Letters to the Editor
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Stunned
There's no way else to describe such capitulation and how I feel today. For those we elected last November to abdicate their responsibilities and oath to protect citizens' constitutional rights such completely is the ultimate betrayal and failure of our system. For the GOP to do this I get - that's who they are. For the Dems to do this is a worse slap in the face. I am at a loss at what to do now - obviously all those letter and e-mails we send to buck them up meant nothing to these cowards - in the face of Bush's frown and summer vacation, they collapsed. What is left for us to do? Seriously - I am at a loss ...
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At this rate...
...the next President of the United States will be Alberto Gonzales.
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Jebbie to Dems
You're on your own now.
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Republocrats and the unconscious citizen
Glenn, you write: :...in direct defiance of the will of the vast majority of the country>"
I think you certainly get it right about the Democrats here, but for the real blame or cause of our current situation, I think you need to go upstream to the American Citizen.
I don't think the country has a "will". It has an opinion, it has time to stop for a poll, it has time to shop, to bitch and moan, to ignore participatory Democracy for several decades, to become comfortable and uninvolved, to be uneducated and proud of it...but "will"...I don't see it.
On the other hand, our political "leaders" certainly do have a will to take excellent care of themselves and protect their power and cash-based decision making engine.
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Fine.
But what do you suggest we do about all of this? Vote Claire MacCaskill and Jim Webb out of office?
I'm serious. The Dems think they can assault the Constitution with impunity -- and they're correct, just as Tony Blair was correct to think that he could get away with ignoring the will of the electorate, and even majorities within his own party, by aligning himself with Bush, because there was no palatable alternative to his government (the Conservatives being worse than Blair in almost every sense, and the Liberal Democratic Party, for reasons I've never been able to grasp, not being a credible challenger).
I write letters to my representative and senator. I complain, and forward articles to, my friends. I donate to the ACLU when I can. None of that seems likely to have much impact.
The Dems continue to sell off our most treasured and hard-won rights -- and sell cheap, no less. And they'll win landslide majorities next year -- probably with my votes.
Again: what do you suggest?
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Craven Cowardice
Glenn,
You're right. And I've been saying the same for a long time. What we need to do is get real patriot's into race's. Just because you have "D" next to your name doesn't mean I have to vote for you. I want real "D's." Not simpering corporatist's, or craven coward's.
I don't care if you have a "D" next to your name, unless you are progressive/liberal, I won't vote for you. Would that Connecticut voter's done that!
What does it take to make these idiot's realize that no matter how they vote, they will be demonized for any, and every, thing that happen's. So, why not STAND ON PRINCIPLE?
These "d's (lower case on purpose)," should be treated like the driver's of a murderous bank robbery gang - as complicit as the shooter's.
Goodnight, America. And good luck...
And to think, it wasn't any barbarian's at the gate we needed to worry about. It was the gate-keeper's who went along and led to the sacking of "The New Rome."
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Thanks for nothing
That's what I just wrote to my senator, Claire McCaskill. I reminded her of the reasons we worked so hard to send her to the Senate--one of which was to push back against this administration's corruption and crimes. So this is the thanks we get! You know what, I'm just sick of it all and seriously considering just tuning out for a year or so. There's only so much we can do and give.
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Ahh, the persistant stain of the DLC
Let's all meet in the [far-right] middle!
I don't know if my head will explode or I'm gonna hurl.
--Randy Campbell
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The democrats are at best a transition
I for one have zero faith that the Democrats can save this country from the variety of crises that will buffet it circa 2010. At best, I think of them as a kind of transitional administration à la Gorbachev, as opposed to the old guard Chernenko or Andropov (that would be the Republicans).
How anyone could put their faith in the Democrats after the sorry spectacles of the last 4 years is beyond me. Kos and his friends are deluded if they think that it is possible to restore the America we once knew, and that the Dems are the folk to do it.
I think the paradigm shift will be akin to pre- and after-Civil War, or England or France pre- and after-World War I.
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the bipartisanship of power intoxication
Without refuting an ounce of deserved scorn for the Democrats who supported this fire decree - er - bill (I kid), my mind searches for some sort of explanation for their cravenness.
I have to think that congressional Democrats' repeated capitulation to encroachments of civil liberties, in particular, has something to do with their elevation to positions of power and privilege. Scarce is any historical interest of our Congress in such a step-child as civil liberties, protections that had to be enshrined in our Constitution in wise awareness of their fragility to the blunt force of fear and worship of the Foreign Threat.
Enjoying the status and immunities of legislative office, these ostensible representatives of the People have little appetite to protect the privacy of the average citizen's phone calls and associations. In trademark faux reasoning, citizens are made to laugh away this protection by smugly noting that "people are just dying to share their thoughts with everyone anyway, online and on their stupid cell phones in public!" We come to see the sanctity of the indeterminate and undefined private conversation as fey and academic, ignoring any similarities between that and, say, a black bag squad coming into random people's homes while they are away and searching through their possessions (as long as they put everything back and don't dirty the carpet!).
Something definitely happens to a person once they take that oath of congressional office. The populist kabuki dance of the campaign has ended, the adrenaline of the crowds has ebbed - you gaze upon the marvelous dome, select your staff, and take your committee appointments. The senior members put their arms around you as you stroll down the corridor, and they inform you that you will know and understand things that you never did before, and that your new job is too Serious to let your former idealism sully the brass and bronze of cold policymaking.
And yes, now you may settle into the leather armchair of knowing that if you ever commit a crime and get caught, you will be able to scream political bloody murder and, at worst, "retire" to a life of privilege in a most grateful private sector.