The week that just ended was a good one.
After the appalling tragedy of the previous week with the Charleston killings, things improved considerably this week with the confederate flag suddenly losing favor as a result of the killer’s fondness for it, then a key provision of Obamacare being upheld by the US Supreme Court, and then same body saying that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
Chief justice John Roberts was vilified by the right wing following his 6-3 opinion upholding Obamacare on Thursday. He was portrayed as a traitor who had betrayed those who had supported his nomination to the court because they believed that he would vote consistently with the most extreme elements of the conservative wing. But then the very next day he came out strongly against granting marriage rights to same-sex couples. Will his bitter dissent in the second case now put him back in the right wing’s good graces and shift all their opprobrium on to justice Kennedy who, after all, was in both majority opinions and was the decisive vote in the latter?
I do expect Kennedy to now be subject to a hate campaign but Roberts will probably not be granted absolution because of his stand on same-sex marriage. These extremists harbor grudges for a long time and give no quarter. They expect total loyalty to their causes and Roberts’s two-time defection on Obamacare will make him forever tainted and suspect in their eyes.
While same-sex marriage supporters are celebrating all over the nation, the response by opponents of same-sex marriage to the ruling has been that of flailing around and issuing threats that cannot succeed. Some states have tried to put up bureaucratic obstacles but those are unlikely to last as the futility of defying a Supreme Court ruling becomes apparent and these moves are seen for what they are, petty acts of spite against gay people who want to exercise their newfound right marry. Unlike the guerilla warfare waged against abortion rights, a similar campaign against same-sex marriage will be harder because while only a few people seek abortions, marriage licenses are sought by a vast number of people.
This may be a good time to remind religious opponents of same-sex marriage what the Bible actually says about marriage, as explained by Betty Bowers, America’s Best Christian.
Roberts is being quite consistent. He voted in favor of a right-wing capitalist insurance company enrichment scam masquerading as health care reform being pushed by a scammer masquerading as a liberal. Now he votes against same-sex marriage. The right wing should be delighted with him but wisely plays the game of distancing itself from things the rank and file are opposed to but the leadership secretly favors, like giving billions to insurance companies and the import of unlimited and desperate cheap labor.