The text on the image reads
We are all Ruth now.
When I opened my eyes this morning, I was all fired up and ready to write a huge and in depth blog post about equality, liberty, and justice for all, mourning the Notorious RBG. Many historians, politicians, political scientists, legal experts and more have already expressed those same sentiments with great understanding and expertise. I don't know that I have anything to truly add to what those more qualified humans have already shared. So, I'm sticking with my first sentiment:
Rest in power, Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I hope we live up to your expectations.
It's been a few days since her passing. It's time to keep fighting for equality for all, liberty for all, and justice for all.
All does not mean a limited subsection of people. It does not mean either the majority or a minority. It means every single person regardless of their job or joblessness, their gender, age, (dis)ability, skin color, birthplace, or heritage, and regardless of with whom they choose to have intimate personal relationships. Equal standing under the law is one of the most important tenets of democracy.
I like democracy because it is respectful, in its theories if not yet in its practice. This country is only a couple hundred years old. We're a work in progress. Perfect execution of democracy is not realistic, but I'm up for continuing to work toward better renditions of it.
Progress is not an easy road, from what I've seen of it in my few decades here. Not everyone has the same vision for the future or the same definition of progress. Not everyone wants progress. There are a minority of people who don't even believe that equality is something to uplift and work toward. That level of fear and selfishness makes no sense to me. We're all on the same road, though, walking this country along in all our different directions, most of us trying to figure out how to cooperate and coexist in the process.
The challenge is even greater when the alleged atrocities of ICE come to light and seem to keep growing in their cruelty and inhumanity. It's greater every time someone (disproportionately someone Black) is shot dead by law enforcement when they should instead be given their right to a trial by their peers. It's important that those granted the responsibility of authority to serve The People by upholding our laws do so with respect, maturity, and equanimity.
I guess I wrote a great big blog post after all. I may as well keep typing.
On the personal side of things, I went in to get another COVID swab earlier today because I'm scheduled for my third (UGH!) endometriosis-related surgery on Wednesday. I'm in full quarantine-mode for the foreseeable future to protect both my doctors and myself. (To put it lightly, coughing even a little after pelvic surgery is not something I recommend. COVID's symptom list, even when not in its severe form, is daunting when looking at post-surgery recovery.) To say the least, healthcare is very much on my mind.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is on the Supreme Court's docket this year. It is an act that is very much rooted in equality and egalitarianism. With RBG's seat empty or possibly filled by political motivations, I fear for its future, which really means that I fear for ours. The Affordable Care Act was hugely helpful to me when I was a single self-employed person in a lot of pain. It was and is at least as useful to others. It's already saved lives by allowing people to access health care that they may not have been able to afford otherwise. It frees people from being trapped in jobs they hate or in relationships that are unhealthy for the sake of health insurance. It gives people options.
Even though I don't use ACA for my health insurance right now, it's important to me that people have access to medical care. The improved health of each of us adds to the overall health of all of us.