It goes without saying that I seldom agree with Supreme
Court Justice Antonin Scalia. However,
I do give him credit for his linguistic intelligence. Invariably, when Justice Scalia issues an opinion, it sends one
scurrying for a dictionary. When I
heard him say the words, “jiggery-pokery” in his dissent in the Obamacare
ruling last week, I was certain that he made it up or perhaps it was from a
Harry Potter movie. I checked with Mr. Webster and it is indeed a word.
“Jiggery-pokery” means dishonest or suspicious activity;
trickery. My stomach turned over. I actually agreed with ultra-conservative
Supreme Court Justice Scalia! It was
jiggery-pokery! After fifty failed
attempts by the Senate and House to kill Obamacare, the Republicans found an
error in the wording regarding who could receive subsidies. They found this
unintentional error within the thousands of pages of the law. Instead of saying “United States” the law
says States.” The intent of the law was
clear and thank heavens, the majority of the Justices realized that this was
nothing more than “Jiggery-pokery” by the Republicans and those who don’t care
about lower income Americans having health insurance. Jiggery-Pokery is my new favorite word.
The other words he used in his decision “that’s pure
applesauce” will never catch on.
Somehow that doesn’t express a high level of nonsense and exaggeration
as my old favorite word, “BS!”
While we’re on the subject of words, there is a phrase that
makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I hear it. Those words are “slippery slope.” This term is usually used by right-wingers
when they don’t have an argument of facts about a particular subject. The term “slippery slope” is scary. Nobody wants to go there. This term does not conjure up a happy ending
in our mind. Oh no! We can’t go down that slippery slope! People who use that term find it very
effective because it’s hard for anyone to argue with a fallacy. However, not all “slippery slopes” are bad.
All progress in this country started on a slippery slope.
Opposition to freeing slaves in the mid-1800’s was so great that a civil war
was fought. Thank goodness Abraham
Lincoln went down that slippery slope and freed the slaves. The term “slippery slope” did not exist
then, but I’m sure arguments around the general store wood stove by white men
went something like this: “First you
give ‘em freedom, then next they’ll want to vote. Then they’ll take our jobs and demand to be paid the same as
White men.” Of course, they couldn’t
see a slippery slope so dangerous that may end with a black man being elected
president.
It took 100 years of women protesting by the likes of Susan
B. Anthony, to finally be allowed the right to vote. (That was in 1920; not
really that many years ago). I can hear
the opponents of enfranchising women saying, “We can’t go down that slippery
slope! If we allow them to vote, next
they will demand the same rights as a man.
They will then insist they be paid the same as a man doing the same
job. They will expect men to wash
dishes. Then they may run for public
office. And heaven forbid, one day a
woman may be elected President of the United States!”
No slippery slope journey in our country has been quick and
easy. Although we’ve made great
strides, the journey for equal rights for women, minorities, and gays and
lesbians still continues.
It is my hope that we are on the slippery slope to
decriminalizing recreational use of marijuana and we can’t afford to wait
another fifty years. I want to see our
prisons and jails with vacancy signs because they are not loaded down with
harmless pot smokers. Over the course
of my profession in law enforcement and the legal field, in addition to
experiencing life, I have seen too many young people’s hopes for the future shot
down because they were caught smoking a weed.
We have to stop making criminals!
All the arguments against decriminalization of pot smoking is a bunch of
“jiggery-pokery.”
Marilyn Langford
No comments:
Post a Comment