In in the comments to Armando’s posts on the Roberts nomination at DKos, and in one of Booman’s posts on the same topic here, I argued strongly in favor of a "stand on principle" rather than a "keep our powder dry" strategy on this issue, in order to properly frame and set up for the fight over Justice O’Connor’s replacement. Since I believe that positive reinforcement is as important as negative, below is my letter to Sen. Feinstein, who is regarded as a swing vote on these issues but today voted against Roberts in the Judiciary Committee. Hopefully this indicates that she will be willing to take a principled stand on the next nominee as well, and support efforts to block this nominee if necessary. And hopefully her Democratic colleagues will do the same.
So I’m thinking maybe it’s a good idea for as many of us as possible to send both positive and negative reinforcement to our Democratic (and moderate Republican?) Senators over their votes on this issue, and let them know in advance how we feel about the battle to come.
Cross-posted over there …
Sen. Feinstein,
I am a moderate Democrat who wrote to you this summer expressing strong opposition to your position on the proposed "flag desecration" amendment to the United States Constitution. I am writing now, however, to thank you for voting against President Bush’s nomination of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States. Too many issues critical to our nation’s future are stake right now – e.g. the right to privacy, the right to choice, the separation of church and state, appropriate limitations on executive power, and our government’s responsiblity to enforce necessary health, safety and enviromental regulations – to allow this Administration to stack our Supreme Court with stealth right-wing nominees. I am discouraged by those Democrats who chose not to vote against this nominee, and I applaud your principled stand. I also encourage you and your colleagues to take an equally principled stand on the President’s nominee to replace Justice O’Connor, and to block this nominee if he or she is unable or unwilling to demonstrate that he or she would not tip the balance of the Court away from Justice O’Connor’s legacy of moderation. With thanks,
XXX
That is why you are correct in saying that we need to be sending out positive messages for positive actions.
I try and make a point of picking out some positive thing(s) whenever I write or phone to my representatives even if the main thrust of note is to say “Bad Senator!” (OR rep., etc.).
They tend to take your responses more seriously if they have seen your messages come in once in a while with some support for things they have done.
I try and do the same thing in the case of the media.
If everything I wrote to them was about their right wing bias they would just trash them without reading them. If, once in a while, I send out a note saying how much I enjoyed their coverage of “X”… Well, I am less likely to end up in the “crackpot bin” of spam when I do write to complain.
The only problem?
I am finding it harder and harder everyday to find something positive to say about many politicians and most of the media.