I try to stay away from politics on this blog. I figure people can read about politics anywhere and get their information from people more informed than me.

But this Supreme Court in its activist effort to turn back the clock and turn our country into a gun-toting, whiter, more Christian America has decided that my rights mean nothing. I protest.

FREEDOM FROM FEAR

I realize FREEDOM FROM FEAR appears nowhere in the constitution, but it’s assumed. I assume that I can peacefully walk down the street minding my own business and not worry about getting shot. I understand there are people in our country who don’t have this freedom. Just ask elementary school teachers and students who are doing Active Shooter Drills. My heart also goes out to Moms, Dads, young people and elders who live in drug-infested neighborhoods. They should be free from fear as well.

That is the problem the Supreme Court should be addressing.

Instead, they’ve decided that NY’s law that heavily restricts the ability to carry a concealed handgun in public violates the constitution.

They have decided that Americans don’t have freedom from fear. They have the freedom to carry guns where ever they want and scare the shit out of everyone else.

I realize this means that I can go out and buy a gun … and that will theoretically put me on an equal playing field with the gun toters. Please. I can’t accurately hit a target with an arrow (I tried in summer camp). I had the same problem last week with axe throwing (my adorable husband thought axe throwing would be a good retirement activity for some reason.}

Last year when I traveled to North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri and Arkansas and other such states I assumed there were guns everywhere because of what I understand to be “gun culture”. I never saw the guns, which was ok with me. They were hidden in trailers, truck consoles or whatever. To me, guns out of mind are a good thing. Kind of like sugar. The best way not to be tempted to play with a weapon is to have it locked up and out of sight. Take it to the shooting range or watch people being shot in a movie. But don’t have a handgun visible to me because I will have a hard time discerning your intent and all I will have to defend myself is (hmmm) a throwing axe I don’t know how to use. I won’t have anything because I live my life peacefully and expect the people around me to do the same.

This Supreme Court decision puts the peaceful positive thinking people of this world at a huge and dangerous disadvantage.

I want to say I have never had an issue with legal guns that are used safely. Gun safes, safety locks, mandatory education are all fine with me.

Much like driving automobiles, the public needs to be protected from bad behavior like driving drunk or driving through a red light. It is true that when I lived in Canada a neighboring farmer wrote the word COW on his cow because idiot hunters had been known to shoot cows instead of deer by mistake. That farmer should be protected as well.

FREEDOM FROM DISCRIMINATION

Yesterday the Supreme Court said Maine cannot exclude religious schools from a tuition assistance program that allows parents to use vouchers to send their children to public or private schools. I am not taking a position against funds going with a student to a public or religious school. I went to a Quaker school even though my family was secular Jewish. At that school, I learned the value of tolerance and brotherhood. I have carried those values with me my entire life. What I definitely object to is the idea that government dollars could go to a school that discriminates against Jews, LBGQT parents, or anyone else they think is against the values of the school.

Religious values can’t trump tolerance. It cannot. If a parent wants to send their child to a religious school, because it has the best and most appropriate education, they should be able to or government funds must be withheld. We have enough problems with de facto segregation, bullying, and prejudice without having government-supported schools enabling bad behavior.

And don’t forget the response to desegregation was setting up private White, often religious, schools. That was not OK.

Some people say Parental Rights are consistent with school choice. It is up to the parents to decide what should be taught regarding values-driven issues.

Today, it should be illegal if a student is deliberately excluded from a school due to religion, race or the sexual orientation of the parents. I don’t care what the “values” of the religion are.

I say to the justices of the Supreme Court, please start thinking about the impact of your decisions on the majority of the people of this country. That includes pretty much everyone who isn’t a gun-toting White Christian. I can see how the pendulum may have swung too far on the issues that gun-toters and orthodox religions value, but anything that opens the door to bigotry or intolerance is unacceptable no matter what the parental values are.

Author’s Note. Thoughtful comments are welcome. They don’t have to agree, They just must be considerate. Anything hateful or bigoted will be deleted and if I feel attacked, I will close the comments section immediately.