Trojan Horses
When the Greeks wheeled the wooden horse up to the gates of Troy, some Trojan must have said, “Oh, how nice. Someone left a gift horse offering for Athena. Let’s get it inside.” What could possibly go wrong?
Today we focus on three Trojan horses that threaten democracy with blueprints, plans, and authoritarian beliefs. These threats are aimed at the heart of our constitutional democracy. They are literally at our gates.
[1.] Trojan Horses in Black Robes
After 50 years of precedent, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Roe v. Wade “was egregiously wrong from the start…. and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives.” In its place, we were given the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision along with misguided advice from Justice Brett Kavanaugh who said states outlawing the procedure may not bar residents from traveling to other states to terminate their pregnancies.
Nearly two years later, we now know how that all worked out. The country is split in two. Some States have attempted to nationalize their bans and prohibitions. Others have protected women’s reproductive rights and, in some cases, enshrined them in State Constitutions. These protections may or may not hold depending on mounting threats to the will of the people coming from the courts.
In Amarillo, Texas, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine brought suit against the FDA attempting to reverse FDA approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone. The case was venue-shopped to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, the sole District Judge in the Northern District of Texas (Amarillo), within the jurisdiction of the ultra-conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs (including two dentists) brought the case to Amarillo because they knew the judge would be sympathetic to their case. They were richly rewarded. Kacsmaryk’s 67-page polemical ruling on the case calls abortion providers “abortionists” and describes the use of mifepristone as killing or “starving the unborn human until death.” Kacsmaryk is well-known for his aversion to women’s bodily autonomy, as well as his position on transgenderism which he calls “a delusion” and his position on homosexuality which he calls “disordered.” And he wants to see these positions nationalized.
The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Oral arguments for the case, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, were heard before the Court on March 26, 2024. A decision is expected at the end of the Court’s term in late June. Pundits think the Court showed little patience for the plaintiff’s arguments against mifepristone, but we can take little comfort. Whichever way the Court rules in this case, the anti-reproductive rights movement is not over. They have more plans for a nationwide ban on abortion without passing a single new law. No congressional or state legislation required.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer was on the bench at the time of the Dobbs decision. He along with Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan filed a dissenting opinion. They wrote:
“States may even argue that a prohibition on abortion need make no provision for protecting a woman from risk of death or physical harm. Across a vast array of circumstances, a State will be able to impose its moral choice on a woman and coerce her to give birth to a child.
“Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens. ... The Constitution will, today’s majority holds, provide no shield, despite its guarantees of liberty and equality for all.”
Breyer critiques the current Supreme Court in his new book, “Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism.” He claims the Court has taken a wrong turn reading into the Constitution an imagined history without a common-sense appreciation of contemporary times, nor for that matter regard for the public’s low esteem. His book is a call for the newest members of the Court to reconsider how they approach their jobs.
Imagine that.
A former Supreme Court Justice is warning us to be wary of the Supreme Court.
[2.] Trojan Horses in False Vestments
The late, 19th century Anthony Comstock was a righteous scold with thick mutton chops bellowing on about the scourge of social ills. According to the history books, he was also a misogynist, racist, homophobic, “anti-vice” crusader, obsessed with sex — or rather, obsessed with controlling everyone else’s sexual behavior. If he were alive today, he might be a proponent of “Seven Mountains Dominionism.”
Seven Mountains was founded in the 1970s. The movement is believed to be ordained by God. Followers say a purported message from God was delivered to certain evangelicals. The message ordered them to invade the "seven spheres" of society.
Family. Religion. Education. Media. Entertainment. Business. Government.
Today, Seven Mountains is a blueprint for a political ideology asserting that dominion theology impose its fundamentalist values on American society.
Anthony Comstock believed much the same. His beliefs that the mere existence of birth control, abortion, pornography, and even nudity in art corrupted society. In 1873 he stormed Capitol Hill to pass the “Comstock Act” making it a felony to send so-called “filthy” items through the mail. People used the word “Comstockery” to mock his overzealous censorship. But he was a scourge. Besides opposing women’s suffrage (sakes alive!) his “Act” forbids dissemination of any information or article of birth control or abortion. Thousands were arrested. Comstock himself boasted that 15 people were driven to suicide by his actions.
The Comstock Act hasn’t been enforced for nearly a century, but it was never repealed. Instead, a long series of court cases eventually overturned much of the Comstock Act, perhaps most famously Griswold v. Connecticut, the U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized contraception in 1965 for married couples. Now after years of this “settled law” Griswold may not be safe. Recall that Griswold was in the crosshairs of Justice Clarence Thomas’ Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health opinion, which overruled Roe v. Wade. In June 2022, Thomas wrote:
“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”
In a single sweep, Thomas is putting birth control, legalized same-sex relationships and marriage equality on notice. His notice.
When Justice Thomas name-checked the Comstock Act in the mifepristone case, he called it “18 USC1461.” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar called it by its name. The Comstock Act. Attempted obfuscation was not lost on her. The fact that Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito both invoked the Comstock Act suggests that with the stroke of a pen, federal law could be used to prosecute sending mifepristone through the U.S. Postal Service.
This would be a major win for the forces intent on denying women’s reproductive rights. It would be a de facto nationwide ban of medical abortion. No state, not even states where abortion is legal, would be safe from federal prosecution.
Back to the “Seven Mountains”
When an Alabama Supreme Court ruling in February caused chaos about in vitro fertilization [IVF], Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker shed a shining light on Seven Mountains Dominionism. Parker sprinkled his opinion with scripture citations nearly two dozen times.
On the same day the February decision declaring “embryos are people” came down, Parker appeared online in an interview with QAnon conspiracy theorist Johnny Enlow, author of “The Seven Mountain Prophecy,” and said:
“We have abandoned those seven mountains, and they’ve been occupied by the opposite side…. I will say that God created government, and the fact that we have let it go into the possession of others is heartbreaking.”
Like most extremist views, “Seven Mountains” are not policy debates. They are behavior dictates to be imposed on every American citizen once all seven mountains are controlled by dominion theology. Like Anthony Comstock, this movement is obsessed with controlling everyone else’s behavior—particularly sexual behavior—openly and publicly. “Seven Mountains Dominionism” is not a secret. We ignore it at our own peril.
Disgraced United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn is among the “celebrity warriors” aligned with the “Seven Mountains” of Christian Nationalism. Flynn is recruiting an “army of God” to claim dominion. He joins rank with other high-profile people in both state and federal government, along with media narcissists who push the boundaries for attention like Roger Stone, Doug Mastriano, Mike Lindell, and Charlie Kirk, the now over-thirty founder of a national student group called “Turning Point.”
“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion…. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”—Michael Flynn
Thomas Jefferson might like a word.
“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”—Thomas Jefferson. 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association.
Ironically, there is a group called “Christians Against Christian Nationalism” organized by the Baptist Joint Committee [BJC]. Amanda Tyler is executive director of BJC and the leader of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism initiative. She is clear about the distinction between the two. Christian Nationalism is not religion. In her own words:
“Christian nationalism is a political ideology and cultural framework that seeks to merge American and Christian identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism relies on the mythological founding of the United States as a “Christian nation,” singled out for God’s providence in order to fulfill God’s purposes on earth. Christian nationalism demands a privileged place for Christianity in public life, buttressed by the active support of government at all levels…. Standing against Christian nationalism is standing up for everyone’s religious freedom — the freedom to practice any faith or no faith without unnecessary interference by government.”
Thomas Jefferson would approve.
Christian nationalism cannot coexist with American democracy because it conflates the rule of law with the bible…because it has an aversion to pluralism and diversity—hallmarks of American democracy.
Recently, Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo exposed a secret, men-only, right-wing group called the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR). Its wealthy, white leaders call for instituting white male dominion and its version of Christianity in the U.S. after a “regime” change. Proponents of that regime would plow down in its path reproductive rights, bodily autonomy, and acceptance of communities of color, gender, transgender and sexual orientation. All in pursuit of making the country safe and secure for Christian families. We are reminded again that SACR is not a religion. It is an extremist ideology. Not surprisingly, many of its proponents are major architects of Project 2025.
[3.] Trojan Horses at Home and Abroad
In the first section, we’ve seen how courts can influence “legislation” hobbling the federal government, short-circuiting the democratic process, and transferring inconceivable amounts of power into the hands of a few unelected jurists. Dobbs. Voting Rights. Affirmative Action. Mifepristone. Environmental protection. Law enforcement. Food and drug safety to name a few.
In the second section, we see the aspirations of scripture-based political ideologies ramping up for their own version of command and control on the way to the “end times”—the end of the world as we know it, the resurrection of the righteous, and the dawn of a new world order.
In this third section, we look at a nexus of blueprints, plans, and authoritarian beliefs that point toward a radical reimagination of government—where the rule of law gives way to rule by the lawless. All of it is in the works, and if left unchecked, could happen here in the United States. Some of it has been ignored by the press.
The press did provide sufficient coverage of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s recent visit to Mar-a-Lago. But another Orbán visit in Washington D.C. got scant notice. [No, it was not a visit to the White House.] On Friday, March 8, Orbán met with the U.S. Heritage Foundation behind closed doors. An advisory from the International Communications Office of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary characterized the meeting as a “panel discussion” entitled, “The Future of Relations between the United States and Hungary.” Orbán held the panel discussion with Kevin Roberts, one of the chief architects of Project 2025. The panel was attended by some of the most renowned US right-wing politicians, analysts, and public personalities. The Heritage Foundation, once the apple of Reaganomics thinkers, has now doubled down on Hungarian authoritarianism. It has joined other right-wing organizations romancing autocrats. What are we to think?
In Hungary, Orbán has undermined democracy and gutted the civil service; filled it with loyalists; attacked immigrants, women, and the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals; taken over businesses for friends and family and moved the country away from the rules-based international order supported by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
In the United States, Project 2025 is borrowing from the Hungarian template.
In January, New York Times Lulu Garcia Navarro interviewed Kevin Roberts about the four principles of Project 2025 that he says the country must embrace:
- “Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children.”
- “Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people.”
- "Defend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats;” and
- “Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely—what our Constitution calls ‘the Blessings of Liberty.”
Pretty words. But a closer reading of the nearly 1,000 pages of Project 2025 “Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise” spells out what these policies would mean for ordinary Americans:
- Restoring the family…means eliminating any words associated with sexual orientation or gender identity, gender, abortion, reproductive health, or reproductive rights from any government rule, regulation, or law. Any reference to transgenderism is “pornography” and must be banned. The overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the right to abortion must be gratefully celebrated, but the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision “is just the beginning.”
- Dismantling the administrative state means firing much of the current nonpartisan government workforce—about 2 million people work for the U.S. government—and replacing the workforce with loyalists to carry out a right-wing administration’s agenda.
- Defending our nation’s sovereignty means ending the rules-based international order hammered out in the years after World War II including the United Nations and NATO. [Note: Both Heritage and Orbán have stood firmly against aid to Ukraine in its struggle to fight off Russian aggression.]
- Securing “our God-given individual rights to live freely.” These words hint at scripture-based religious rule. In essence, the word “freely” is flipped upside-down and defined by an all-knowing few.
Here are Kevin Roberts’ words from his Introduction to Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise” invoking “creationist” liberty in his take on the Constitution.
“When the Founders spoke of “pursuit of Happiness,” what they meant might be understood today as in essence “pursuit of Blessedness.” That is, an individual must be free to live as his Creator ordained—to flourish. Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought.”
Emphasis: “what we ought.”
Project 2025 presents an apocalyptic vision of the United States. It poses that the nation’s problems can only be fixed by a minority [or a single strongman] imposing values on the rest of the country and claiming the moral responsibility to make decisions for everyone else. This is precisely what happened in Germany in 1933. It is what is happening now in Hungary.
Is there any wonder that the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 are inspired by Viktor Orbán?
Much of Project 2025’s groundwork has already been laid. Some so-called “supermajority” states have already banned abortion without exceptions and defined a fertilized human egg as a person with Constitutional rights; discriminated against LGBTQ+ people and immigrants; banned books; attacked public education; gutted business regulation, including child labor laws. And they continue to attack voting rights making passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2023 a remote possibility.
Those damn horses.
There is the nagging sense that authoritarian control of American life is imminent. It is not. Trojan horses are at our gates, but we have not invited them in. Yet. The stakes of losing democracy in this election year couldn’t be more sharply defined. The playbooks have been written. If we cede the will of the people to the Supreme Court and renegade district courts; if we allow a blueprint that claims to be “divinely inspired” or an authoritarian regime to be executed, it could happen here.
Democracies don’t just happen or self-perpetuate. They require work to maintain.
We can’t let laws be conflated with ideology. We can’t let the meaning of words be turned upside down. Freedom. Liberty. Security.
Liberal Democracy is not liberal or progressive policy. It is a worldview shared by both liberals and conservatives alike—people of good will who have legitimate policy differences but are not bent on authoritarian rule.
Noted Historian Heather Cox Richardson clarifies:
“The argument, articulated most clearly by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, is that the secular principles of liberal democracy—equality before the law, free speech, freedom to go to church or not, academic inquiry, a free press, immigration, companies that can make decisions based on markets rather than morality—destroy virtue by tearing down the sexual and religious guardrails of traditional society.”
The rights, freedoms, and liberties of liberal democracy can be exploited. They have been exploited in the past:
“The big joke on democracy is that it gives its mortal enemies the tools of its own destruction.” –Joseph Goebbels, Chief Propagandist for the Nazi Party as Hitler rose to power
And they can be exploited in the future.
At a May 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference [CPAC] in Budapest, Orbán delivered the keynote address claiming his suppression of LGBTQ+ rights, academic freedom, and the media is a model for the world.
We must remain vigilant.
Denial and ignorance are a toxic mix. They pave the road to attacking women and vulnerable communities; to attacking the hard-won rights, freedoms, and liberties our Constitution affords.
When you see authoritarianism, don’t ignore it, call it out.
The next months will be like none other. We can’t cede them to those who would attempt to discredit liberal democracy in the thrall of an authoritarian worldview. Athena wouldn’t want that. Nor should we. |