I would like to thank all of you who shared my earlier piece on the Hobby Lobby decision, and the counter factual question "What if Muslims Used the Hobby Lobby Decision to Discriminate Against White Christians?".
It has gone viral with about 65,000 shares on Facebook.
As I wrote there, despite the Court's claim that the Hobby Lobby ruling will have a "narrow" reach with few implications, the consequences for how claims of religious freedom and free enterprise can trump standing law and the social compact will be far reaching.
In my earlier post, I alluded to the question of unintended consequences in regards to how Hobby Lobby could potentially blow up in the faces of the White Right. Reflecting on that supposition by putting it within a broader cultural, historical, and political context, Hobby Lobby may actually be an intentional gift to the White Right by the Roberts court.
How?
The Libertarian wing is pleased that federal law and the social compact are further diminished. The Christian Fundamentalists are happy that their twisted and distorted view that the United States ought to be made into a theocracy where "Biblically sound" laws govern was advanced by the Supreme Court. The plutocrats are giddy that they moved one more piece forward on the chessboard of corporate control over all aspects of individual's lives and freedom.
In my original thoughts on how the Hobby Lobby ruling is one more step towards American Theocracy, I erred by assuming judicial neutrality and principled decision making on the part of the Roberts and Scalia Court. My veneration of the Court distracted me from how its Right-wing members have politicized and ruined such an important American political institution.
The contemporary Tea Party GOP (and movement conservatism more broadly) is an unholy alliance of divergent interests. Of course, white supremacy and anti-black racism is one of their strongest bonds; it is a shared value. For the corporatists and the 1 percent it is a means to an end; for the other elements of the White Right it is a core belief.
The Hobby lobby decision offers up a foul, yet appropriate visual, for describing the White Right's Age of Obama Legion of Doom.
The 1 percent and the corporateocracy are voyeurs. They enjoy watching while the libertarians mount the Christian Dominionists and other fundies from behind. The 1 percent are enthralled at the sex show. The Libertarians are not even kind enough to give the Christian Fundamentalists the courtesy of a reach around. The latter enjoy being used; they are topping from the bottom. The open white supremacists are chained to the wall, wearing gimp suits and with gag balls in their mouths, eager to be freed so that they may do the others' bidding.
The question then becomes, how long will this alliance of convenience last?
To the degree that they are separate elements, will the Christian Dominionists, Corporatists/1 percenters and libertarians turn on one another? Will this happen in the near, mid, or long term?
Will the open white supremacists in the Tea Party GOP alliance become disgusted at the relative "moderation" of their allies?
The outrage narrative in response to the Supreme Court's horrible Hobby Lobby ruling is entertaining and compelling. It makes for easy "hashtag" Social Media "activism". The more important and substantive work begins by putting the Court's support of Austerity, neoliberalism, and theocracy within a broader systemic context.
The commentariat should be asking what is the bigger game plan here, whose agenda is being advanced, and how is it being forced on the American people?
A few are following through on that most basic of journalist responsibilities; unfortunately, too many others are going for the "cheap heat".