Oh, Jean-Claude. It's come to that ... for now.
But it's not a 50/50 proposition on abortion rights. A sturdy majority (61%) supports those rights in poll after poll. Roe v. Wade was around for almost 50 years ... people (like me) took it for granted, assuming it would always be there.
Simone never did.
If Simone were here, she'd be going back to war. I'm here in her place, as a meager surrogate. A pro-abortion, pro-women group in Indiana (Mike Pence's home state; a very "red" [conservative] state) got in touch and asked me to help them with messaging.
The executive director is a Muslim mom of 3 ... and a professional political operative. I volunteered immediately ... and we're starting to go at it, hammer and tongs.
As for the authoritarian-regime longings of Americans, I suspect that's going to be erased eventually, election by election, as the demographics swing less and less in favor of a white majority. Diversity is an incredible asset for a nation. It was one of the most comforting cultural aspects of living in Rhode Island: we live in a state built by immigrants, wave after wave, generation after generation, movement after movement. When I sat on stage to accept Simone's posthumous doctorate from Rhode Island College, I must have seen graduates from 20 countries sweep proudly across stage, with their families cheering!
Equally thrilling: some of America is seriously discussing "reparations" ... because so much of the nation's wealth was built on the backs of slaves.
Here in Rhode Island, more than a third of the state legislature is now female ... which WAS the chief goal of the Women's Fund Simone founded: gender diversity at the top governing level.
As you know, my lovely mate/companion/prize/miracle [Simone] was a bit of a pessimist [synonym: realist? Georges had strongly shaped her belief system].
And with the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court, it turns out she was RIGHT to be pessimistic.
Despite the gloom that currently shrouds me, having lost her to a disease that today's medicine can only shrug at, I'm a bit of an optimist. (Or maybe just a lazy, wishful day-dreamer?)
I see a chance with this Roe v. Wade decision to awaken a surge of outrage... as happened with the 2016 presidential elections in the U.S.: when money poured into "liberal" [human rights] causes >>> unbelievable amounts of money, cascades of cash, spontaneously, unsolicited. And money buys power ... because (in the U.S.) money buys election results, for good or evil.
Here's my final comment:
Not a day goes by when I don't think of you and Fab (and Toma!) and all the things we did together for decades. I can smell the pine needles from our hikes. I can see the wonders of France you brought our way. I can relive every meal, home-cooked with love or served in a fancy-pants restaurant.
Please know how much I love you.
~ tom