To The Democratic Senators in Washington, D.C. :
I am a registered voter from Michigan who, after considering which party had the most to offer people like myself, chose to register as a Democrat when I did register, almost twenty years ago. I chose the Democratic party because I felt that they supported the "little guy," like myself, whereas the Republicans were all about big business.
When President Clinton, the first president I voted for (both times), was impeached by the Republicans in Congress over marital infidelity - which, while I do not condone it, I also do not feel that it was something I should have had to hear about day in and day out on television; what happened should have stayed between the president, his wife, and Miss Lewinsky - I stood by my votes for him because, personal issues aside, he was a good president. He had eliminated the federal deficit and had, in fact, allowed a surplus to build. He had helped develop stronger relations throughout the world. He created jobs for people like me. The country was in good shape. To put it simply, he did his job. And he fought tooth-and-nail against the Repulicans in Congress who tried to kill off his initiatives.
When Al Gore ran for president in 2000, I voted for him as well. I felt that he would be able to carry on the work that President Clinton had started - taking us in the right direction. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt this way. The majority of voters felt the same way I did, and voted him into office. Unfortunately, many of those votes were not counted until well after the fact, and the election was decided by the Supreme Court, which had every reason to choose in favor of George W. Bush, what with their connections to his father and his father's former boss, Ronald Reagan. But up until the Court chose the president, Gore put up a strong fight in an attempt to make sure every vote was counted. He had my respect.
In 2004, John Kerry ran a solid campaign against an incumbent president who did everything in his power to make Kerry out to be some sort of anti-American traitor. The treatment Kerry received from Bush, as well as groups working under the umbrella of Bush's supporters and handlers (such as Karl Rove), was not enough to bring the man down. He worked hard, stood by his message (albeit rather longwindedly), and kept on proving that the only issue Bush could run on was his ridiculous "war" - a war of covenience, which had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11th, 2001, no matter how hard Bush and company tried to tie it in. When it came time to vote, I voted for Kerry because I felt that he, a decorated military veteran, could do a better job of getting our troops back home from Iraq. At the very least, he could do a better job than an AWOL National Guard pilot whose only public "military record" consists of some dental records.
Once again, as the votes were being tallied, there were inconsistencies. There were rumors of voter intimidation in areas that were known to be Democratic strongholds in Ohio. There were problems with voting machines, which were built by a company that strongly supports the Republican party. All of the same things that happened in Florida four years earlier were taking place in Ohio, and then some. Exit polls, which are normally very accurate, called overwhelmingly for Ohio to go to John Kerry, giving him the election. But we all know how that one finished - before all of the votes were finally counted, John Kerry conceded to President Bush, allowing him to have a second term. The fight this time was, at best, minimal.
When the "official" vote count came out, Bush's "victory" was only by a very small margin. President Bush, however, called it a "Mandate", suggesting that the people had spoken, and they had chosen him. It would later come to light that, like in 2000, they had not. But nobody said much of anything about it. This was where things started to go really bad.
In the five years that President Bush has been in the White House, things have gone from good to worse. The "war" continues. The surplus that President Clinton had given us has dwindled to a record-breaking deficit in the face of two tax cuts that Bush pushed through in his first term, allowing for enormous cuts for the top 1% of earners in the country (unheard of, especially in a time of "war"), while the middle and lower class took up the largest part of the burden. The Patriot Act has taken away the civil liberties that we Americans were promised 270 years ago, and every president until the current one has upheld for us. The "small government" Republicans have made it even bigger, even while closing off valuable government programs designed to help those who need it the most. Congress is rife with corruption, as the Abramoff, DeLay, and other scandals have shown us.
And last year, we learned that the President believes he is above the law. His illegal warrantless wiretap program with the NSA has allowed him to thumb his nose at the Constitution that you, the ones who are supposed to be elected "by the people, for the people," and he swore to uphold. In bypassing the FISA court, President Bush has broken the law. Countless legal experts, and even some Congresspersons from his own party believe this is the case.
Members of his staff are allegedly responsible for leaking the name of a covert CIA operative to the press, a clear violation to the law. One of those staff members is currently under indictment, and others are still being investigated.
For God's sake, the Vice President shot a 78 year old lawyer in the face, waited twenty-four hours to report it, and was let go without so much as a minor investigation, even with rumors of alcohol being involved!
Where are the Democrats that I believed would support the "little people" back when I registered to vote? On almost every issue that has come up against the president, Congressional Democrats have made a lot of noise, but have done little else. Some, such as Senator Leiberman, have rolled over and become lapdogs for the White House, wagging their tails and licking the hand of the man who doesn't believe the law applies to him.
And yesterday, when Senator Feingold asked for a motion to censure the president, Senator Frist decided to try and force Feingold's hand by calling for an immediate vote. Did you, Senator Feingold's colleagues, stand by him and support the motion?
No. Instead, you used stalling tactics to put a hold on the vote - which now will most likely never see the light of day - and went on TV to tell everybody that Feingold's actions were "grandstanding" and "all about him." You whined about "alienating voters" and "looking weak on national security."
How dare you? How dare you turn your back on one of your colleagues? Especially when he is the only one of you who has enough of a spine to stand up to the administration and attempt to hold it accountable for its questionable and, above all, illegal activities. How dare you question the motivation behind Senator Feingold's actions, when you yourselves have repeatedly called for action against the president, although none of you had the nerve to be the first to take a stand?
The only voters you have alienated are the ones who, like myself, believed that you represented them. I know a lot of Democratic voters. I have not heard one say that they didn't want the president held accountable for breaking the law. Many have pointed out that President Clinton, whose biggest indiscretion was cheating on his wife, was held accountable before Congress, and paid a price for it. President Bush is, directly or indirectly, responsible for the deaths of over 2500 American soldiers in Iraq, a country that has never done anything to us, as well as more than 30,000 civilian deaths. Every day, those death tolls grow. He has forced his version of "democracy" (complete with questionable election results) on a country he decided to invade based on bad or false information, and is looking to force it on another in the not-to-distant future. My Democrat friends (as well as several Republicans I know) believe that Bush has lied to the people who supposedly put him in office. They believe we are caught up in a civil war in a country that doesn't want us there. They believe this country is headed in the wrong direction under this man's control.
They believe he needs to be held accountable. Why don't you?
Again, I ask: Where are the Democrats that I believed would support the "little people" back when I registered to vote? So far, only Senator Feingold has stood up to this call.
DCF
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