As Benjamin Franklin left the final day of deliberation by the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a citizen supposedly asked him, "Well, Doctor, what have we got--a Republic or a Monarchy?" Franklin replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."
If all goes as planned, in a week or so that Republic will finally escape our grip. When the Senate votes to affirm Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, the central tenet of our government - the separation of powers - will take a blow from which it will likely never recover. In its place a de facto monarchy will solidify and expand, and our Constitution will join the Geneva Convention as a quaint anachronism. And the Republic we have kept for two hundred years will join its Athenian and Roman predecessors as good ideas whose time has passed.
Melodramatic? I think not.
Then you may want to read or listen to this Tears For Fears song. I did.
All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
~Tears For Fears, Mad World
But hey, John Kerry is calling for a filibuster. Oh, good. Someone who really knows how to rally the troops. In AmericaBlog, Joe points out the best reason for doing it, no matter how futile it may seem:
Make the GOP say what they want: a justice who will overturn Roe v. Wade. Make them defend it. They never say it. Make them.
And remember: They could have just asked him.
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