One decision nice, but the one that really matters was wrong

There will be plenty of people who will tell you the two decisions handed down by the Supreme Court this week -- on voting rights and same-sex marriage -- at least got the one right that will have the biggest effect on people's lives.

After all, everybody knows that discrimination against minorities ended a long time ago in this country.

Right?

If only it were true. There have been so many examples of Republicans trying to make it more difficult for minorities to vote in recent years that taking away weapons to fight against that seems very politically motivated.

It's the last thing the Supreme Court needs after so many bizarre decisions in recent years -- Bush v. Gore, Citizens United and others -- have made the court look politically motivated.

Yes, it's nice that the court basically said that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act was something Congress had no business passing, and certainly millions of Americans will be happy that the question of same-sex marriage will be left to the states.

But once again, we get distracted by lesser issues while the question of who really runs the country keeps shifting more and more toward corporations. It certainly appears as if an effort is being made to keep the Republican Party as strong as possible for as long as possible despite demographics that show the GOP is fading away.

In fact, it may be that the last gasp of the Republican Party will be in the Supreme Court. That's why the next vacancy -- particularly if it's one of the so-called conservative seats -- might be the moral equivalent of nuclear war.

These people will not go quietly.

After all, it was their most recent nominee who told us that "Corporations are people too, my friend."