I have a Supreme Court conundrum.
About a year ago, I wrote a scathing letter to Max Baucus, Montana's senior senator, after he voted for the disgusting corporate giveaway known as the Bankrupcty Bill. Truth be told, scathing might be too mild a word...
As for me, I'm through with you. I've fought to keep you in office since I was old enough to understand politics because the alternative--a third Republican member in Montana's Congressional delegation--scared me. But at least with Republicans I know what to expect...
It's three more years until you're up for election, Max. Any primary challengers out there will have my support. I hope other Democrats will follow me.
I sent the full letter to Max's office, and a version of it appeared in the Billings Gazette. I've heard a lot about this letter, including a phone call from the chair of the Park County Democrats.
The point is that I burned a bridge there. I hardened my heart against Senator Baucus, and while I'm not narcissistic enough to think that he or his staffers would remember the letter after a year, I do feel that I am no longer entitled to send him emails and call his office about issues that concern me. What's my bargaining position? "If Senator Baucus supports the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, I'm going to vote against him *twice*!"
So while I find myself increasingly dismayed at the direction of the Alito hearings and have heard nothing at all in his testimony to convince me that he will not shred Roe into a million little pieces not by overturning it but by imposing more and more restrictions until abortion is de facto legal but almost completely unobtainable, I don't feel as if I can actively lobby my senator at all.
I'm going to participate in the Blog for Choice Day on Sunday, but beyond that I feel helpless. This man, with all of his apparent racist and sexist tendencies, is most likely going to be handed a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land.