# Passionately Dispassionate Governance

By [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2) · 2022-10-13

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I know I’m about to walk onto shaky ground here, but sometimes you just have to do it.

I’m ok with the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade.

But it’s not because I think abortion should be illegal.

It’s because of governance systems and “rules of the game.”

In my view, the Supreme Court has one job within the US system of governance: decide if something is unconstitutional or not.

Their job is not to legislate. It’s to interpret and according to many legal scholars, [even many progressive ones, Roe was unconstitutional.](https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2021/11/79025/)

And, yes, the interpretation of the Roe v. Wade opinion was different today than it was 50 years ago, but that’s the way the “game” is played. That’s happened many times before in 1896 [Plessy v. Ferguson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson) and the infamous [Dred Scott case.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford)

The rules of the game are simple.

Supreme Court justices are nominated by Presidents. Presidents are elected by the Electoral College.

Don’t like the Supreme Court justices? Well, eventually they retire or die, so keep electing the Presidents you want to win.

Don’t like the fact that it’s the Electoral College that elects them?

Well, there are ways to change that. Or get enough Electoral College votes to win.

The fact is that the US system of governance has, at its core, the ability to “fork” and update itself.

But, in order for the “fork” to happen, there are certain thresholds that need to be met.

That’s the game.

Don’t like the rules of the game?

Change the rules, within the context of the game.

Now, I’m not writing this because I want to get in a flame war about Roe v. Wade, I’m writing this because crypto is going down the same path.

You join networks (which are kind of mini-‘nation-states’) and they have rules of the game.

To update the network, you need to change the rules, but changing the rules has rules.

It’s not about how you FEEL, it’s about how the rules are written.

While I, or you, may not personally like the Roe decision, what I think is important is to remember that effective governance systems are supposed to operate fairly, independent of feelings.

We’re about to enter an age where governance, by virtue of its enforcement via Web3 is going to become more impartial, so people are going to have to learn how to play more by the rules.

Or they can leave freely.

And that’s part of the game.

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*Originally published on [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/passionately-dispassionate-governance)*