Accepting the Unacceptable

I'm convinced that many Americans view politics as a game. Red vs. Blue, Us vs. Them, Conservatives vs. Liberals, etc. How else to explain that people don't seem to be worried about the abuses of power recently exhibited by President Bush? Warrantless wiretapping, a signing statment that circumvents the McCain torture amendment, the indefinite incarceration of US citizens labeled illegal combatants, and the nomination of Samuel Alito, a candidate the Boston Globe describes as a bad choice.

AT THIS moment in American history, it would be hard to find a worse Supreme Court nominee than Samuel A. Alito Jr. His ideology captures everything extremist about the Bush administration. If confirmed, Alito would serve as Bush's enabler. He would give Bush effective control of all three branches of government and the hard-right long-term dominance of the high court.

I'm worried that Alito's nomination would not only give unchecked power to the presidency, but also erode many of the rights and protections Americans have today.

...while Alito favors an almost monarchic executive, he believes the federal government has limited powers to protect the health and safety of Americans or safeguard the environment. Alito and and his compatriots in the Federalist Society are critical of the Supreme Court's holding since 1937 that Congress, under the Constitution's commerce clause, may regulate to assure everything from a safe and healthy workplace to honest financial markets.

Without oversight from Congress, there could be many more Sago mine accidents or Enron debacles down the road. Corporate America certainly has a lousy track record and can't be depended on to police itself and do the right thing. Americans depend on Congress to defend our rights against the Goliaths we can't stand up to on our own, but the Globe describes Alito as siding against individual Americans:

With the Bush administration running roughshod over individual rights, Alito has tended to support prosecutors and corporations over individual citizens and employees, in cases involving civil liberties, civil rights, workplace rights, and reproductive freedom.

Do we really want to risk Congress losing their oversight? I recently read Ayn Rand's comment on what it was like to live through the Russian Revolution. She said the most horrible thing, to her, was how fast people accepted the unacceptable.

Our democracy and our individual rights and freedoms are not a game. Our system of checks and balances has worked for more than 200 years. Americans need to think long and hard before they give the government unchecked power. Bush can't take the power from us if we speak out, but our silence and apathy give it away; and if Alito is nominated to the Supreme Court, I can't say he will hand unchecked powers to Bush, but his track record scares me and gives me reason to pause.