To The Editor:
In the letter in The Valley Reporter of July 7 by a Mr. Cho, he spoke stridently of “undignified displays of hysterical women’s rights advocates on practically every other float." If you are not going to get upset about the reversal of 50 years of settled law by six of the justices of the Supreme Court, two of whom lied in their confirmation hearings and two of whom were appointed in an underhanded and immoral way, will anything make you angry?
The reversal of Roe v. Wade affects Vermonters, not because they won’t be able to get an abortion, but because it signals a court ready, as Justice Thomas indicated, to do away with a host of other rights. It seems totally appropriate for the Prickly Mountain float to take on this issue which I believe will be one of the defining issues of the coming mid-term election and the presidential election of 2024.
If enough Democrats win in November, in an election which usually favors the party out of power, they will be able to get rid of the Electoral College, make the election of the president by popular vote, irrespective of state lines, and pass a new national voting rights bill. These measures will substantially reduce the power of the minority to decide on the direction of the country.
To make sure that these changes stick Biden and the Democrats will have to start playing the kind of hard ball the Republicans have been playing for years and increase the size of the Supreme Court. The era of bi-partisan governance in this country is clearly over. Let the majority rule without apology.
Charles Taplin
Warren, VT
