I do NOT care if we succeed in the filibuster.

"I'll just tell you right now. We welcome that debate. We'll clean your clock."
- quote from GOP Sen. Lindsay Graham, on the debate over whether Judge Alito should become Justice Alito

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

Tomorrow I will be 25 years old. And if you believe in inevitability, tomorrow Judge Alito will become Justice Alito. I couldn't help but ask myself... how will the course of history be written over the next 25 years?

And I've decided that I'll be happy even if we lose.

(For this, and more thoughts with only a half hour until a vote on cloture, click the fold...)

It's frustrating being 24 and talking to people who say "who cares about politics? politicans don't do anything for us." It's even more frustrating when my retort to them is so ridden with special cases that I can't answer them in less than 10 seconds. It's not a question of whether Democrats are in fact different from Republicans, but whether they have the balls to stand by those differences. To be principled.

I have to constantly explain that there's a few bad apples among the Democrats, that the Democrats don't have a majority, that the right-wing noise machine is too strong... I have to explain why they should be hopeful, rather than apathetic.

This next moment will define the next generation of progressive politics. After this, apathy will not be an option.

Imagine for a moment that Samuel Alito is confirmed. Imagine 25 years from now. Heck, maybe 10 years, maybe even 5.

Imagine the right to choose being eroded and eventually overturned.
Imagine a country where equal opportunity has absolutely no meaning.
Imagine white privelege unbalanced.
Imagine the senate and congress overruled by the executive. Repeatedly.
Imagine your child being strip searched in the name of national security.
Imagine more unregistered prisoners.
Imagine a surge in Pinnochet-style disappearances.

This dytopian nightmare I've described, in order to evoke strong emotion in you, the reader, will never happen. But it has nothing to do with whether Alito is confirmed.

That's right. I don't care if we win!

The second that Alito turns the clock back on freedom and justice by even a few years... Our people -- freedom-loving justice-for-all Americans -- will get pretty fucking pissed. And the first question they will ask is: "Didn't anyone try to stop this guy?"

And the answer will point to just short of 40 Democratic Senators. These women and men will be seen as vanguards fighting against the inequality and injustice of the past. They will be respeced for their service to their country. And at this moment, Americans will make up their mind, guaranteeing the Democratic party a majority for a long time, with a shift back towards progress for even longer. Progress for decades. These Democrats who faught the extreme right wing will be considered national heros. The Democrats who participated in the failed filibuster will be martyrs for the progressive movement of the next generation.

On the flipside, we will remember the silence of our friends. The Democrats AND Republicans who went along with the agenda of the extreme right. History is not kind to those who were complacent in freedom's most trying moments.

I'm looking forward to that history being written. The right will be remembered as the villains. And the "centrists" won't be remembered for their moderation, but for their cowardice.

Yes, be certain, we have already won.

But we must keep pushing. Keep fighting. Keep speaking out.

Because it's better to have 40 senators who are only known by their base than 39 senators who are famous around the nation. Legacy and fame are nice, but results are better. (Okay, so I still care significantly if we succeed.)

This story from the introduction to Sun Tzu's art of war addresses legacy and fame better than I ever could:

"My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house.

My elder brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name does not get out of the neighbor hood.

As for me, I puncture veins, prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name gets out and is heard among the lords."

We don't have to ask whether present-day America will be infected by the 1950s, let alone the 19th century. Catastrophic failure has already been ruled out. History is on our side -- the side of progress.

The real question -- will we plant the seeds of a cure with an unsuccessful filibuster, or will we prevent sickness altogether? I hope and fight for prevention... but barring this, I'm also looking forward to being a part of the cure.

Mr. Alito, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Mr. Rove... if you thought W's re-election galvanized the left, you ain't seen nothing yet. We can't lose. It's simply not possible anymore.