches but his choice of the South Carolina State College was not surprising as he too attended a Community College. The occasion was the physical handing over a Graduation degree earned sixty - one years ago by his life long friend Jim Clyburn, who currently is the Chief Democratic Whip in the House of Representatives. Clyburn is also the doyen of South Carolina politics and the de facto leader of the African American political arm certainly in the Southern States. It is widely acknowledged, including by Joe Biden, that it was Clyburn’s ringing endorsement of Biden’s rock bottom primary campaign that was the turning point to Biden becoming President. There is a synchronicity in their approach to politics and to life. Both have deep seated convictions but have the political savvy to be just ahead of the curve and understand the practicality of politics. They don’t bear grudges and rarely if ever get personal. 

However there is little doubt that Clyburn privately reinforced Biden’s decision to throw his full weight behind the Voting Bills.. Clyburn is acknowledged as the force that persuaded the forty - sixth President to announce on the campaign trail that the first Supreme Court Judge he would nominate would be a qualified woman of color. It came as no surprise to Jay H. Ell that Biden, a creature of the Senate who had been as opposed to breaking the filibuster as Manchin, had announced a few days earlier that the State attacks on voting rights made it essential if the Republicans wouldn’t support democracy that the Democrats should go ahead with breaking the filibuster rule..

Nor was it not surprising that Biden devoted a chunk of his Commencement address with a passionate plea to pass the Voting Rights legislation. He reminded the assembly that his motivation for entering politics was the Civil Rights movement before launching into a tirade at the current “Republican” Party’s onslaught on democracy, “I have never seen such an unrelenting assault on the right to vote. Never….. as John Lewis said, ‘Without the right to vote there is no democracy’…..it is not only about who gets to vote or making it easier…. It is about who gets to count the vote….this new sinister combination or voter suppression and election subversion is unAmerican, undemocratic and sadly not unprecedented… I directed every Federal Agency to promote voting… and the Justice Department has doubled voting rights enforcement…We’re going to keep up the fight till we get it done…..”

The media ignored the speech much as they had paid scant attention to Warnock’s oratory. There has been a lack of the sense of urgency on this crucial issue all round. However the leader of the Senate didn’t ignore the signal from the Commander in Chief. Chuck Schumer announced that he would bring the issue to the floor and if the Republicans filibustered he would move that it, like financial matters and Judicial appointments, would not be subject to a sixty vote threshold. If this does indeed happen front and center in this fight would be Reverend Raphael Warnock who with his understated charisma will dominate the debate. But that scenario begs the question of where Manchin, Senator Krystyn Sinema as well as the Senate Republicans like Collins, Murkowsi and Romney stand. If the latter fail on this central tenet Trump’s takeover will be complete. 

AT THE END OF THE DAY.

Trump is dreaming of a White Xmas and in sync with his total lack of sensitivity is holding a Press Conference at Mar- O- Lago on January 6.

On January 17 2022, Martin Luther King Day, marches have been organized across America.

Eight hundred religious leaders of all faiths have written an open letter supporting voters’ rights.

For as long as the media are fixated on Trump and not recognizing the competence of Biden and his agenda, even downplaying him, they are not helping to save the democracy they operate in. 

THE MYTH OF TRUMP’S OMNIPOTENCE

In spite of the fact that the House Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection produced what appears to be incontrovertible evidence of a conspiracy to conduct a coup by Trump, his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Republican legislators, and members of his administration there is a belief that nothing will come of it all.There is an air of despondency and hopelessness hanging over the protagonists of democracy in the country. The euphoria that accompanied the victory of Biden has been eclipsed by the belief that Trump is omnipotent. The teflon “genius” who for seventy years has played the system has fooled his party, including the legislative branch of it, that insurrection and sedition is no big deal. All this sends shudders down freedom lovers who believe that the Democrats are powerless amidst this onslaught. They are expecting the inevitable as the omnipotent Trump vulgarly rides roughshod over every value this country purports to stand for. 

The Trump opponents are punch drunk and sickened by his daily assaults on decency and his sullying of his office. To put his infamy in some perspective Boris Johnson’s premiership is in jeopardy because he allowed a Xmas Party in his office during Covid restrictions.

There is also blind indifference to the fact that the Republican Party is in a shambles. The latter can only be made worse by the fact that Trump, who has commandeered the GOP turning into the TOP, has not as his number one policy, abortion, guns or even “To Build That Wall” but loyalty to himself and as gospel that he won the 2020 election. With the same approach he managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with regard to the Senate. He is so paranoid that he told his soul mate Bibi Netanyahu to f…k off because the Israeli former Premier

 acknowledged that Biden was President. 

Trump’s pathology is not a winning formula. He needs to knock it off but he won’t because it is all about him. If he accepts that Biden is President then he has to accept that he is a “loser” and that is out of the question. His approval ratings are as low as they ever were and Biden who has seen the worst has a higher rating even now. The belief is that Trump will dodge the repercussions of the coup and run again and be President. It is just not going to happen. 

THE TRUMP OLD PARTY, (TOP), “TENT” - THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THE FORMER GOP AT THE MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY.

By necessity the two political parties in America have to be coalitions of interest groups. Unlike Germany or Israel, when the coalition takes place after the election, in America the differing groups join into one tent or the other before hand. The former Republican Party was a conglomeration of true fiscal and small government conservatives, the rural population, big business, non college degree citizens and right wing groups. Now there is only one criterion for acceptance in the TOP and that is acceptance that the election was stolen form Trump. Even more sinister is the corollary that this involves, in the future, the manipulation of elections, voter suppression and gerrymandering of voter districts thereby ensuring that G-d’s chosen one is crowned. 

To ensure his hold over the TOP Trump has made it quite clear that every position in every State that matters will have his candidate in the “Republican” Primaries. Georgia is ground zero where he has candidates challenging the "Republican" Governor and Secretary of State. The political web site “Five Thirty - Eight”, ran a piece where they argued that Trump’s endorsements in the forthcoming midterm elections were, “Earlier, Bolder and More Dangerous” than in 2019. For example, at this stage in 2019 he had endorsed ten candidates as opposed to the forty - six he has given his imprimatur. Of the latter at least double are non incumbents as compared to 2019 therefore increasing his risk of being a “loser”. His poster endorsements at the moment are David Perdue to challenge the incumbent Republican Governor of Georgia as well as Kelly Tsibaka in Alaska against Senator Lisa Murkowski. Considering that the latter has once won in as a write in candidate in the past, has the backing of Senate Minority Leader McConnell and has a large war chest, this decision is politically insane but nobody has claimed that Trump is sane. Trump has signaled primary opposition to anyone that has voted for his impeachment, not opposed Biden’s electoral victory, and or voted for any Biden legislation thereby giving Biden a “victory” which implicitly obviously is a loss to him. Soon we will be talking big numbers. 

Then there are those “Republicans” that pretend that the insurrection was not such a big “thing” and also accept that Biden is the President. Those include potential “GOP" presidential candidates Mike Pence and Chris Christie. The latter now states that Trump gave him Covid, another no no. They may want to remain in the tent but Trump will not let them. There are several others like Ron de Santis of Florida who have not officially announced that they will hold back if Trump runs….

In the legislature apart from a few diehards, the GOP Senate Caucus have no room at the TOP table either because they still back McConnell as their leader in spite of Trump’s maneuvering to get him axed. In the House things look a little better but Trump is not prepared to let sleeping dogs lie and has not forgiven House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for his blistering attack on him following the January 6 insurrection. This allows loons like Majorie Taylor - Greene to state their unhappiness at McCarthy’s validity to become the next Speaker of the House. Trump further allows the absurdity of his former Chief of Staff’s repeated suggestion that Trump himself be appointed to the Speaker post prior to his 2024 election to a third term as President! This really is Trump siding with the Republican Freedom Caucus the successor to the appropriately entitled Tea Party Caucus. 

The Freedom Caucus of the House Republican Party which is the group that is de facto Trump’s army in the House have as their most vocal representatives Majorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert, Devon Nunes and Lauren Boebert. Every one of these are ripe for Democratic Party adverts because they are so way off the charts that the fact that Trump regards them as his loyal foot soldiers is enough to send the independents in the other direction. In total The Freedom Caucus have forty - six of the two hundred and twelve Republican members of the House. Presumably all the others support McCarthy otherwise how would be leader at the moment? So Trump is even playing games with the House Republicans by not being behind their elected leader.. No room in the tent for all of them. That means Trump is at war with the leadership of the Republicans in both Houses as well as the majority of the legislators.

Trump is playing high stakes poker with a very poor hand. He still has the support of the majority of the base. But that wasn’t even enough to stop the loss of two crucial Senate seats to the Democrats in 2020. He is not much interested in policy. it is all about him and should he lose out on some of the key fights in 2022 his candidature for 2024 would be in jeopardy. However as Jay H Ell has blogged Trump will have been indicted by then.

TRUMP’S LEGAL WOES. 

There is anger amongst the Democratic base that Biden’s Justice Department isn’t doing anything to put the seditionist Trump behind bars. While no one really knows what Attorney General Garland is doing there is enough going on in New York and Georgia to believe that an indictment is in the works, In New York the President and his Organization are facing criminal and civil charges. The Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer have already been criminally charged for fraud. The New York Attorney General has subpoenaed Trump for a January 7 2022 deposition in the Civil case. In  Civil litigation you cannot plead the Fifth Amendment you have to answer questions. However the answers can be used in criminal proceedings! Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, who was jailed for doing Trump’s bidding, has stated that the documents that he has handed over to the New York prosecutors alone are enough to indict Trump and his children. In Georgia grand juries have been installed to decide whether Trump should be charged for attempting to interfere with that electoral result. 

What Trump should be most worried about is the House of Representative’s enquiry into January 6. While the proceedings have been largely in camera enough has been leaked to point to a vast conspiracy to overthrow the duly elected President. There have been three hundred witnesses including fairly high level officials who had to know as much as the key people that are now resisting. Steve Bannon has been charged with criminal contempt. Mark Meadows has now decided not to cooperate having provided six thousand pages of documents to the committee. These include a power point print out of alternatives to change the result of the election, e mails to him and Congress members and the invoking of the National Guard to protect Trump supporters thereby implying that there was going  to be violence. Meadows has argued that Trump’s claim for Executive Privilege has not been finally adjudicated on and he is waiting on that before agreeing to sit for a deposition. The committee is unmoved and in a live devastating meeting Meadows was referred for criminal prosecution. 

Trump should take note that those being subpoenaed now are his inner circle. Three are going to plead the Fifth Amendment against self incrimination - Roger Stone, Alex Jones, and John Eastman. In so doing they are accepting that they are in criminal legal jeopardy for their actions. Bannon, who has already been criminally charged for ignoring the January 6 House Committee’s subpoena, wants to turn his trial into a circus and is not on the same page as Trump at the moment. These subpoenas mean that the committee is nearing the end of its investigative phase. Liz Cheney, the Republican Vice Chairman has stated that there are going to be weeks of publicly televised hearings. 

The committee is waiting for the cherry on the top, Trump’s archival records of the period involved. Needless to say he has used his usual tactic of court challenges to prevent their emergence. However the courts have dealt with it at break neck speed and at latest the Supreme Court will get it in another two weeks. Commentators from all sides of the political spectrum are forecasting that either the Supreme Court won’t even hear the challenge or on the basis of the Nixon precedents Trump will lose and his records will be released..

If the outcome of the Committee’s findings are as expected criminal indictments will follow as sure as night follows day.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

Trump’s militant supporters in the Charlottesville riots are all facing bankruptcy following civil litigation. One by one the insurrectionists who carried Trump’s water to the Capitol on January 6 are being charged and sentenced in the courts. Trump has abandoned them like he abandons anyone who can no longer be of any use to him. The more serious charges are still to follow. Judges have been scathing in their rulings of the genesis of this treason, many blaming Trump by name. The upshot is that Trump’s stormtroopers have been eviscerated, demoralized, bankrupted and jailed. 

Then the two key Trump issues anti abortion and pro guns have been realized. Both are unpopular so they can only bring out his base which is not enough. All in all a sober assessment reveals that is not to rosy for The Donald.

BUT………

The fact that democracy came so close to being unravelled still lingers on the minds of many. The actions of "Republican" State legislators to suppress voting and even reverse results send shudders done the spine of Democrats. But what mostly terrifies them is the belief that Trump is some Houdini that can escape the forces that are closing in on him. The body politic have seen time after time behavior that would have ruined any Presidency go by without recriminations. Barr nullified the Mueller investigation into Trump's collusion with Russia and his obstruction of justice. He escaped two impeachments where his actions were egregious. 

He has been involved in over four thousand litigations of one sort or another and there he is alive and kicking still collecting billions on phony schemes. He has tried them all - Universities, Foundations and even the Presidency and has survived. So those that think single handedly he can change American Democracy have much to base their fear on. Jay H Ell believes not but his calculations could also be clouded by wishful thinking!

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Charging political opponents with crimes is commonly associated with banana republics. However, Israel, France, South Africa and Italy have not hesitated in the recent past. In the American situation at this time the responsibility on the shoulders of attorney generals is humungous in a country that is so divided. There is only one outcome that is definitely worse for American democracy than prosecuting Trump and that is not prosecuting him. 

ABORTION, THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY AND THE FINAL POLITICIZATION OF THE SUPREME COURT

 

 Abortion is front and center in the news today as a result of the decades old pressure by a significant number of the Evangelical base of the Trump Old Party, (TOP), formerly the GOP.  The obsession about banning abortion totally, with no exceptions for rape or incest, is one of the few articulated policies of TOP, (the other being guns). Trump, who was aided and abetted by Senator McConnell’s cynical hypocritical manipulation of judicial selection, has ensured the eventual demise of Roe v Wade with three Supreme Court judicial picks who Trump promised would do just that. 

Roe v, Wade and its subsequent key affirmation Casey has protected the women’s right to choose for the past fifty years. That law is being challenged by the Mississippi State Legislature and the case is to be decided by the Supreme Court of the US. A Supreme Court which has six of the nine members of the Federalist Society - a highly conservative body which has dedicated itself to educate the legal community to its value system.The Supreme Court of late has been accused of being politicized resulting in its approval rating dropping to record lows. The current debate over a women’s right to choose will increase the perception of it being partisan.

Nobody “likes” abortion - least of all those who have to make the decision as to whether they should terminate a pregnancy or not, regardless of the circumstances of the conception.  Discussion around the topic is not commonplace and ignorance willful. Few are aware, for example, that the preferred method of abortion up to ten weeks is via medications. Ironically, or not so ironically, it is men, usually white men, who decide on the legality of the issue. Women, studies have shown, if they cannot have a legal abortion, will often resort to a dangerous illegal alternative.

THE  FEDERALIST SOCIETY, ABORTION, ROE v WADE AND THE SUPREME COURT

The Federalist Society, which was founded in 1982 by the conservative  students of the prestigious Law Schools of Yale, Harvard and Chicago Universities to challenge liberal values that were being manifested in the interpretation of the of 1789 American Constitution. One of the central themes behind the formation of the Society was the fact that throughout history Republican appointed judges had often provided the swing votes to support “liberal” values. The Republican appointed Judges such as Stephens, O’Conner and even Kennedy were periodically persuaded that the Constitution had to be interpreted in relation to the times that prevailed.

The objectives of the new society were to check Federal Power and Ito interpret the Constitution according to its original 1789, as amended in 1792, meaning. Ironically also one of its aims was the protection of “individual liberty”. The Federalist Society has reached the height of its influence with the current Supreme Court where the six Conservative Judges on the bench have had affiliation with the organization. The Society is heavily funded with “dark money” as well as from the usual “suspects” including the Scaifs and the Kochs. In several exposes Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society has been named as the co coordinator and fund raiser of the project to elect Federalist members to the Supreme Court.

The fifty year struggle against the “individual liberty” of a women’s right to choose  has finally reached its pinnacle with a sympathetic Supreme Court about to sanction State control of a women’s body. The debate is ostensibly about lessening the gestational period in which an abortion can be enacted. But to illustrate the objective of the “Republican” protagonists they have already put into place a law in Texas which effectively ends all legal abortions. The latter by means of a draconian law that empowers vigilantes to enforce it. (The Supreme Court have not put an injunction on that Texas Act till such time as they can consider it). There are also almost two dozen restrictive laws lying dormant in States controlled by the “Republicans” ready to put in effect should Roe be overturned. 

On its face the law the Supreme Court has heard argument on merely impacts the period up to which a women could obtain a legal abortion however there  was little doubt that this is the thin edge of the wedge. Only Chief Justice Roberts is pretending that it isn’t what it is. The State of Mississippi openly declared the motivation for this legislation in its lengthy brief to the court, was calling for the overturn of Roe v Wade.  Mississippi legislators made it clear that with the current make up of the Supreme Court, including three new Federalists, this was the time for negating Roe v Wade,           

The Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision had ensured the right of women free choice as to whether they could terminate their pregnancies was decided in 1973. Following that decision the backstreet abortion rate dropped dramatically and by 1974 the number had decreased from one hundred and thirty thousand to seventeen thousand. The law gained precedent after precedent notably in the 1992 landmark case - Planned Parenthood v Casey.

The  US Supreme Court is an unelected body whose members are appointed for life. In their naïveté the Founders gave them the divine right to be the final arbiter of the American Constitution and in fact everything else. The Founders wanted to get rid of a single monarch but some how inexplicably allowed the institution of unfettered power to what is now a cabal of nine, some of whom behave as if they were indeed appointed by G-D, not by a messy unholy political process. In fairness to Trump the “Republican” Party, in the knowledge that any Judge certified by the Federalist Society was guaranteed to axe Roe, has via, George Herbert Bush, (Justice Thomas), George W. Bush, (Justices Alito and Roberts) and lastly Donald Trump, (Justices, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett), have ensured the desired outcome.. 

Jay H. Ell realizes that there are those with strong religious views on the subject. These citizens have a right to have their views respected. However as Judge Sotomayor pointed out this total anti abortion crusade, which has no provision for women who are raped and where incest is the cause, is religiously inspired.  (The American Constitution expressly separates Church and State). Different religions have sharply divergent views on the dividing line as when the fetus is “viable” and when the soul enters the body. Also the argument of the sanctity of life that some protagonists of complete denial of abortions rings somewhat hollow as those self same people are supporters of the death penalty. The bulk of the movement is also against any form of contraception. Several of the protagonists have denied that Covid or HIV, both that have claimed eight hundred thousand lives, are “a thing”. 

The crisp point is whether in a secular society any religious view can trump the rights of individuals who in fact collectively make up the majority. 

So onto the nub of oral arguments that were heard in the Supreme Court in the denouement of the battle on abortion. 

THE ORAL ARGUMENT IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI’S ABORTION LAW, (DOBBS V JACKSON WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATION).

There was the text and subtext to the oral arguments on the Mississippi Law which had as its stated intent to overturn Roe v Wade. However on its face it merely moved the limit from twenty - two weeks to fifteen weeks as to how long women were entitled to control their bodies. The rationale for the initial limitation in Roe and Casey was that the fetus was considered to be viable at twenty - two to twenty - four weeks. There was no rationale for the arbitrary date selected by the “Republican” legislature other than as this move, on its face, did not appear draconian it would make it easier to get everyone on board.

Any rational observer listening to the oral arguments would have to agree that there could not be a more unqualified body of unsympathetic ignoramuses deciding this deeply personal, ethical, practical and medical question. The fact that the Supreme Court took this matter up in what was considered “decided’ law was in of itself a confirmation of the Mississippi legislators’ assessment that the Judges of the Supreme Court had changed. Nothing else in medicine, science, ethics or religion had emerged other than the Constitutional arbiters of what is right or wrong - “The Deciders” as George W. Bush might have put it, would be inclined to agree. Society itself was probably at the zenith of acceptance of the status quo - ninety - one percent of women believed that this decision was best made between patient and doctor. They in effect were arguing in favor of “privacy” which incidentally was one of the bases of the initial ruling on Roe and its subsequent reiterations.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor who with endless interventions laid bare the patently political challenge to women’s rights summed up the death knell of Supreme Court as an independent institution as follows: “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts”. Her rationale was echoed by Justice Breyer who maintained that “… to re examine a watershed decision would subvert the Courts legitimacy….” While Justice Kagan enjoined, “…. Fifty years of law under the bridge…..”. Kagan implied that the same arguments could have been made fifty years ago.

So much for the prophets now for for the Federalist Society. 

The key historical protagonist of the argument against abortion rights, the most senior justice on the court, Justice Thomas, maintained that nowhere in the Constitution was there a right to abortion. An argument which is ridiculous as there is nothing in the constitution about sexual harassment, rape, AK 47’s, driving under the influence of liquor and on and on. Justice Kavanaugh, the darling of the Federalist Society, listed a whole lot of precedents that were established law that were overturned. What he failed to reveal was that each and everyone increased the liberty of individuals while the Mississippi Law was retrogressive as to a women’s rights. Justice Alito questioned whether a decision, “….. must be overruled because it was egregiously wrong at the moment it was decided…”.  The learned Judge did not put forward any meaningful arguments as to what was wrong then. Justice Gorsuch left no doubt as to where he stood on the matter.

Judge Amy Barrett shocked the most neutral of observers when in her intervention she showed no understanding or empathy of a woman, a few of whom may have been raped or have been the victim of incest. She seemingly ignored the physical and emotional impact of the nine month period of bearing an unwanted pregnancy and its aftermath, “…..Insofar as ….the focus..in which forced parenting forced motherhood would hinder access to the workplace and equal opportunities,,,, Why don’t the safe haven laws take care of that problem…”. The safe haven laws allow you to dump a delivered child at a hospital without any legal problems!.

It was left to Chief Justice Roberts to salvage what could be left the Court’s moral authority. Regardless of the fact that the Mississippi plaintiffs wanted an overturn he would proceed incrementally and see this as a reduction to the right of abortion up to fifteen weeks. The Chief Justice omitted to address the fact that there was no exception for rape and incest. It remains to be seen whether he can convince another of his Federalist colleagues to join him as he is no longer the “swing” vote on this court. 

It is interesting to note that three members of the Conservative group have taken exception to the smear that they are “political hacks”, a term used by Amy Barrett. The height of hypocrisy emanated from Justice Thomas who assured an audience that his decisions were based on the law. Chief Justice Roberts informed Trump that there was no such concept as Bush, Obama or Trump judges! In the light of of these assertions it would be useful to learn what each and everyone of these objectors to Roe said about the subjects at their confirmation.

OPINIONS ON ABORTION RIGHTS AT THE CONFIRMATION HEARINGS OF THE FEDERALIST JUDGES AND THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post wrote that all six of the Federalist Judges, in their confirmation hearings with regard to abortion rights were not vague, evasive or deceptive they outright lied….”They lied. They lied to the Congress and to the country, claiming they had no opinions at all about abortion, or that their beliefs were simply irrelevant to how they would rule. They would be wise and pure, unsullied by crass policy preferences, offering impeccably objective readings of the Constitution, It. Was. A. Lie. We went through the same routine in the confirmation readings of every one of the those justices. When Democrats tried to get them to state plainly their views on Roe v Wade they took two approaches. Some tried to convince everyone that they would leave it untouched. Others, those already on record proclaiming opposition to abortion rights, suggested they had undergone an intellectual factory reset enabling them to reassess the question anew with an. unspoiled mind, one concerned only with the law”

One fact is for sure that the “impartial” arbiters of the Constitution are going to have their interviews played and replayed on television and the internet. Justice Sotomayor hit the nail on the head when she remarked on the “political stench” the projected ruling would evoke. It might well have repercussions at the ballot box because this is what Trump promised. McConnell the “Republican” Senate leader who stole two Judicial nominees from the Democrats has stated that his party has no policy going into the midterms other than to expose the disaster that is Biden. Like it or. not banning abortion was number one on the list that they have all run on the past. (Be careful of what you wish for). The other major plank is gun rights where they are about to witness another major embarrassment. The Supreme Court are going to rule on the New York State’s ban on concealed carry of guns. In the light of the Michigan School Shooting, the fiftieth this year, their projected liberal interpretation of the Second Amendment will justifiably evoke disgust.

ROBERT”S SALVATION OF THE SUPREME COURT AS AN INSTITUTION IS A NON STARTER

Chief Justice Roberts is very sensitive about the legacy of his court so his interim compromise of not overturning Roe and just changing the date by which abortions may be performed won’t fly as it has no legal, medical or ethical basis and will be challenged again and again. Any rate his legacy is already in tatters as historians examine his swing vote in eighty decisions  - a few notably paving the way for voter suppression. Should the court not axe Roe he and the Republicans generally will be hammered by the base as confirmed by Senator Cruz and articulated by Laura Ingraham, a Fox News key opinion leader:

“If we have six Republican appointees on this court, after all the money that’s been raised, the Federalist Society, all those big fat - cat dinners - I’m sorry, I’m pissed about this - if this court with six justices cannot do the right thing here, then the Republicans should blow it up and pass some kind of law limiting the court’s authority”.  That just about sums up the whole big “stench”.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

If Roberts wants to redeem himself and begin to have some semblance of the legacy he so desires he should resign. He does after all maintain that he is no longer a member of the Federalist Society.

CAN TRUMPISM IMPLODE WHILE BIDEN SLEEPS?

The Trump Old Party, (TOP)  has at its core worship of Donald J. Trump. You cannot join unless you swear a blind oath to The Leader. Trump demands complete and utter loyalty tolerating not the slightest deviation. In addition there is a belief that omnipotent Trump is marching to victory in 2024. Trump has been running in two elections since November 2020 - the one that he lost and the one in 2024.  Even if he isn’t the popular favorite the pundits have resolved that gerrymandering, voter suppression and result manipulation will send him back into the WhiteHouse. Added to that is the current low approval rate of President Biden coupled with the fact that the Party who controls the WhiteHouse loses heavily in the Midterms coming up in 2022. This will give Trump a springboard for 2024. In addition there is a refrain that Biden is half asleep at the wheel and allowing all the oxygen to be taken up by Trump. 

There are some leftovers from the old Grand Old Party that Trump transformed into the TOP. who don’t fully subscribe to the leader’s dictates. They are confident that they can repeat the successful performances of the GOP, (?), candidates in the recent Governorship races. The latter succeeded beyond expectation without Trump holding his Nuremberg style rallies in their support. However both candidates were endorsed by Trump who is claiming credit for their success because his base came out. The aspirants made it clear that they supported the Supreme Leader. Whether Trump pitches up and rains on your parade is up to him not the candidate.There is no way that he is going to be laid back. He will bless and eliminate candidates according to his will, the criterion being their blind worship of him. 

It is useful to peruse the constitution of the TOP which is based on the deifying the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Trump,

THE RULES FOR THE FOOLS

* Central to acceptance in the inner circle, as much as it is central to Islam to visit Mecca, is a pilgrimage to the Temple of Mar- O- Lago to kiss the ring, {The Leader’s express term). This pertains whether for endorsement, to explain yourself if you have deviated from the gospel and/or when The Leader shall so decree.

* Acknowledgement that he is still President while at the same time affirming that Biden has stolen it from him. In so doing any and every Biden law or act, including pandemic control must be vigorously opposed. Even if the latter will benefit the country or a TOP candidate’s electoral chances. 

* The January 6 insurrection was a peaceful protest and those being incarcerated are political prisoners. 

* The Leader has no responsibility to reciprocate loyalty to the followers particularly in relation to legal fees that they may accrue in actions that supported him. If they are sentenced to prison terms and are still incarcerated at the time of his election for a third term there is a distinct possibility for pardon if it is in the interest of The Leader.

* There needs to be an ongoing effort to create a white vigilante militia to enforce Trumpism. They may well be named the Trump - Rittenhouse Storm Troopers.

With regard to policy, there are just a few issues - anti abortion, anti covid control and the promotion of guns and more guns. In addition any teachings that relate to slavery to lynchings to Jim Crow cannot be in any educational curricula. The “woke” crowd cannot be allowed to make white third graders feel like oppressors. There has to be ongoing creation of state laws that help TOP candidates being elected and if in the event these somehow fail, provisions need to be promulgated to reverse the obviously "fraudulent" election.

All the assets, employees, offices and particularly the money of the defunct GOP will be under the umbrella of the TOP. Employees who accept this dictum may remain on.

Trump will be succeeded by Donald J Trump Jnr. This is a dynasty. This needs reaffirming as there are number of TOP presidential wannabes. 

WHO ARE THE TOP POTENTIAL “GOP” PRESIDENTIAL WANNABES OTHER THAN TRUMP?

Remember it is three years to go before the 2024 Presidential elections. So far Trump is the only declared but not yet declared candidate. His most dangerous challenger for the position is Florida Governor de Santis who believes masks and vaccinations are for sissies. The latter platform is in line with The Leader's beliefs. De Santis garnered 43% support at a straw poll of a Conservative Convention, ahead of a slew of other TOP presidential wannabes. Respectfully Trump’s name was omitted in this exercise. Trump, who has an uncanny nose for danger, has identified the Florida anti vaxer as his number one threat. He flat out boasted that he would make mincemeat of de Santis if he ran. “But he won’t”, bragged Trump, because de Santis supports The Leader as the Leader “made” him. 

Then there is Vice President Pence who had on his TOP membership card, the number 1. But all good things must come to an end. Trump blames his former right hand man and leader of the choir in the echo chamber for not “Stopping The Steal.”. “He deserved to be hung”, Donald is quoted as saying. Trump, in typical whiney victim like fashion, claims that he dragged the nonentity Pence from obscurity only to witness the ingrate turn on him. For Pence’s part Trump was a great leader but he and Trump can never agree about January 6 - really! Pence is kinda doing the circuit that prospective presidential candidates do maintaining that his decision to run will not be based on anyone else in the field. Already he has the backing of heavyweights such as Newt Gingrich and Larry Kudlow.

There is also the rank opportunist from New Jersey, Chris Christie, who like card carrying member 1 states that his decision to run or not will not be based on whether Trump is in the field or not. He also has no misgivings for his support and key enabler role he played in Trump’s win, then only to be axed by son in law Jared Kushner for prosecuting Kushner’s corrupt father and sending him down the river. His slight deviation from the mantra is that Trump must move on from 2020. A cardinal sin if ever there was one.

Others at this very early stage whose toes are firmly on the TOP line are Texas Governor Gregg Abbot, Former Secretary of State Pompeo and Senators John Hawley, Ted Cruz and Mark Rubio. They are operating on the basis that Trump will not run and could anoint one of them. Abbot of anti abortion fame faces challenges for Governorship in Texas. Jay H. Ell believes that those who ran against Trump in 2016 such as Cruz and Rubio will not get the nod, even though, with Senator Hawley they were in the forefront of “Stop The Steal”. You get no second chances with The Leader. The same would apply for female candidates Ambassador Nikki Halley and Governor Kristi Noem who have mumbled minor disagreements. Kristi must have collected brownie points for presenting him with a Mount Rushmore sculpture with him added. 

There are non politicians such as Tucker Carlson, who is insanely ambitious as well as being insane. Carlson has a massive MAGA following and at the moment is FOX NEWS. One prospect being mooted all over the show is Candace Owens an African American Women who ticks of many of the boxes the old white men who are the backbone of TOP can’t. However John Jnr has to be daddy’s favorite above everyone else. 

The fact that there is so much discussion in this arena, many who are not purists, has to be feeding into Trump’s paranoia. It also is indicative of the fact that if he runs there will be challengers.  However Trump’s internal polling, for what that is worth, shows him way ahead of the TOP field as well as Biden. He has well over a hundred million in his political campaign coffers and is holding a massive fundraiser at the Temple of Mar- O- Largo in early December.

Thus there is much brewing in many pots that will stand in the way of giving him a clear run-in 2024. 

WHO AND WHAT IS TIP TOEING AGAINST THE LEADER’S MANTRA

So there is open defiance on the cornerstone of the TOP - that Trump is still President - with two strong "Republicans" in Congress and at least two presidential candidates, pooh-poohing the bizarre claim. Even more ominous is the fact that the owner of the Fox News empire, Rupert Murdoch has told him 2020 is over. While Tucker Carlson marches to his own fascist drummer two Fox correspondents have resigned and consternation is brewing in the ranks at the latter’s lunacy. How Rupert yearns for a nice good old fashioned right wing conservative like Mike Pence.

Then if one looks at the TOP agenda - abortion, guns and the education, be careful for what you wish for. One way or another abortion is going to be limited. Roe v Wade is on the chopping block while gun laws will be reduced in this period of carnage with seventeen year olds shooting with AK 47’s in the street to the applause of Trump and Carlson. All of this is not going to win over the women voters and the independents. They won’t forget and if they do they will be reminded that it is the Supreme Court that Trump picked, on the basis he said, that were pro guns and anti abortion. He will get the credit for their decision from the base. With regard to education the TOP can run on the fact that they will ban curricula that haven’t been introduced in any school system. At the same time they have to answer why they did not support pre kindergarten free education as well child care for the mothers who want to work. Also as parents receive $3000 per year per child they will know they haven't got Trump to thank.

Three quarters of American women support the women’s right to choose and well over sixty percent don’t support the right for seventeen year olds to career around with automatic rifles looking for trouble and gun fights. The fact that this notorious behavior of this unremorseful teenager has become the poster picture of the TOP is hardly a winning text for the Presidency. Incidentally the majority of Americans don’t support the Covid nihilism that is associated with Trump and his followers. So what the hell is he going to run on!

To a certain extent Trump’s power will gravitate on whether his nominees will win their primaries in 2022 and if they do will they be enough in the mainstream to win election. A key race will be in Alaska where he is dead against Senator Lisa Murkowski who voted for his impeachment. He is backing another candidate while McConnell is backing  Murkowski as is the majority of the Republican Senate caucus. Incidentally, the former President is openly taking McConnell on. The latter has big financial keys to all the Senate races. The current Minority Leader in the Senate, unlike Trump who supports only sycophants, McConnell backs those whom he believes have the best chance of winning the actual election. Trump punted a candidate for the Pennsylvania Senate Primary whom a Judge has ruled against in a child custody case as he found him not credible and guilty of wife abuse. Trump will have problems with his Ohio and Georgia picks as well. In fact he will with his madcap narcissistic decision making open the field for Democrats to win State legislative positions in Georgia with his attacks on the current elected representatives because they would not overturn the 

Georgian election. 

Trump is directly responsible for the Senate being in Democrat hands as he almost single handedly lost both Georgia Senate seats by his intervention in that state’s senate elections. The burden of his message being the stolen election and the fact that the Republican establishment wouldn’t find him votes to reverse it. Trump is more likely to be a spoiler in key races than engineering a victory for his Party. The fact that he is making the crazies in the Senate and the House his personal poster children of the TOP is going to make it much easier to run against in every seat in contention.

Ongoing at the moment are the trials of seven hundred who were involved in the January 6 insurrection and whom Trump has characterized as being peaceful protestors. Several of the accused have been blaming Trump for their criminal acts. Some even offering to give evidence to the January 6 House Committee investigation. The latter has gained much intelligence on the conspiracy involved in that attempted coup. Again the circus like antics of Trump supporters like Bannon may mobilize the base but that is all. It will not gain him any votes from the independents. Another point worth noting is that the lower court judges are taking a tough line on the attorneys who carried Trump’s water that the election was fraudulent. Some have been censored, others referred to their professional bodies and a pair were instructed to pay nearly two hundred thousand dollars legal fees for bringing patently untrue claims. 

Litigation, brought by the victims of Trump induced thuggery, against the far right conspiracy mongers will result in the bankrupting of the organizations and their leaders. The Charlottesville Neo Nazis, racists and anti semites, whom Trump claimed "some were good people", are those targeted. Alex Jones, too, for his hateful depiction of the Sandy Hook massacre of children as being a fake will be bankrupted from the damages that will be awarded against him and his sick organization. 

Incidentally Trump declared the new poster child for TOP’s support of vigilantism remorseless Karl Rittenhouse, “A really good young guy”. All these guys, their organizations and their followers were and are Trump’s storm troopers. They are needed to get the base out. One thing is for sure,Trump is not going to bail them out with his pile of cash. He even gets the “Republican” Party treasury to pay his own legal bills raked up for his actions in his personal capacity.

The criminal and civil investigations against Trump himself proceeds apace in spite of the fact that Biden’s Department of Justice appear to be steering clear of investigating Trump’s sedition. However the attorney generals of New York and Georgia have no such inhibitions. 

So discussing Trump’s election chances in 2024 is really a media exercise. The latter being in denial as to the consequences as to what is going on around Trump. To put it at its kindest, "Loser" Trump is very unlikely to be a candidate for President in 2024.

In addition every one is counting out “Low Key Joe”, who won the election in 2020 being just that.

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH BIDEN? IS HE JUST BIDIN HIS TIME?

Biden is sticking to Plan A - that is to talk and act “moderate” and enact “transformative” legislation. Biden has been around the block. No one knows the game better than him. He takes a longer view than the next news cycle. He has already declared himself a candidate for 2024. Talking about bipartisanship appears naive but that is just what the independents want to hear. In fact his infrastructure bill garnered seventeen “Republican” votes in the Senate and thirteen in the House. He is being pictured with workers in the swing states explaining what he has done for them,(Covid relief deluxe),what he is in process already, (infrastructure colossal), and what is to come, (social safety net profound). Whatever his social Build Back Better plan delivers the sum total of this all is humongous. It is Eisenhower and FDR rolled into one and then multiplied. He is acting on inflation and opening up the gas reserves to bring down the price.

In the meantime Biden, will diversify to kingdom come, leaving little doubt that this country is a rainbow nation. Watch the Federal Reserve which has been to date like an elderly white man’s country club. He has reappointed Republican Chair Jerome Powell, (one up for bipartisanship), Vice Chairman is Democratic Woman, Lael Brainard and stick around and see who the next Governors are. Associate Justice Breyer has to resign soon and he has promised the first African American female Supreme Court Judge. 

He got the hell out of Afghanistan - a war no one wanted, is taking a tough line on China while talking to them for hours on end. America is back in the NATO, the world and taking a lead on climate change. So Biden is on the right page. He knows he can’t dig into Trump’s base but he doesn’t need to. Trump can’t win with just his base. 

What with the TOP Governors screaming at Biden for his Covid failures while ensuring them, Biden is plodding on with what amounts to a vaccine mandate. This has become more imperative as a new threatening variant crashes the scene.  With the Federal workforce on target with ninety - five percent vaccination it seems mandates work. Even though there are the “Republican” court challenges they are politically motivated and not from the companies that are by and large carrying them out. 

By the way his approval numbers are beginning to creep up as the unemployment numbers are at a fifty two year record low and twenty million are back at work. Inflation is a problem which if permanent would be reflected in interest and bond rates which they are not.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

The Supreme Court cannot be saved from itself. Currently they are about to do what Trump said he directed them to do. Their approval rate is at an all time low having dropped precipitously within a year from fifty - six percent to forty percent. In many ways it is an indirect parameter of the opposition of the policies the Trump’s base support.

Declaring Biden and the Democratic Party dead is premature. It is Trump and his TOP that are more likely to implode. 

THE USA AND SOUTH AFRICA - RACE AND DEMOCRACY

There is little doubt that the world is going through a critical nexus in history even more consequential than the Reformation. While, the existence of the planet itself is front and center with the ravages of climate change; the internet and artificial intelligence have upset our worldly order, the devastating pandemic has almost brought travel to a standstill and on the political front threats to democracy abound, as populism establishes itself in countries that once claimed to be democratic. The factor behind the latter scary phenomenon is race, class or caste. Identity has become front and center as the white race feel threatened through out the world. 

SOUTH AFRICA, THE USA, THE BRITISH, THE INDIGENOUS NATIVES AND RACE

While the past century witnessed the most powerful manifestation of racial hatred in Nazi Germany, Jay H. Ell would like to focus on the USA and South Africa, which has just witnessed the passing of their last great white leader, later reformist, Nobel Laureate FW de Klerk. The USA, on the other hand, is once again witnessing the dark cloud of racism overhanging its beleaguered constitution. The latter is considered the basis of modern democracy. It is a fascinating fact that the acclaimed American jurist, the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, rated only one constitution more encompassing of liberal Western values - the South African post apartheid constitution, which in turn is facing its challenges. 

Both South Africa the United States had similar beginnings in the seventeenth century being colonized by whites who considered themselves the superior race. In America the indigenous natives were largely exterminated while in South Africa the wars never resulted in nearly the same genocide. This resulted in the indigenous peoples of South Africa outnumbering the whites by a ratio of five to one. A ratio that still exists.

America imported slaves from Western Africa whose descendants represent a sizable minority today. Added to the mix are a large number of South American immigrants, who are the largest minority and finally those of Asian descent who are the fastest growing minority. The outcome of all of this is that it is projected by the year 2042 the whites would be no longer be in the majority. 

Both countries had their hassles with the British colonial power. America dumped the British early on their history. The long drawn out war was proceeded by Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence upon which the Constitution was based and the great American idea was predicated. South Africa to this day has links with Britain via the British Commonwealth.  South Africa had its war with Britain which pitted, in effect, the two white groups against one another. The indigenous natives were never part of that struggle in either country.

Both nations' white groups fought segregation and fostered it. In America that battle has been ongoing with the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights and now Trumpism all playing a role in the ding dong battle of equality versus domination. In South Africa with no discernible body of slave descendants, the history of segregation was different.

A VERY VERY SHORT SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY

Arising out of the ashes of the turn of the twentieth century war between the South African Afrikaners and the British were two groups the Afrikaner nationalists and the English who had made South Africa their home. The latter were more liberal.  The Afrikaner Nationalists argued that the English "liberals" wanted the blacks as their allies to drown the Afrikaner aspirations. Ironically in the Jim Crow era of the twentieth century the South African culture although segregationist was indeed more liberal than the violent murderous Jim Crow adherents. South Arica had some sort of token franchise for those who were not white. This token stood out versus the little help the American constitutional fifteenth amendment, was to the Southern Black Americans. Nor, in South Africa, was there the organized violence that Southern American negroes were subject to.

In 1948, In South Africa the white Afrikaner Nationalist segregationist party gained power with a minority of the white votes. A number of their luminaries had supported Germany in WWII, a few having been interned. From the get - go it was an undoing of those few laws that gave any rights to those of color as well as enshrining segregationist laws akin to those that were on the books in the Southern States of America. All  legislation was designed to keep the whites as ubermensch and pure. The laws promulgated were the ban on mixed marriages and sex across the color line, the group areas act defining where one could live resulting in forced relocations of populations, the Separate Education Act and on and on. All this was accompanied by repressive legislation to maintain order

In the early 1960’s naked racism in South Africa had to have a justification and as America was about to see the beginning of the lifting of Jim Crow, South Africa adopted as its rationale - “Separate But Equal”. The latter had been enshrined into law by the American Supreme Court in 1896 and provided the legal basis for the segregationists in the South. The docket was entitled “Plessy v Ferguson”. 

PLESSY V FERGUSON

In 1892 a former slave Homer Plessy boarded a a train and sat in a “Whites Only”  coach having purchased a first class ticket. He was challenging the Louisiana Separate Car Act. The latter act provided for “Separate but equal” facilities. Plessy fought his subsequent conviction through the Louisiana court systems and finally to the Supreme Court. The defendant named was John Ferguson the original judge who tried the case in Louisiana.  The basis of Plessy’s appeal was the Fourteenth Amendment which stated, “No State shall enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of laws” Plessy’s counsel argued that the Louisiana law “implied the inferiority of the black man”.

The Supreme Court in a seven to one decision ruled inter alia “… laws requiring racial separation were within the State’s power,,,, the Fourteenth Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things, it could not have intended to abolish distinctions based on color or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality….”. Thus the infamous “Separate but Equal” rationalization was enshrined and for six decades legitimized racial discrimination in the South. Only Justice Harlan dissented. The dissenting Judge proclaimed that, “…. The law implied that the black person was inferior……Everyone knows the statute in question had its origin in the purpose, not so much to exclude white people from railroad cars occupied by blacks, as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied or assigned by white persons…..”. . 

 Little did the seven supporting justices know that their names would go down in infamy. Not only would their law justify racial discrimination it gave license to mobs to enact violence of a gruesome nature, be the basis of discussions of the Nuremberg Laws and South African apartheid or Separate Development which apartheid was euphemistically labelled. 

THE 1950’S TO THE 1960’S

The 1950’s saw the reversal of these segregationist trends in several instances in the USA and the justification of them in South Africa. President Harry Truman kicked it off in 1948 by ending segregation in the military. In 1954 the Supreme Court in a landmark case in the up and down battle for the right for “All Men to be created equal and endowed with inalienable rights….” slammed segregation in schools. In the case Brown v The Board of Education they ruled “separate but equal” was “inherently unequal… even if they had equal facilities”. The unanimous court decisions authored by Chief Justice Warren, maintained further that, “To Separate black children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone”. In 1957 President Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock Arkansas to enforce the rights of the Negro to attend a white School and passed the first Civil Rights law in 1957. This was the forerunner of the all encompassing civil rights legislation of the 1960’s. 

However it should not amaze anyone that in this period Jim Crow was still very much alive and kicking in the Southern States of America. The two countries differ in that the violence in South Africa was mainly from the Government where in the States it was by both law enforcement and the white mob. 

In South Africa over the same time period with the rise to power of the Nationalist Party Government there was an indecent hurry  to add to the discrimination that already existed. In a systematic fashion they proceeded through every life event and segregated it. Starting in 1949 with the Mixed Marriages act and a year later the defining Population Registration Act that went to Reich like methods to define which race someone belonged to. There were laws on Separate Amenities which included public transport, education, domicile, work, controlling each of the non white races from mulatos, known as Coloreds, to Asians to the black Africans. Political parties weren’t able to be integrated either. 

In order to eliminate what limited representation the non white races had in parliament required a two thirds majority which they never had. To overcome the latter they increased the members of the nominated Senate Chamber so the combined legislative bodies had the necessary majority to overcome that hurdle. The Extension of Universities Act saw to it that they would be no doubt as to the control of every sphere in South Africa by the white man.  Needless to say this evoked massive opposition and to control this was a succession of laws including “The Suppression of Communism Act” where the government defined Communism! The notorious Treason Trial  which rounded up leaders of all opposition groups and included Nelson Mandela as well lasted from 1956 till 1961. All were found Not Guilty by the standard then, which was the common law

THE 1960’S TO THE 1970’S 

America went gang busters. This was the era of Martin Luther King and LBJ. The Civil Rights Movement which had its genesis in 1954, when Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of a bus, only saw real results in the sixties. The Freedom Riders tested a Supreme Court decision that ruled segregated transport terminals unconstitutional and were beaten up for their efforts. This then involved the then Attorney General Bobby Kennedy in the struggle. Following JFK’S assassination LBJ rammed through comprehensive Civil Rights Legislation that touched on voting, employment and Federal facilities. Lest there be any doubt as to the right to vote, the comprehensive Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 and the Supreme Court subsequently upheld the violations to this law. To cap it all the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968. This whole period was met by police violence especially in Selma Alabama on the march to Washington. There were three assassinations, the two key Black Leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King as well as Bobby Kennedy which were indicative of the violent efforts to retain the status quo.

South Africa, with a vengeance, turned in the opposite direction  overseen by an ideologue Hendrik Verwoerd who claimed that apartheid was really Separate Development - a grotesque interpretation of Plessy. Verwoerd had been in the forefront of a march to prevent Jewish immigrants fleeing Germany gaining entry. During the WWII he had peddled Nazi propaganda as an editor of an Afrikaner newspaper, “Die Vaderland”.

Verwoerd maintained that the Blacks belonged to different tribes and they all had separate homelands within South African borders that he would ultimately give nationhood too. They were foreign laborers in White South Africa. They all had to have work permits that were enforced via stringent Pass Laws. This lead to three million black South Africans being incarcerated and then shipped to territories most of whom had never seen in their lives. Opposition was suppressed even more as legislation became more and more disregarding of the rule of law. The detention without trial legislation allowed opposition leaders to be rounded up and placed in solitary confinement with no habeas corpus first for ninety days then a hundred and eighty days. In 1976 the first “independent nation” the Transkei was born to be followed by two others. They were all run by puppets and were totally dependent on “White” South Africa.

Nelson Mandela formed the militant wing of the African National Congress in 1961 as every effort to obtain rights peacefully was rebuffed by the Government. Peaceful protest then civil disobedience such as marches and burning of their passes landed leaders in jail. Mandela became the figurehead of the resistance till he and his co freedom fighters were eventually rounded up. It was touch and go whether Mandela would be sentenced to death for treason instead he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island. He served twenty seven years and exerted incredible influence from jail growing in stature by the day.

In 1972 FW de Klerk entered parliament continuing a long line of familial involvement in Afrikaner nationalist politics. His grandfather was charged with treason by the British, his father was a high ranking cabinet mnister and his uncle one of the early Nationalist Prime Ministers. On the American Continent an ambitious young man, Donald Trump, took over his father’s property business and in 1971 he started his Trump Organization.

THE 1990’S ONWARD

In the USA the growth and power of the African American proceeded apace, While discrimination exists to this day, the fact that in 2008 an African American was elected to be President for two consecutive terms and a woman of color is the current Vice President bears witness to the progress. The response to this was naked racism with a vengeance led by Donald Trump and the Republican Party which he subsequently took over. 

As matters now stand at the moment the political issue is whether America is going to remain a democracy or become an autocracy where the whites are the chosen race.  It has to be sticking in Trump’s craw that an African American is leading a committee that is ripping through his cover up of his attempted coup. However Trump’s influence remains as America armed to the teeth is hovering on the brink of losing its democracy.

The influence of the Supreme Court would once again be in evidence. Chief Justice Robert’s has to have insight that his legacy is going to rival that of Chief Justice Melville Fuller of Plessy notoriety. Surreptitiously he has paved the way for voter suppression which is directed at minorities. In a five to four decision Robert’s Court ruled that political gerrymandering of voter districts was beyond the jurisdiction of the court. By a similar majority his court ruled that election campaigns could have unlimited donations as money was equivalent to free speech. In the latter infamous case it was also declared that corporations were people. Once again with a five to four majority in the most egregious docket of them all - Shelby v Holder, the Robert’s Court gutted the 1965 Civil Rights Voting Act. The latter required that certain named states and locales  needed Federal preclearance before changing their voting laws. The three constitutional interpretations have paved the way for the Republican Party, which had by now morphed into the Trump Old Party, potential take over starting in 2022 through voter suppression of the minorities.

In the same period South Africa broke out of its racist rut. Out of the blue FW de Klerk who had been elected from the right wing of the Nationalist Party announced the release of Mandela, the repeal of the racist legislation and unbanning of black opposition parties. Anyone living in South Africa at the time this decision was astounded while appreciating the sheer guts and leadership of the move. He then persuaded whites, in a referendum, to sanction a non racial South Africa. In the years that followed a new constitution was hammered out which like the American counterpart has faced its challenges. South Africa had nine years of corrupt leadership following Mandela and his successor, Mbeki’s, departure. 

The South African Constitutional Court has by and large carried out the framers’ intent, recently having jailed the venal former President for contempt of court. The vision formulated in the nineties has had more than a hiccough, however a framer of the Constitution, Cyril Ramaphosa has taken over the reigns. South Africa too faces its challenges but at least it hasn’t had hoards of white militia storming parliament.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Both the USA and SA face challenges. Democracies are brittle and history has shown they can be taken over by minorities. Constitutions are only pieces of paper and they require the goodwill and leadership to be fulfilled. As Mandela’s autobiography’s title indicates it is “A Long Walk To Freedom”

FW de Klerk, in a video released posthumously, finally unequivocally apologized for his support of apartheid or “Separate Development as I preferred to call it”. He begged South Africans to live according to their new constitution.

The descendants of the White Ferguson and African American Plessy families joined together to have Homer Plessy posthumously pardoned for his 1892 “crime”. The Governor of Louisiana duly obliged. Meanwhile Michael Flynn, Trump’s pardoned national security advisor, has called for one nation, (guess which one), with one religion!

The committee investigating the January 6 coup attempting to turn America into a white racist autocracy is on a fast track to expose Trump and his treasonous cabal as American democracy once again hangs in the balance.