This week I am once again taking up several issues.

The recent leak of a Supreme Court draft decision on Roe V. Wade has only added fuel to the flames surrounding that famous case. It should not have happened. It is a serious breach of the courts and indeed the legal professions need to make decisions on law free of interference from the public or the press. Whoever perpetrated this outrage should be determined and they should face criminal charges and if a member of bar, which is very likely, should face disbarment.

Those of you who have followed my column will know that I adamantly opposed abortion in all its forms but I understand that others have what they see as carefully thought-out views on abortion that are different from mine.

Having said that I have always felt that the Roe V. Wade decision was bad law. Nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of a right to kill an unwanted fetus at any time even though the court said in making its decision that such a thing was guaranteed by the Constitution.

Only in the Declaration of independence is “life” mentioned and in that document in the context of “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Therefore, because nothing is stated in the Constitution about abortion or about the federal government guaranteeing such a right then based on the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states that ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by the states are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” I believe that decisions on abortion must be made at the state level either by the elected representative of the citizens or by direct referendum vote of the citizens.

Next, our president is taking a “hard look” at forgiving student debt. Think hard on this, take a very hard look Mr. President, and then say “No I won’t do it because it just isn’t fair to all those earlier students who worked hard and paid off their debts.”

Biden is under a lot of pressure to forgive at least some student debt from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her crew of “Democratic Women United to subvert the Constitution” but he would be best served to ignore them and who knows come November the Democrats might lose one or two fewer congressional seats.

Let’s face it the real culprits are those institutions of higher learning that knew a good thing when they saw it coming their way. They found that that they could raise tuition and room and board every few years and in response students could take on more and more debt. Students who were under pressure to get that “life changing” bachelor’s degree willingly did so as did their parents who delayed saving for a comfortable retirement.

What did the schools do with all that extra income which in the last forty years grew at a much higher rate than the inflation rate? Well, they added some new “dumbed down” courses but mostly the cash went to creating a slew of new nonacademic positions like Events and Advancement Services Coordinators, Directors of Student Activities, Deans of Strategic initiatives and Directors of Alumni Engagement and Relations. While these and other positions sound important it isn’t always easy to figure out exactly what they do except for those dealing with alumni whose purpose is always to separate alumni from their money. Also, a lot of the cash went into new buildings, fancy dormitories, dining halls advertised as serving ‘gourmet meals, student workout facilities, saunas, and the list goes on.

My solution to the student debt problem is to have the guilty institutions of higher learning refund some of their ill-gotten gains to former students whom they unfeelingly fleeced of their money and in many cases of a solvent financial future.

Moving on, over the years Gerrymandering, or drawing district lines to assist one party, became a “fine art” in New York state. However, back in 2014 voters voted to adopt a State Constitutional amendment that supposedly would bring gerrymandering to an end at last.

I remember telling my wife at the time that politicians being politicians would not be able to resist subverting the amendment and low and behold that’s what happened this year.

New district lines were to be drawn up by an independent citizen commission made up of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. They couldn’t agree on one set of maps so the Democratically controlled legislature stepped in and drew up its own maps that were signed into law by the Governor.

Irate Republicans went to the state Court of Appeals and the court declared that Democrats had violated that provision in the State Constitution barring the redrawing of district line for partisan gain. ln response New York has moved primaries for the U.S. Congress and the New York State Senate to August creating confusion for both voters and candidates. Once again this is another example of how politicians forgot that they work for what is best for the people they represent. George Washington feared the development of political parties and while I’m not sure what the alternative is, he may have been right.

Tom Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident.