Letter Writing Time
Below is the text of the letter I wrote tonight to send out to every Republican Senator. I tried to be measured and logical, when what I really wanted to o was send them a gigantic alarm clock so they would WAKE THE HELL UP!!! But instead, there's this:
OPEN LETTER TO ALL REPUBLICAN UNITED STATES SENATORS
Dear Sirs and Madams—
My name is Michael ******, and I live in ******, Colorado. While I have in my early voting years sometimes voted for Democrats, that changed in 2000. When the Democratic Party decided to specifically target the ballots of U.S. military personnel for exclusion from the Florida vote, I decided then and there to never vote for a Democrat again—or at least until some responsible Democrat came forward and denounced their party for that effort. Up until now, no Democrat has done so, so I have a straight Republican-ticket voting record ever since.
My support of the GOP has gone beyond just voting, however. My family does not have extra money laying around, so I have been unable to give much; however, over the course of the last two election cycles I have donated countless hours and energy to the campaigns of George W. Bush, Wayne Allard, Pete Coors, Bob Beauprez, Bill Owens, and several local candidates. And in all of this, the two issues that have been driving me to the campaigns have been the War on Terror and the Judiciary.
So I find it disappointing, at best, and infuriating, at worst, that the United States Senate has been unable to break the blockade of President Bush’s judicial nominations. I have read my Constitution, and I have studied the Constitutional Convention, and nowhere have I come across a reference to procedural blockages of majority intent. The U.S. Senate was designed to protect the minority by giving them equal voting strength—not by giving them procedural minutiae with which to thwart the will of the elected majority. As John McCain said before he forgot it, "elections have consequences."
It seems that a ten-vote majority should be able to exercise its Constitutional right to change the rules of the Senate, and get floor votes on judicial nominees. Just two months ago Sen. Frist announced that he had the votes to accomplish this. Since then, faced with a relentless barrage of interest groups and aggrieved opposition, members of the Republican caucus have lost their nerve. It seems the party was badly outmaneuvered in the public relations game, and now, rather than doing the job they were elected to do, many Senators have chosen to simply preserve the job that they have in the form in which they have it. “The traditions of the Senate” are a very weak justification compared to the expressed will of the electorate, but many members of the caucus would rather satisfy the former at the expense of the latter.
Unfortunately, such an attitude almost certainly guarantees that several of you will no longer have your jobs in two years. You see, there is a very big difference between ignoring your base and angering your base. The people who send you money, who walk precincts for you, who come in to the campaign offices at 2 in the morning, will not do these if they perceive no advantage to doing so. Further, they might even be inclined to put in the same efforts for third-party candidates who will eventually lose to a Democrat, rather than waste their efforts on Senators who do not have the intestinal fortitude to do what they were elected to do. And when a Democrat gavels the Senate into session in January of 2007, and adjourns to committee meetings led entirely by Democrats, few of us “party faithful” will notice the difference. After all, if there is anything worse than being out of power, it would be being in power but being unable to wield power to accomplish anything.
I urge you to schedule a vote on the President’s nominees at the very next availability. Sen. Frist, show the leadership you displayed in designing a successful electoral strategy, and force the members of the caucus to “show their cards.” There are many of us out here who would rather lose a vote knowing who and why, than continue on this path of weakness and delay.
Sincerely,
Michael *. ******
Oh, and yes I am waiting with baited breath for the response from the Senators.
By the way, what the heck is "baited breath?" | |
