Supreme Court Front Entrance, Washington, DC, USA. April, 2001

I’ve been thinking about an image to post on the occasion of the election of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land…I decided on this one. In the Spring of ’01 I saw, and photographed, this slogan carved over the entrance to the U S Supreme Court. I thought it presumptuous, at best; and a lie at worst. The court had just thrown the election of 2000 to George W. Bush (Bush v. Gore), guaranteeing rule by the corporations, the oligarchs, the plutocrats, and the “religious” wackos. A nice slogan, but absolutely untrue….and this was BEFORE 9/11, torture at Guantanamo, and lying us into an unjust war over imaginary weapons. For almost 8 years we’ve had to watch the Republicans subvert and corrupt the government, the culture, and the Nation in the service of venal, immoral, insipid ends. But all things must pass (including, unfortunately, this moment of gloating), and with all the accumulated raw power they forgot their supposed “principles” and launched into full scale pigs-at-the-public-trough-feeding-frenzy, eventually repulsing the American electorate who made their power possible. In the end, ironically, the failure and incompetance of George W. Bush set up and made possible the election of Barack H. Obama. It’s strange, but not surprising, how things sometimes work out. So, why the photo? Because, finally, the slogan might really be more than just a slogan…as soon as a few of the brown-nosed, right-wing Justices retire. Congratulations, President Obama, and congratulations America, too! It’s great to have an intelligent man as our leader, for a change. I just hope the lesson has been learned…