March 25, 2005
Friday

Next month the U.S. Senate will most likely vote on what the Republicans call the "nuclear option." This is about radical Republicans grasping for absolute power so they can appoint Supreme Court justices that favor corporate interests and an extreme right agenda over the rest of us. Alaska is a republican state, but when does a fair and balanced democracy enter into the picture? Our country's success has been on the premise that we have checks and balances in our national congress and courts.

Radical Republicans are threatening to eliminate the filibuster to gain complete control over the Supreme Court. They want to use the Court to roll back worker protections and privacy rights--all at our expense.

I read the definition of "Democratic." The thesaurus definitions include -independent, classless, equal, and open. Last time I checked we were a Democratic country.

When political powers become infested with the ideology that they have some God ordained right to force their social or religious beliefs on others, its time to remember and recite the Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. It further reads and warns us to protect this great country against abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism (tyranny, dictatorship, absolutism)

They validated their declaration by citing reasons. One of the reasons was, He (King of Britain) has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

Sound familiar? It also says, Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.

Do these Declarations that we hold true ..really mean all U.S. citizens are equally protected and have these unalienable Rights, including those citizens that are Democrats, gay or a woman!

This is not a partisan issue. This is about supporting checks and balances and opposing absolute power in the hands of one party. And that's something we can all agree on.

Myrna Gardner
Juneau, AK - USA

 

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