To Filibuster Or Not To Filibuster

I don't have much hope that the Dems can mount a successful fight against the forces of the far right on the nomination of Samuel Alito. The words from John Warner (R-VA) in the Senate were ominous: he relished dragging the Democrats through the mud if they attempt a filibuster of the Alito nomination. I'm sure he's not alone.

What I'm not sure of is what the Dems should do. My gut tells me that this is not the battle to fight. The extreme right is far too powerful, and the Dems will just geld themselves in the process of unsuccessfully filibustering the candidate. But gelding might be a good option since the Democrats are truly powerless in the face of an authoritarian executive that continually uses the threat of war/terrorism/etc. to pillory and silence dissenters. Congressional Republicans seem to want to prove to the nation that they truly have no legitimate opposition. And maybe the opposition needs to learn the painful truth. But I think the darkness might be good for us: it might make more Americans realize that their rights are slowly deteriorating before their eyes.

Maybe I'll contact Feinstein and Boxer and throw my support for a filibuster. I really do think it will be an instructive lesson for Americans to see that Congress can be just as anti-democratic as the Executive Branch. I think I can already hear the haunting words of Alexis de Tocqueville warning against the tyranny of the majority. Maybe the majority needs to be tyranical for a while longer before we all get the message.

On a tangential note, I was preparing my lecture tonight (on 19th century artistic modernism) and came across a great site devoted to crushing the ACLU: http://stoptheaclu.org/. Don't even ask me how these two topics relate to each other. Basically, searching for images of Manet's "Old Musician" and instead found the blog of an American in France with a link to the site above. His images of the Metropolitain and art nouveau were beautiful. His politics, disappointing. Not worth a linkback I'm afraid.