A Letter To My Fellow (Normal) Americans
by Beth Quinn

Dear Fellow Normal People,

In case it hasn't hit you yet, the jig is up.

The Radical Religious Right now owns all three branches of America. Or they will in a few months, when Sam Alito gets his seat on the Supreme Court.

Bush's nomination of Alito is the whole enchilada. It's the Religious Right's quid pro quo for putting him in the White House. Bush owes them big-time, and their tab for services rendered is one Supreme Court.

And so Bush has given the ultraconservative Alito to the nut cases he's beholden to, thereby handing them the third branch, lock, stock and barrel.

Considering they already own the White House and Congress, we average, normal Americans should be quaking in our boots. And I'm talking about average, normal Republicans; average, normal Dems; average, normal people of faith; average, normal women and gays and immigrants and minorities and the disabled.

That's because our average, normal freedoms will be dead in the water when Alito replaces Sandra Day O'Connor as the court's swing vote. As the gleeful Pat Robertson explained it last week:

"We can see the majority shift on the court – instead of going 4 to 5 against the Lord, we'll now be going 5 to 4 in His favor."

Who knew the Lord was such a steady litigant before the court? Certainly not I. But there you have it.

If you doubt it, I've compiled a little list of folks who are dancing in the streets about Alito's nomination. Just look who's got Happy Feet now:


Chuck Colson, the born-again Christian commentator and Watergate convict, says the Christian community "is not going to put up with foot-dragging in the Senate confirmation process."
Did you hear that, Senate? The Religious Right wants Alito confirmed pronto – and these folks have the juice to demand it. They own you, too, remember?


Tony Perkins, president of the wildly right-wing Family Research Council, is "thrilled" with Alito because, he says, until now the courts have been "the last bastion of an anti-Christian viewpoint."

Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice couldn't wipe the grin off as he called Alito's nomination a "Grand Slam" for the Religious Right.

And a chilling statement from Dan Swarthout, president of Christians Reviving America's Values, who lauded the Alito nomination with these words:

"We need someone on the U.S. Supreme Court who stands for the true principles of America. In fact, I think most of America would agree that it is time for our nation to stop our tolerance for diversity."
So, fellow normal Americans, we now live in a country where the Supreme Court will be safeguarding intolerance. Good luck to you all.

I hope for your sake that your god is their god.

© 2005 Record Online