Today as you’re chasing down that bite of corned beef sandwich with a pull of Guinness and shot of Jameson channel your innermost Harry Callahan, one of cinema’s dirtiest cops and every civil rights lawyer’s headache, and ask yourself “Do I feel lucky?”
Well. Do you?
Punk.
Answers may vary, of course.
If:
• You’re a woman capable of making your own decisions but live in Idaho, Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, West Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia or Florida—states where women’s reproductive autonomy has been partially or totally banned or;
• You’re one of the estimated 27 million Americans who would benefit from the federal government’s student loan forgiveness program but have to wait for the overwhelmingly conservative Supreme Court to decide the legality of the federal action or;
• You’re one of the nearly 30 million people nationwide who don’t have any health insurance
your answer might be “No.”
But if:
• You’re a man and will never, ever face the threat of having your reproductive rights stripped away or:
• You’re an obscenely rich—or merely very wealthy—venture capitalist or other pro-market deregulation aristocrat who makes piles of money on risky ventures and has their losses covered by the federal government in a move that looks and feels like a “bailout” of a bank that caters to your needs, or:
• You’re a member of Congress or another legislative body, or your employer classifies you as full time and you are able to have healthcare as long as you are working and don’t get fired or laid off
your answer might be “Heck yeah, I do feel lucky!”
If you’re one of the nearly 300 people in Chula Vista who are homeless and have its concurrent challenges, especially during these recent storms, your answer might be no.
If you managed to get by this far in life without giving any of these issues a single thought, then yeah. You are pretty darn lucky.
