Prompt Rides - 24. First Monday

“What did he just say?”

“He said you’re an idiot, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before you get into heaven.”

“God said I’m an idiot? But I’m a Supreme Court Justice.”

“Correction, Antonin, you were a Supreme Court Justice. You’re dead now. Remember?”

“Oh, yeah, right. But why doesn’t he speak English?”

“Because he doesn’t want to. He’s unhappy you wasted the intelligence he granted you at conception. He’s not willing to speak to you directly.”

“But we’ve spoken directly my entire life! I’ve prayed to him since I was a kid.”

“Bah! You really think anyone was listening to you? Praying is a waste of energy. You humans assume because you talk to yourselves, asking for this or that, someone is listening. I’m sorry to tell you that’s just not so. Once you were born, you were on your own.”

“I always did what was best for my country and its people. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“All the people? Or just some of them? What you did was make decisions based on what you felt was right for you. Your self-righteousness often clouded your judgement.”

“Can you give me an example?”

“Fine, let’s start at the beginning. Abortion rights. Your interference caused countless women and children to suffer.”

“Didn’t I always advocate for the rights of unborn children?”

“You ignored the effect of your rulings on the lives of those carrying a potential life inside them. You tried to force woman to give birth to a child, who may not have been wanted. You disregarded the consequences of forcing someone to become a mother when she didn’t want to.”

“She should have thought about it before having sex. All those women opening their legs for any man.”

“Oh, so it’s okay to have sex to breed but not for simple enjoyment? You’re such a prude, Antonin. But I don’t want to discuss your sexual habits. I’m scared of what I might hear.”

“I was protecting the unborn.”

“How can you protect what’s not a real life? And don’t start arguing about when a heart starts to beat. If it can’t survive on its own, it’s not alive. So you wanted to protect a potential life, but after the child came into the world, you were willing to forget about him?”

“What do you mean?”

“You voted against a health care law meant to protect those who became ill. It was far from perfect, but it was an attempt to help those who most needed it. Those who didn’t have the resources to seek care and pay for it.”

“Government shouldn’t force people into programs. It’s not the job of legislators to make such decisions.”

“So, it’s not their job to protect the citizens of their country? You had no problem supporting legislation which impinged on the right of the people, when it was supposedly keeping them safe from terrorists.”

“That’s different!”

“You call laws to protect people different because of what danger their supposed to guard against. Splitting hairs, aren’t you? You weren’t so picky when you decided money spent on political campaigns by corporations was the same as speech and could not be regulated.”

“Corporations have the right to express their opinions. They’re people too, you know?”

“Are you quoting political candidates now?”

“Ooops. I misspoke. That guy’s just a stupid Mormon.”

“So, because it’s not the religion you follow, it’s stupid. Let me make a note of that.”

“You can’t seriously count them as a religion. I mean, they’re polygamists. God meant it to be one man and one woman.”

“You presume when you state what was meant to be and what wasn’t. Thanks for bringing up our next point, anyway. You opposed same sex marriage. Who gave you the right to dictate who people can love?”

“I don’t care what those disgusting people do. The Constitution doesn’t say anywhere, it’s okay for men to marry men!”

“Does it say marriage is just between a man and a woman?”

“Well, no, but that’s different. It’s traditional.”

“People change with time, and so do their traditions. Sometimes those changes come from the people, sometimes it must come from their leaders. You have labored to stop the ones you didn’t personally like. While accepting those which followed your personal philosophy. You were supposed to be impartial. The world will keep on moving, no matter how many brakes you try to apply.”

“Look, maybe―”

“MR. JUSTICE! Wake up, Mr. Justice! You fell asleep in your chair, sir. You need to get ready. The new term’s about to begin.”

span style="font-family:Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">A simplistic approach to complex issues. But after all it's only a dream. Right?