Lest it pass by, floating down the page, I repeat what Jonathan Alter wrote today in Newsweek: “”A Power Outage on Capitol Hill” — “We are in danger of scrapping our checks and balances—not just for a few years (as was done during the Civil War), but for good.—What if we faced a constitutional crisis and hardly anyone noticed? … It’s so much easier to talk about Joe Biden’s big mouth or a right-wing Princeton alumni group or Mrs. Alito’s tears than to figure out how the country should prevent a president of the United States from castrating the United States Congress …”


Today, Al Gore admonished Congress: “I call upon Democratic and Republican members of Congress today to uphold your oath of office and defend the Constitution. Stop going along to get along. Start acting like the independent and co-equal branch of government you’re supposed to be.”


Today, Al Gore admonished us — the citizens: “We the people are-collectively-still the key to the survival of America’s democracy. We-as Lincoln put it, “[e]ven we here”-must examine our own role as citizens in allowing and not preventing the shocking decay and degradation of our democracy. Thomas Jefferson said: ‘An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will’.”


What will we do? What will we make Congress do? And might I add, when will we stop grousing about our listless Democratic leadership and inspire THEM TOO — and give THEM HEART that we will stand behind them, and we will not allow them to be turned into clowns and buffoons — and that includes taking on every media outlet that so dares to paint the Democratic minority in a negative light?


This morning, while Al was speaking, someone wrote this to a list I’m on:

It’s already a done deal that there will be no filibuster on Alito. And if that is true, it doesn’t matter what Gore or anybody else says about Bush. The Democrat party should just dissolve, pay off its debts, and distribute its assets. They say they’re going to work on the congressional elections? They don’t have anything to go to the voters with, after wimping out on this nomination. Bush & co go home with all the marbles, and the elections won’t matter a hoot. Please correct me if I’m wrong.


And Chad Lupkes replied to him:

You seem already convinced, so exactly what the hell can I say? If we give up on our efforts to influence the Democratic Party, then we give up on our Constitution. If we give up on the Constitution, then you can kiss the world that our children will be living in goodbye — because of the incompetence shown by this administration and those that support and contribute to the efforts that are going to undercut our rule of law and that are going to potentially destroy all life on this planet.


If that’s not important enough to fight for, then I have nothing left to say. This single nomination on the Supreme Court might take us back a hundred years. But giving up on the development of progressive and people-based infrastructure to encourage individuals to get engaged, educated and empowered to bring our country back in line with the original ideals as put forward by the Founders of this country will do much worse. 1929 will look like a joke. The thousand-year depression following the fall of the Roman Empire will be the only possible comparison in our history.


Am I going over the top? You tell me. But don’t tell me you’re going to give up, because I’m not willing to set fire to the only hope this planet has.


Read all of Gore’s speech at Raw Story. I will post replay times on C-Span when available. Tape this speech and share it with all. Al’s delivery makes the words come alive, so it’s far better to listen than to read it. (Drudge has it on top, with Bob Barr’s involvement featured. Not bad!)