Amy Coney Barrett
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IMAGE FROM UPSPLASH
I am not a conservative person. I’m the farthest thing from one, in fact. I would consider myself maybe even more far left than a liberal would consider themselves by today’s standards. So I guess that would make me a socialist. I believe in equality and fairness for all, I believe in a universal basic income and I believe that Trudeau has more bark than bite. He’s not willing to actually solve racism, as evidenced by his almost non-existent response to the Mi’kmaq lobster war, in which the Mi’kmaq people have treaty rights to hunt and provide for their families.
So I suppose this would put me in direct opposition of the recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. There is much speculation that this woman will single-handedly set American progress back 50 or so years - along with a 6-3 conservative majority - with her stance on abortion, her referencing sexual identities as sexual preferences, and her position on the second amendment to name a few of her political alignments. She proclaims herself as an originalist, meaning that the American constitution should be upheld the way it was written in the 18th century. American liberals are right in being concerned, as societal values and perceptions have changed in the 233 years since the constitution was written and signed. I won’t be the first in saying that if the constitution had received no amendments since it was originally written, Justice Coney Barrett would not be sitting on the high court today.
IMAGE BY UPSPLASH
Even the founding fathers knew that societal views would change over time, and used language in the constitution to reflect that. Founding Father Thomas Jefferson quite brilliantly said, “we might as well ask a man to wear a coat that fitted him when he was a boy.” The Founding Fathers themselves never expected future generations to live under the same rules and regulations as they did.
So why am I talking about a country that I don’t live in? Well, like I said, I believe in equality and fairness for all. When you really get down to it, it really only is an invisible line that separates us from the same laws and practices of our American counterparts. I shudder to think about how my life could have turned out if I wasn’t given certain protections and freedoms as I have here in Canada. I count my blessings every day that I was not born in America. Might I also say that while Canada is not perfect, and we have a long way to go before each and every one of us is truly seen as equal in the eyes of government and the eyes of the law, we are living proof that what America is trying to do right now simply doesn’t work.
It’s no surprise to me that Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed. The Republican Party has proven time and time again that they will play dirty to get their way. From my understanding, the process to swear in a Supreme Court Justice takes around 70 days on average. It has been roughly a month and a half since RBG passed away. This is an injustice to the American people, who are rightly calling out the hypocrisy in filling a vacant seat in an election year. In 2016, when Antonin Scalia passed away, Moscow Mitch McConnell sat on his thumbs for 11 months to replace him. Now, from the time that Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed to the election date, he had a little over two months.
This form of “leadership” from any conservative party is why I could never vote for them, no matter how much financial responsibility they promise. The lies, the cheating, the corruption, the hypocrisy, the hatred, the propaganda and the scare mongering to get people to keep voting for them. I’m simply amazed that these people have any followers left. They no longer represent what the majority of the American people want. They will go down on the wrong side of history. All they have left is to cling to the few threads of power that are remaining. They’re going down fast, but unfortunately, there are going to be setbacks. Amy Coney Barrett is one of them.
Garrett Forsyth
Garrett considers himself to be an average Joe who writes, plays video games, is an avid lover of The Golden Girls, and sleeps way too much. He also watches anime, and aspires to become a cat lady before the next apocalypse. He hates people who are misogynistic, racist, homophobic, and trans-phobic, people who wake him up too early, and things that smell bad.
