Last call for filibustering Alito?

Here is the text of the message sent today to my states' Democratic Senators. Is there still time for the Senate to try to stop the Alito confirmation?

Dear Senator,

I am writing today to express my strong belief that everything possible should be done to prevent the elevation of Mr. Alito to the Supreme Court, including a filibuster of his confirmation vote.

No matter how the precise percentages are nailed down, 50% of the people of this country have twice rejected Mr. Bush as candidate for President, not least because of the likelihood of his appointing judicial radicals like Mr. Alito. Mr. Bush, characteristic of his disregard for democracy and the rights and interests of most of this nation's citizens, has nevertheless seized upon the notion of a "mandate" in these elections and is acting in that manner here. You and your Senate colleagues must represent the rest of us.

Some odious policies of the Bush administration can be overturned in time, such as excessive tax cuts for the wealthy and consequent increases in the federal deficit. Other effects will be longer lasting: the aid and comfort given by this administration to Islamist groups by the reckless invasion of Iraq (and the recent botched bombing in Pakistan, etc.) will take decades to undo, and damage done to the national and global environment may (or may not) be reparable in time. Unfortunately, the deaths of soldiers and civilians in Iraq cannot be recalled; nor can the effects in suffering, illness and death due to of the lack of a universally accessible healthcare system be undone.

The effects of raising Mr. Alito to the Supreme Court will likely fall variously into all three of these categories, but it is the latter two that are most serious. Reversal or sharp narrowing of Roe v. Wade will impact countless women and families. Expanded police powers and limited effective oversight of those powers will disproportionately harm minorities and impoverished peoples (and consequently, set back race relations in this country). And finally, Mr. Bush’s willingness to abuse the powers of the executive branch will only be aided and abetted by this very man, whose extant writings on the “unitary executive” give clear indication of his pre-judgments in such matters. (I say nothing of achieving any real semblance to forms of “justice”, as called for by the biblical prophets, in this nation’s laws and legal system.)

Vice President Gore’s recent speech largely gives voice to my concerns on this matter. I am sufficiently disturbed by events of the recent past so as to fear for the very existence of genuine democracy in this nation. I believe that it is not enough for you simply to vote “No” on Mr. Alito’s confirmation, when we know that this will result in a “Yes.” The line must be drawn here in effective action to prevent his confirmation: the most obvious such action is the filibuster.

If a filibuster results in radical change in the traditional customs of the Senate, it will be less radical than the de facto changes that happened to the Senate in the rise of the Roman Empire, or to the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic in the early 1930s (culminating in the Nazi Party’s political practice of Gleichschaltung which eliminated or pressured German institutions and movements, notably trade unions and churches, that might have resisted Nazism). It is better that the veil of decency is torn from right wing political radicalism in this country sooner than later. In all likelihood, elections have already been stolen in the past 10 years: one is concerned that there will be meaningful elections at all in the future.

One hates to be this alarmist about matters. But I feel there is cause for alarm. Like many, I feel that the performance of your Democratic Senate colleagues in Mr. Alito’s hearings was pointless and ineffective. I urge you, please, to take effective and resolute actions (as well as to speak out publicly) to prevent his confirmation.

Why in writing this, do I feel like Princess Leia ("Help me, Obama-wan DickDurbin-obe. You're our only hope.")? OK, it's because that's more or less what I said. I have dealt enough over the years with alarmist-type people in various contexts, and really hate becoming one myself.

The problem is that there seems to be no real boundary on the political right flank these days. This Regime has taken us to war under false pretenses; a good case is being made that two Presidential elections have been stolen; and now the combination of unlimited domestic spying and an extremely unaccountable, secretive, and insular (and partisanly, self-servingly, Rovianly political) White House have raised the specter of a totalitarian-- here's another good German word from the end of the Weimar Republic-- Machterschleichung . I think that elevating Alito to the Supreme Court will only hasten this process (in ways that cannot be undone by elections this fall or even in 2008), and that therefore a filibuster now is a critical line of defense for our democracy.