This First Monday in October

The Supreme Court begins a new term today. We look ahead to its proceedings with foreboding. A majority of the justices are right-wing extremists with no sense of restraint about bending the law to fit their ideological desires. It’s also almost five weeks to election day. Even though contests are no longer between Democrats and Republicans but between Democrats and authoritarians, and the latter group continues to employ authoritarian methods to gain control of governments at all levels, most voters, though they may feel more than a normal sense of unease at what’s happening in the world, don’t seem to realize that a terrifying hour in American history is at hand.