Big Week At SCOTUS

The Left Isn't Civil About It

This week, the Supreme Court ruled on both guns and abortion. There are no real similarities between the two things, even though people are trying to conflate them.

The one similarity between them is reading the opinions of the court. They show the historical context, legal precedents, and all the objective law that went into the opinion. In each case, the dissenting justices use mostly emotion in their argument. Law is not based on emotion, it’s objective and supposed to be even-handed.

Reading Twitter to get your information on both of these issues is a poor place. You really see how dumb people are and how our American education system has failed us.

I am pro-life and I don’t like a lot of limits on my creator-endowed rights.

Personally, I liked both of the big decisions this week but more importantly, what I really liked was the cogent law argument behind them. If you didn’t like the decisions, take a step back and try and read them without emotion.

In the case of Roe, voters will have a chance to finally decide for themselves what will happen in their state. That’s what should have happened in the first place and if we had followed that path, we wouldn’t have the acrimony we have today. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it was a poor opinion and not based on law.

If you are against voters deciding, ask yourself why. If a politician is against letting voters decide in their state, why do they despise the democratic process so much? What else would that politician do to usurp the democratic process?

In the case of guns, citizens will finally have a chance to decide for themselves if they want to exercise their Second Amendment rights or not. It’s up to them not the government. If someone that lives in a dangerous neighborhood wants to arm themselves, they can. That increases the risk to the criminal.

I thought Justice Thomas’ gun opinion was also very good in that it put a pinprick in the “they only had muskets then” argument which is dumb. Read his opinion.

One of the most interesting things that I see happening is in corporate policy. This morning, two startups I am invested in posted some Pro-Abortion language on their LinkedIn profiles. One of them will pay for their employees to travel to another state if the state they reside in has banned abortion, or if the employee decides to get one after the state’s limits expire. Tesla said it would a while ago.

I think this is something that NEVER would have happened with Roe in place. We will see states pass laws for and against abortion and voters will finally have their say. Federalism is great, and it is a wonderful pressure relief valve. We will see a lot of innovation around both abortions and I hope adoption. Again, I am pro-life but if a company wants to offer this benefit to their employees, fine with me. As a person, you can choose to be employed there or not. As an investor, you can choose to invest or not. As a consumer, you can choose to patronize, or not.

Don’t @me about Pro-Choice either. Abortion wasn’t ever about pro-choice in the truest sense of what a choice is. It evolved into “my body my choice” forgetting that there was another human involved in making what was inside that body who was getting 100% of the choice, not to mention the human being inside the body had no voice in the matter.

I have always been against federal or state taxpayer dollars going for abortion. But, I have never been against private non-profits or for-profit corporations deciding to fund them.

I have two questions for companies tweeting out that they will pay expenses for employees to get an abortion:

• Will they do the same for employees that are trying to get an adoption?

• Will they pay for employee costs to get pregnant that aren’t covered by the company’s insurance?

Everyone seems to shout from the mountaintops how proud their company is about family leave policies because it is convenient the government mandates them (hint: the government shouldn’t) and companies wrap themselves in the “pro-family” flag. But, abortion is about the most anti-family thing you can do and so there seems to be a disconnect between pro-family and anti-family.

To both Democrats and Republicans, what can you do in the law/regulation to make adoption easier and cheaper for people? Do it. Do it now. Next week is a good time to start the conversation.

My friend Ron asks, “What about special clinical trials or experimental medical treatments not covered by a company’s insurance?” Will they pay for that too?

I am hearing now that the left is going to take to the streets which can only mean violent protests are coming. That’s sad and Glenn Reynolds covers it well here.

To the left-wing, you promoted and earned this fight. They got their butts whipped and the ironic thing is only about 5% of the population really seems worked up about the abortion issue. In fact, in most states, it is and will stay legal to get an abortion with some limits. This sums up what a lot of us on the right are thinking. Instead of having the attitude of “you will be made to care” why not just leave everyone alone?

There are bigger worries:

• I am more worried about putting gas in the tank of my car and the cost of food at the grocery store than I am about abortion or guns.

• I am more worried about the ever-expanding scope and reach of the federal government into every facet of my life than I am about abortion or guns.

• I am more worried about the debt the government has created than I am about abortion or guns.

• I am more worried about the left-wing politicization of the government bureaucracy than I am about abortion or guns. See Merrick Garland as Exhibit A. See Gary Gensler as Exhibit B.

• I am more worried about the size, scope, and administration of federal programs than I am about abortion or guns. 70% of the federal budget is pre-planned and unalterable.

• The porous Mexican border concerns me more than abortion or guns do

• The decrepit government-run American education system worries me more than abortion or guns do.

One thing we will learn in the aftermath of the abortion issue. We will learn that markets are messy and take a lot of time to arrive at a good solution but it is usually the correct solution. America can now use federalism to take a market-based approach to solve the abortion issue. Individuals and companies will be able to act and do what they want to do as they see fit in their own best interests.

They were prohibited from doing that in a large measure before by a centralized government authority. This last week was a great week for America if you value freedom and the democratic process.

(Added)

Predictably, my junk email was loaded with appeals for money to go to politicians. I am sure left-wing pols did the same. This happens all the time and thank goodness it goes to my junk mail. I didn’t write one check, nor will I.