For my 999th post, I thought maybe I would see if I could inspire some discussion surrounding the upcoming slaughter of one of our countries oldest traditions, the fillibuster. This is bothersome to me for a number of reasons, and it really gets me thinking about the direction of this country, the historical position we are in, and whether or not I actually trust the people that we have chosen to elect as leaders. The fillibuster itself is a tradition that has been around since the beginning, and I can only speculate that it is an element that has roots in Parliament. Basically, it allows a member of congress to delay a vote for any length of time - as long as that member can keep talking. In the past, congressmen have read phone books into the congressional record, teamed up with other congressmen to delay proceedings indefinitely (because one man can only stand up and talk for so long), and in doing so they've successfully blocked legislation, or blocked it long enough for the more votes to stroll into town to push legislation through. There is all this talk in the media about the democrats using the fillibuster to block judicial nominees - which is something that both sides have done since the birth of our country. Now, there are plenty of good uses for this and plenty of bad ones. When I first came to understand what a fillibuster was in 12th grade, I thought it was a despicable thing. Giving the power to one man to completely shut down our legislative branch. But then I came to understand that giving that power is an essential piece to our system of checks and balances. All you need is one congressman with a conscience and he can stop the rest of our government from taking advantage of us. The fact that no other proceedings can take place during a fillibuster is it's own check and balance - because the voters would simply not re-elect a congress that refused to get any work done. The historical significance that is at play here should not be over looked. The parallels of Roosevelt to George Bush are becoming more clear. George Bush, while being a very media-shy president has put forth the most ambitious agenda since Roosevelt's new deal. It's not so much ambitious in the quantity of legislation going through, but it is significant in the amount of dollars he is spending, the type of legislation being pushed through, and in the fundamental changes being made to our society. Like it or not, our world at the end of George Bush's reign will be dramatically different than the one we lived in before he was elected. Nothing is safe. Our government is changing in major ways. You might say it is for the better, you might not. But you must agree that it is changing. You would have thought a decade ago that the government could not search your house without you finding out about it and that would never change. It has changed. You would have thought a decade ago that the government could not put you in prison indefinitely without a trial and that would never change. It has changed. You would think a decade ago that all of our laws would be public - that you could read any law that you had to follow, and that would never change. It has changed (i.e. we now have secret laws). Granted, guidelines are in place to prevent abuse, but the guidelines are vague and the penalties for abuse are non-existant. The government that we entrusted with the "power to prevent terrorism" will not give up any of those powers. It's not in the nature of the institution. I obviously have a problem with many of the things taking place, but what surprises me is that very few other people do. People are still afraid of terrorists, still trusting of our government officials, and still relentlessly obedient to whatever the media tells them is right. What strikes me as odd, is that the Republican Electorate seems to be as organized and focused as a single party has ever been, while the democrats are seemingly in disarray and powerless to stop the changes - even though they still maintain control in the House of Representatives. One thing is clear - the Republicans understand what propoganda is and how to use it. The Democratic party is weak in the media, which is strange because if you look at the quantity of left-of-center television shows, radio shows, etc. it vastly outweighs the quantity of right-of-center media. The difference is that more people actually pay attention, believe, and vote along with conservative pundits. If you look to where the power came from - it all centers around three things. 1) Every congressmen was afraid to oppose the War in Afghanistan; 2) Most people (still) think the War in Iraq is the same war as the Whar in Afganistan; and 3) very few people are actually questioning what our own government is doing. But back to the fillibuster - The one thing that strikes me as most significant about this is that the power is granted to anybody in congress - not just a republican or a democrat. Even though we consider ourselves a two party system, there are many more parties, and many congressmen who loosely identify themselves with their party. Taking away the fillibuster pushes us even further into the two party system. It enhances the mindset that you must go along with your party, which I personally see as an alltogether bad thing. Me, I think congressmen should be more like the kind of person I want to be (and sometimes am) - someone who thinks, researches, and weighs things out before voting.
This is all about Bush appointees for Federal Judge positions, they are the one's who put Bush in power in 2000 in the stolen election then, not the people. The Republicans are seeking to change the way government functions so they can get corrupt Republican judges seated so then their crimes against the American people will be covered up. Cheney and Bush need these judges to throw out cases filed against them and that is why they want to change government. The Republican party is nothing more than a bunch of criminals that seek to control America and Americans for their own enrichment and we must fight against them and vote them out of every position possible. Republicans are a grave threat to America and the security of the nation/economy as they will steal as much from the people as they can then cover it up with these judges they seek to seat. We must fight against them in their desire to change the constitution and rules of government. Bush should be impeached and Cheney should be prosecuted for his fraud.
I'm all in favor of the filibuster - make people stand out there 24 hours a day and read the phone book or something. Just saying "we are filibustering" and going home is a bunch of crap.
In Canada, that is known as "marriage" Now don't you be giving nevetS a hard time, DA -- he has children to do that