A Consultation

by georgia10
Thu Mar 16, 2006 at 07:11:11 AM PDT

Slowly, Senators are mustering the courage to stand up against the President's blatant lawlessness: Senators Feingold, Harkin, Boxer are confirmed to support censure. Senators Kerry and Menendez are possible supporters as well.

As for the rest of the Senate Democrats, I can only imagine what has transpired in the last few days. Meeting in locked rooms in huddled groups, whispering about how to deal with this "situation." The phone lines in D.C. are burning up as they contact their consultants, the Dan Gersteins of the world who advise them to delay, delay, distract, distract, and maybe the "situation" will go away. "Distance yourself from the angry bloggers," I bet is a mantra repeated by those consultants. "You don't want to appear extreme," they probably claim.

Never mind that censure is one of the most reasonable and prudent steps a Senator can take in the face of the President's extraordinary crimes. If you've wondered why the Democrats have been so silent, it is because they're consulting--with polls (though not the ones that say 52% support impeachment, or the ones that say 77% don't buy the unitary executive theory); with mealy-mouthed consultants; with other Democrats who are pissed off Feingold sprung this on them; with the D.C. establishment who with chuckles and an obliviousness to the gravity of the situation asks them "how are you going to get out of this one?"

That process of appeasement and slipping away into the shadows is the root of our minority status. Democrats, there is one consultation to be had on this issue: a consultation with your conscience. Lock yourself alone in a room, take the phone off the hook, and pull out a copy of the Constitution. Hold that fiber of our democracy in your hands. Feel how such a light piece of paper has managed to carry the weight of national chaos, year after year,war after war for over 200 years. Hold it in your hands, and ask yourself: am I prepared to rip this into pieces? Are your trembling hands willing to shred it and let the tattered remains of our democracy fall silently to your feet?

Consult your conscience. The censure resolution will fail in the full Congress, but the success to be had is that the Democratic Party, in unison and in unwaivering voice, declares that the rule of law still means something in the United States of America. That our party is not willing to unravel the Constitution thread by thread to weave the Emperor's clothes.

The "angry bloggers" that your consultants warn you about are "angry" because we're not ready to toss the Constitution into the fire. We're the ones who you will ask to vote for you in upcoming elections. We're the ones you will send fundraising emails too. We're the ones you rely on to get out the vote. And we're the ones urging you to consult your conscience--and nothing more--on this critical issue.

And we'll keep urging you, day after day, to side with the rule of law and not the lawbreaker. So come on, citizens, let's remind the Senators of their oath, and let's get more than five Senators to save our Constitution.
CONTACT YOUR SENATOR