I expect that just about every Kossack has received the e-mail from Senator Robert Byrd, "An Ill Wind". Am I alone in feeling a sense of pride in being a registered Democrat? It's been a while, hasn't it?
We have to allow ourselves to open our hearts, even if they get broken, and to understand our Democratic skepticism, about everything, is a two-edged sword. We don't take things on faith--we are the reality-based community. But we do need faith just the same. We have to learn to love. We have to start believing our own myths, even just a little, or Camelot becomes a distant dream.
From a diary by stephdray posted today, "Story-telling: Lessons We Should Learn from Bobby Kennedy"
I admire our great Democratic senators -- patriots and statesmen. I don't know exactly which of the 44 Democrats in the Senate make the cut for "statesman" -- but I know that Senator Byrd does. Check out his
speech made on the eve of the invasion of Iraq.
More recently, I think of how Senator Kennedy managed to use the Republicans' twisted Bankruptcy ¿"Reform"? Act to nail the Republicans on the minimum wage -- and, hence, on economic justice in general. It even got through the corporate media smoke-screen and connected to working Americans all around the country.
And there are many more Senators that ought to be mentioned -- including, we hope, at least a few Republicans and, we expect, one Independent. I think that EVERY senator that backs up Byrd's initiative to stop the administration from PACKING THE COURTS with ultra-right activist judges is qualified as a STATESPERSON (statesman or stateswoman) rather than as a mere politician.
Frist is a politician. DeLay is a politician. Bush is a politician. That's not all those characters are, but I would run out of swear words.
But there are U.S. senators who qualify as something more than "politicians."
Not that "politician" should be a bad word, but that's what it has become -- thanks to guys like Rove and Luntz, who seem to be able to make words mean whatever they say they mean, within the confines of corporate media and its talking heads.
I read into the title "An Ill Wind" the old saw that "It's an ill wind that blows no good." And in that context, I believe that what is shaping up is nothing less than a battle of heroic proportions to stem the tide of what amounts to one-party fascism, by whatever name you choose to give it. In other words, the little bit of good that is blowing with this ill wind, is a resurgence of appreciation for the American traditions of fairness and civil liberties. With that, we are going to make a stand.
Excerpts from BYRD'S LETTER --
An ill wind is blowing across this country. That wind blows the seeds of destruction and threatens to undermine the system of checks and balances described in the Constitution and the fundamental rights we hold dear.
Senate Republicans are ready to nuke debate in the Senate and stand the Senate rules on their head by severely restricting our right to filibuster these nominees. They want to change the
rules in the middle of the game so they can force on us far right-wing judges, all in an effort to gag the world's greatest deliberative body.
We cannot let them do it.
Their view of the Constitution is based on the opinions of a fancy Washington law firm. Our view of the Constitution is based on the plain words of the Framers who wrote it.
[T]ell your friends and neighbors about what is happening in the Senate. Tell them that our free speech is under attack. Tell them that our system of checks and balances is under attack. Tell them that the Senate should not be simply a rubber stamp for right wing judges.
Some say we don't need 200 years of American history. According to opponents of the filibuster, 200 years of history is a bore. It's simply passe. Old hat. They say the Constitution is nothing
more than stale bread. Opponents of free speech see no need to rely on Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, or Hamilton. We know better.
We won't be muzzled by those who want to silence us. Delay, deliberation, and debate may be a waste of time to some, but it's free speech and the American way to all of us who love our
country and our Constitution.
We must preserve free speech and the rights of the minority. There must be no gag rule for the United States Senate.
I carry a pocket-sized edition of the Constitution with me everywhere I go, whether I'm back home in West Virginia or speaking out on the Senate floor. Now you can too. You can download and
print the DSCC's exclusive personal Constitution by clicking here:
http://action.dscc.org/ct/S7Aassn1fze2/
Sincerely,
Senator Robert Byrd