It was the right wing that fought the religious test ban of the 6th article of the US Constitution. They could not fathom not honoring God in government or not requiring a Christian-only religious test in oaths for public office. They held tightly to the old order of things in existence for as long as anyone remembers. That makes it right, regardless. Change is bad.
It was the right wing that fought to keep slavery an institution.
It was the right wing that fought women's suffrage. It was the right wing that fought contraception and family planning education which entailed the distribution of information and products that would help women take control of their own futures. With the Comstock Law of 1873, it became a crime to send condoms and information in the mail across state borders. Twenty four states then did the same for within their bounds.
It was the right wing that created and supported laws against interracial marriage. It was the right wing that fought desegregating the armed forces. During WW2, until a shortage of men began appearing, black men could only serve as stewards on the ships.
It was the right wing that fought child labor laws just a they still fight a minimum wage law.
It is the right wing that always attacks dissenting speech as treasonous and unAmerican. It was the right wing, the conservative Federalists who passed the Seditions Act of 1798 outlawing criticism of the government during the Adams administration.
It was the right wing that fought the post war, gender equality movement begun in the 1960s which sought equality of the sexes in society and the workplace. Equality meant liberty. Its the right wing that called abolitionists and suffragists "socialists" and atheists. It was the right wing, especially the religious conservatives that fought natural sciences from day one because it threatened their long established traditional cosmology. From Galileo to Darwin to Richard Dawkins, the right's been having fits over the results coming from the natural sciences.
It was the right wing that pushed the sedition act after WW1, with which attorney General Palmer paved the way for McCarthyism, more jingoist, anti-immigrant, anti-socialist paranoia. (Congress eventually threw the book at him; J. Edgar Hoover was his lieutenant, too.
The list goes on and on yet the right wing keep recycling the same arguments relying on ignorance and strategies of distortion regarding who is responsible for attacking freedom over the centuries - and nearly every liberty movement that has ever occurred.
Its been the right wing that has promoted religious intolerance, racism, sexism and discrimination based on sexual orientation. They seem to despise everyone's liberty but their own. There are "control issues" here.
Its the right wing that fights the spirit of the 14th amendment's due process and equal protection clauses:
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities 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 the laws.
No comments:
Post a Comment