I've been wondering why this fillibuster is so important to me. I have contacted my Senators and am very pleased they are going to vote no on cloture. And upon reflection, I believe that opposition is the only way to a more perfect union.
The division began after 9/11, when opposition became, for all intents and purposes, redefined as unpatriotic. Citizens of this country were completely excluded from participation in the defense of our country in so many ways -- taxes were not raised, there was no call to service, and not just military, but civil service. Given this, is it any wonder that our elected representatives were not able to harness the complete unity that occurred in America and around the world right after the attacks?
Our experiment in democracy, the checks and balances included in our Constitution, presuppose opposition and, I would suggest, demand it. How can there be unity when differences are not aired and opposition becomes hardened into estrangement? Opposition is a prerequisite to union -- our elected officials represent all facets of American opinion, and when that kind of debate is present in the halls of government, only then, with the free flow of ideas and argument, can union take place.
This Administration has done everything in its power to stifle, downplay, threaten and deny that debate. As a result, our media is crippled and our citizenry so misinformed that many Americans still believe the lie that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had something to do with the attacks on September 11, 2001.
I am not of the view that the American people are stupid or that they are cowards. I am, however, of the view that we all can appear as both when the mechanisms of our republic are halted and there is no true opposition working in government. It poisons social discourse and disallows the truth and no one, republican or democrat, benefits from this.
The confirmation of Alito must be opposed. Whether or not this succeeds or fails is not the point. Too many Americans have not been honestly informed of Alito's record or potential to do harm to our Constitutional checks and balances. Through the torturously slow accretion of events, lone voices gathering steam (Feingold, Murtha, Gore, Kerry, Kennedy, to mention but a few) combined with the heroic opposition of those in the bureaucracy who know that this Administration is indeed not above the law, we have reached the demarcation point, where opposition must indeed be brought back into our public discourse through our elected officials, representing the American people in all our diversity and difference of belief.
Only then can America have a more perfect union.