Thursday, January 26, 2006

Filibustering Alito



I believe that the Democrats should filibuster Alito. There are arguments opposing filibustering which have some general merit, especially the one thistle mentioned in earlier comments about the problems we might build for the future if we filibuster people who have a paper trail. This encourages nominees with no paper trail.

The other argument against filibustering I keep hearing has to do with civility. Well, the wingnuts have deserted the land of civility a long time ago, and we have been there all alone, talking to shadows. If one is bothered by civility, one can filibuster politely.

Then there is the argument about Alito not mattering very much as he is only one judge and there are still some non-wingnut judges on the bench and Alito won't change anything. So goes the incremental argument for boiling the frog, too. Keep heating the water slowly, slowly, and the frog never notices it gets boiled.

So on balance I believe in filibustering. Because I'm not at all sure that we will ever get a change to experience what might happen to a Democratic nominee if we let the Republican power grap to be complete. You may from now on call me the goddess of tinfoil. I don't care. Indeed, I will carry my helmet with pride.

I don't see what most Democrats have to lose from going along with a filibuster. It's not as if wingnuts will decide to vote for them just because they didn't filibuster.

There are no links in this post because it is an expression of my own personal opinion. If you agree with my opinion, contact your Senators.