If you think that no matter what, tomorrow will always look pretty much like today, it’s time you think again. The U.S. political right continues to rack up successes, even as fierce resistance expands, and there’s even an electoral victory for progressives now and then.
A 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court already seems intent on giving president Trump everything he wants politically – the Muslim travel ban is okay, district gerrymandering is okay, purging voter rolls of likely Democratic voters is okay, forcing workers to go to individual employer-paid arbitration when the employers have ripped off their wages is okay, starving unions of fees for representing workers in collective bargaining is okay.
Now, with Justice Kennedy retiring, Trump gets to put another ultra-conservative on the court, presumably solidifying a fully reliable majority. Look for Roe-Wade to be overturned in short order, and quite possibly the same-sex marriage guarantee as well. If the Republicans can hold on to their congressional majorities in November, that’ll only be a start; next will come new, aggressive assaults on the Affordable Care Act, entitlement programs and other forms of social service spending, as well as new and even bolder exercises of presumed presidential prerogative.
“Tomorrow” can look radically different for social workers and their clients, in a Trumpian “New York minute.” But rest assured that every move the right makes will be thoroughly constitutional, at least according to a 5-4 majority.
The Southern Miss School of Social Work 