Here's what I wrote to send to Carper. I'm editing a version for

[woodsprite]

other Senators. Since I could put a personal slant on it, I started with him. Do you see anything glaring? I thought an impassioned plea may be what it takes to get to him. I'm taking out the personal stuff for the other Sen.'s so that cuts it down a bit.

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I am writing to you to implore that you vote "no" on Judge Alito's nomination and support a filibuster. I know that as a DLC leader you believe that there is a great good to be had by working/compromising with the other side of the aisle. Politics in DC is now beyond that point. That belief will never be realized if the corruption is not stopped. The truth is that you must do this for your boys, my son and daughter, all the children that were part of our Sunday school classes and music programs, all the people you know and love - their futures, our futures and America's future.

Judge Alito's nomination is not about left/right, Roe v. Wade, choice/no choice. It is about much more than that. It is about the support of unbridled Presidential power - the Unitary Executive establishment. That power was not granted by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution for a reason. Alito's appointment would tip the scales so that the Supreme Court of the United States would be a tool supporting and protecting the very same criminals in this administration who have done irreparable harm to America, Afghanistan, Iraq and probably soon, Iran. It will condemn the common man for nothing more than observing his inalienable rights and Constitutional protections. It will strip our government of any possibility of the checks and balances concieved by our Founding Fathers.

A filibuster is not about playing partisan politics. It is about upholding our Constitution and fulfilling the job that you were elected to do. If Judge Alito is confirmed and the Democrats have not tried all that is in their power to stop it, then the "Third Way" principles - the tenets of the DLC -

1. the idea that government should promote equal opportunity for all while granting special privilege for none;
2. an ethic of mutual responsibility that equally rejects the politics of entitlement and the politics of social abandonment;
3. and, a new approach to governing that empowers citizens to act for themselves.

are not worth the paper they are printed on.

My only hope is that it is not too late for America.