With the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, following the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, it is evident that the America we have known over the past 70 years—during which the United States achieved global supremacy and brought unprecedented prosperity to its people—may be reaching its end. That may seem extreme, but we believe it is an accurate assessment.
In our perspective, the main reason for America’s success since the end of World War II, despite numerous missteps (including Vietnam, Watergate, and Iraq), has been the expansion of rights for all citizens and the welcoming of people from around the world to enjoy and contribute to our wealth and democratic values.
Regarding this, we point out that many of the Nobel prizes awarded to Americans in recent years have been claimed by immigrants. Remember, too, that Steve Jobs’ father was from Syria and the parents of one of Google’s founders emigrated from Russia. These individuals, like all immigrants before and after them, came to this country to build a better life for their families and to contribute to their new home.
There is no doubt, however, that the newly formed Supreme Court will not only take us back to the pre-1930s era but will lead a new movement.
The court has, in recent years, weakened the Voting Rights Act and, through the Citizens United case, allowed the ultra-wealthy to spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections.
With the addition of two more conservatives, the Supreme Court may now move backward on many rights that most Americans have accepted as standard over the past three generations, including those of women, people of color, and individuals of different sexual orientations.
Hopefully, Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives in the fall—not necessarily because we support Democrats, but because we need at least one chamber of Congress to serve as a check on the White House. However, this will not alter the trajectory of the Supreme Court.
What does this mean for us in Massachusetts and the other coastal states, with some exceptions in between?
Concretely, we should be welcoming to all people; we should be safe havens for a woman’s right to choose (as the Supreme Court is likely to undermine Roe v. Wade); we should raise the minimum wage and support unions; we should prepare for the effects of climate change; we should enforce strict gun laws to reduce crime and mass shootings; and we should make our state’s education systems world-class.
We need to be everything they are not.
Consider this: Let’s build our state’s economy to benefit from what they are abandoning.
This will require bold thinking from our elected leaders and an unprecedented partnership between the state and the business community, which must be persuaded to collaborate with the state in order to achieve shared objectives.
In short, we must take our future into our own hands in a way we have never imagined before.
It will demand a great deal of hard work and sacrifice—but given the developments at the national level, we have no other choice.