by RJ Schinner,
I’m writing this a bit pre-emptively, and given the intense
political situation, things could potentially heat up in the Senate over
Alito’s confirmation, including potentially a filibuster. (As I’m writing,
Kerry and Kennedy are calling for one.) But given the Democrats track record, the
most likely scenario is this: after half-hearted and weak questioning during
committee hearings, the Democrats gear up to allow Alito to pass through with
some symbolic opposition; as their base gets angrier about the coming
capitulation, a few Democratic leaders talk about filibustering but fret
about how they’re not able to, and next thing you know, in comes the latest fascist
to the Supreme Court (or new police state law, war, theocratic imposition,
etc. – you pick the scenario). And worst of all: they’ll blame the people for their own capitulation
and refusal to put up any kind of fight, despite so many people demanding it.
An article on The Raw Story (“Democrats Break Silence on Alito: Filibuster
Unlikely, Frustration High“) offers some telling quotes from Democrat Senator’s
aids:
“People aren’t engaged in this fight,” one senior
aide said. “The reality is this isn’t something that American people are
calling in droves about. We’re getting more calls in on NSA spying than we are
on Alito.”
(Now if they really followed the logic of this statement, wouldn’t they be
impeaching Bush for the NSA spying right now?)
Another longtime aide to a senator on the Judiciary
Committee said Democrats feel they simply can’t win and are looking to focus
their energy elsewhere.
“I think that people kind of saw the writing on the
wall, and that [opposition to Alito] doesn’t have a lot of energy. Oddly the
whole hearing in the aftermath of [John] Roberts and [Harriet] Miers —
everybody thought it was going to be the big enchilada because of the stakes,
replacing a moderate rather than a conservative.”
Compare the above quotes to one of the many angry posts I
found on democrats.com:
Even those of us who recoiled at the compromise
agreed to by the Democratic side of the “gang of 14” last year ( the bipartisan
group of Senate centrists who agreed to let Bush’s handful of judicial nominees
through if the GOP would not permanently kill the filibuster ( assumed they
might have had their eyes on the larger prize of reserving that move for a
Supreme Court nominee as far from the mainstream as Alito.
Now is that time. Democrats chose to let
John Roberts Jr. pass based primarily on his testimony before the Judiciary
Committee, where he agreed that Roe v. Wade was “settled law” and thus bound by
precedent.
Alito refused to make such a statement. Between
that, and his record indicating that he would vote to overturn Roe in a heartbeat,
the time has come for a blockade of Bush’s appointment.
What are we saving it for, the next Supreme
Court pick Bush gets? The one after that?
If you search around the net, you’ll find a lot more
comments like that from people agonizing over the whole direction of society,
and wanting the Democrats they voted for to do something about it, and feeling
betrayed over and over again. The simple fact is, the whole base of the
Democratic Party (and growing numbers of life-long Republicans too) are increasingly
indignant over the fascist remaking of society. But the Democrats put up no
real opposition to this, while working to demobilize the people who could
potentially resist and stop the Bush regime (just reread the quotes from
Senator’s aids above).
Put more bluntly: the Democrats are not only spineless, but
reliance on the Democrats and waiting for them to do something is
ripping your own spine out of your back, amd leaving you
politically paralyzed. The
cure for this paralysis is to stop waiting for saviors from the Democrats, and
start taking independent political action, beginning with the protests next
week during Bush’s State of the Union address Jan. 31 and then in Washington DC
Feb. 4. And even if you think it is critical to get the Democrats to do something, the one thing we do know for sure is that they will never do anything unless they fear losing their base because people start acting en masse outside of the killing confines
of “politics as usual”.
Look, we’ve seen this sell-out of people’s hopes
enough. But
if you’re gonna sell-out, don’t say “I did it because that’s what the
fans
wanted.” First of, if there’s anyone out there who supports torture,
white
phosphorous chemical massacres and other atrocious acts committed
against
Iraqis, mass-murder of Black people in New Orleans, or countless other
crimes
against humanity, why would you want them rooting for your team?
Moreover, whether
it’s running “moral values” candidates like Tim Kaine, or vowing to “do
better”
than Bush in waging war on Iraq and building a police state, Bush-lite
is not the fans’ beverage of choice. Bush’s ugly program is NOT the
will of the people.
Given all that, in this moment when the Bush regime is
seeking to cement its program into place, the “fans” need to do something very
different: stop rooting for a team that’s not playing for you, get out of the
stands, and get in the game! It might not be what you’re used to, but it’s a
lot better than getting used to fascism.