Loss of Balance of Powers Makes Bush an Emperor

I attended, belatedly (root canal) a meeting held by Rhode Island for a Fair Judiciary concerning Alito's nomination to the US Supreme Court. Members of the Sierra Club (environmentalists) and the AFL-CIO were there as well as Planned Parenthood. I was hoping to see a more robust attendance but understand people are busy and have schedule conflicts. I wrote a brief position paper at my website (www.carlsheeler.com) titled "Alito: If GOP Conservatives Win, Not only do Women Lose, We all do."

I want to convey this sentiment as clearly and simply as possible. From up close this nomination might only mean another jurist on the federal bench, but it's much, much more! The conservative GOP controls two of the three branches of the federal government. (if you don't count media like the ProJo). The only branch not yet controlled is the judicial branch.

Alito's 15+ history on the federal bench has demonstrated a consistent pattern of supporting executive decisions (read Presidency). Should Alito replace the more moderate O'Connor, very little would prevent a proposal from Congress or the President to promote a constitutional amendment whereby Bush could hold office for more than two terms, declare martial law, spy on, arrest or hold without due process citizens who oppose "his" government.

Given how much the media (such as the Belo owned ProJo in RI) influences the message or even if it is seen, people will go about their business not aware of just how dire this outcome could be to their lives; something severe. How about abolishing minimum wage? Too late, it's done in New Orleans right now. How about offshore drilling near our coast despite the environmental impact? Now you start to see why labor and environmental groups are coming together to oppose this nomination.

Who’s left? Who matters most? Every day people, who are exhausted because they’re working more and getting less, because its the same politicians that rely on the public indifference to stifle things that might improve our lives like universal healthcare, quality education (funding) or parental leave that I discussed in my recent press release.

In a nutshell, we're screwing the future of our kids and if we forfeit social security by privatizing it, we're screwing our parents, grandparents and ourselves should the executive branch decide to enact a law to do just that. The audacity of the lies to invade Iraq, oil industry gouging and the benefits to certain contractors, finance and banking industries would pale in comparison to the wholesale shifting of trillions of dollars of commissionable investment (income) whose costs would be hundreds of billions of dollars while actuarially, there is nothing wrong with social security despite what several hen pecked "experts" have suggested that could be taken care of by some small tweaks, not a complete overhaul.

Remember this is the administration that had alert warnings regularly leading up to the 2004 election and suddenly there are no more terrorist threats. I guess London and Madrid just didn't get the word or maybe just Osama din Laden and Al Qaeda.

I'm not a rebel or reactionary. I am a U.S. Marine vet, business man and a pragmatist who loves this country more than power. I turned down a sure win for election to a State Senate seat that was offered on a platter to me. It would be immaterial if I won, if we, as a people are not more in sync with what many of these federal politicians are doing to my/our country. In a nutshell, that's why I'm running. What are you willing to do to make a difference?