Today’s links The “religious liberty” angle for overturning the overturning of Dobbs: Paging the Satanic Temple to the white courtesy stirrups. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: None Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading The “religious liberty” angle for overturning the overturning of Dobbs (permalink) Frank Wilhoit’s definition of “conservativism” remains a classic: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect. https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288 Conservativism is, in other words, the opposite of the rule of law, which is the idea that the law applies equally to all. Many of America’s most predictably weird moments live in the tension between the rule of law and the conservative’s demand to be protected – but not bound – by the law. Think of the Republican women of Florida whose full-throated support for the perfomatively cruel and bigoted policies of Ron Desantis turned to howls of outrage when the governor signed a law “overhauling alimony” (for “overhauling,” read “eliminating”): https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/this-is-a-death-sentence-for-me-florida-republican-women-say-they-will-switch-parties-after-desantis-approves-alimony-law-34563230 This is real leopards-eating-people’s-faces-party stuff, and it’s the only source of mirth in an otherwise grim situation. But out of the culture-war bullshit backfires, none is so sweet and delicious as the religious liberty self-own. You see, under the rule of law, if some special consideration is owed to a group due to religious liberty, that means all religions. Of course, Wilhoit-drunk conservatives imagine that “religious liberty” is a synonym for Christian liberty,…Pluralistic: The "religious liberty" angle for overturning the overturning of Dobbs (11 July 2023)