Hero and Villains of the Year

This Blog entry is the opinion of this writer and not necessarily the general views of any the Splinters Team.

My hero of the year is without question Ms. Cindy “peace mom” Sheehan. I’ve always believed that social justice begins with courage, and that courage begins with one voice. A great example in the last fifty years has been Rosa Parks who our nation sadly lost recently. This year Ms. Sheehan, almost single handedly brought the anti-war sentiments felt in America to a new high. All she wanted is a second meeting with the president so that he can explain a few things to her. It was a beautiful move on behalf of the anti-war political front and the media helped (finally since the media have been such lackeys).

In an interview in 2004 Ms. Sheehan said:

We haven't been happy with the way the war has been handled. The president has changed his reasons for being over there every time a reason is proven false or an objective reached.

Tom Matzzie of MoveOn said:

In her grief and bravery, Cindy has become a symbol for millions of Americans who demand better answers about the Iraq War. Though right-wing pundits have attacked her personally, her honesty is unimpeachable. Now more and more mothers (and fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, sons and daughters) are standing up with Cindy. [Together], we'll make sure that President Bush can't escape the reality of this war—even in Crawford, Texas.

The villain of 2005 in my mind is The Federalist Society. The group has been working very hard since 1982 to turn back the clock and reverse the landmark cases steered during the 1950s and 1960s by Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice Brennan, and the Court decisions made during President Roosevelt’s New Deal tenuous period. In short, these folk want to turn back the time and go back to this fantasy world of “originalism,” that is, taking back the Constitution to what the Founding Fathers doctrine stated back in 1789 and/or 1929, if we can discernibly know what that is.

To be sure, the world and our country today is so vastly different than 1789. More importantly, I don’t want to live by the mores, the economic and social interests of a 1789 society, let alone a pre New Deal society--it’s a hidden agenda really.

According to Alfred Ross, the founder of Institute for Democratic Studies in an interview with Democracy Now:

If one looks at the history of the Federalist Society, which was established at the inspiration of Robert Bork in the early 1980s, their entire trajectory has been to move our judicial system in an extremely radically right wing direction.

My point is that we better understand what our foes are up to, and the sooner the better.

Happy New Year fellow Democratic activists. We Shall Overcome!

To visit Democracy Now for more info about the Federalist Society please visit here.