My Valentine to Sandra Day O’Connor
“I am, however, going to exercise my right under
the First Amendment to tell you and the other
four injustices that I view your majority decision
as the most serious contempt of law ever committed in this land.
You have seriously breached my confidence and respect
for your worthiness to occupy ANY bench,
much less the most revered in the land.”
Attention: Injustice Sandra Day
O'Connor,
To you, I am just one faceless, nameless person among millions of Americans. I am white, Protestant, educated, a small
business owner, and involved community member.
I work hard, abide the law, pay my taxes, and have always exercised my
right and responsibility to vote. I
have been politically aware, but never overtly political active. I have always been PROUD to be an American,
a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the mother of a
United States Air Force officer and pilot. I am a proud American and part of the
backbone and lifeblood of this nation.
I cried for my country on the day John F.
Kennedy was assassinated.
I was then a child of ten and the violent death
was frightening. I cried again on
December 12, 2000, when the decision of Bush vs. Gore
was read. I am now a woman of
nearly fifty and your participation in this obviously partisan decision is even
more frightening to me now than violent death was forty years ago. NO time for democracy? NO time to count the votes cast by
Americans? Issuing an injunction against
the good people of Florida who were getting the task done to count the
votes? An act of injunction for the
sole purpose of protecting one wealthy, spoiled citizen's premature and illegitimate
claim to the Office of President?
Deliberately running out an unnecessary clock?
To borrow YOUR own words, Injustice O' Connor, my reaction was also, "Oh no, this is terrible!"
Because I am a Florida voter whose county uses punch machines, you
obviously got two votes this election and my one vote may never even have been
counted. Isn't there an amendment to
the constitution that is supposed to protect me from such an unequal voting
right?
I am, however, going to exercise my right under the First Amendment to
tell you and the other four injustices that I view your majority decision as
the most serious contempt of law ever committed in this land. You have seriously breached my confidence
and respect for your worthiness to occupy ANY bench, much less the most revered
in the land. I applaud the actions of
the five hundred and growing number of professors
of law who have publicly condemned you and your cohorts of partisan action. I can only hope that they and those who
follow will teach their students through the ages of your personal and professional
failure to be what our nation needed and expected you to be; impartial judges,
blind to anything but justice for the people and guardians of our law. May history forever remember you with a black
mark and as one of the Five Assassins of Democracy! You have tarnished your position as first lady of the court; that
honor must now be bestowed upon Justice Ginsberg who did dissent to your opinion without traditional
respect. And for Justice Stevens statement of truth, his words shall be immortal.
Election 2000 will never be forgotten and most likely not forgiven by
millions like me who are now learning how to non-violently protest. Tears of pride and trepidation rolled down
my cheeks on the evening that I watched my son pledge to give his life if
necessary to defend this country against enemies foreign and domestic. I then feared Saddam Hussein and other
terrorists, but after your decision, I now fear my own corrupt countrymen and
their greed for power and money at the expense of the people and
democracy. I cannot in good conscience
allow my son to be willingly to give his life in honor of this country, if I do
not use my voice and keyboard to protest the violation of those rights and
freedoms he stands willing to sacrifice his life to protect and preserve.
We will not obediently "Get over it!" We are not just a few `fringe' people. We
are Americans and we are many! The
spirit of our ancestors still courses through our blood. We expect our Justice Department to punish
those involved and responsible. We
demand our legislative branch to act to insure that NEVER again will even one single
American vote not be counted. We
dissent to a court appointed monarchy and self-proclaimed royal executive
branch.
We shall be everywhere you look from now on. Our faces may remain nameless, but they shall be seen in shades
of red and yellow and black and white, old and young, male and female to always
remind you that we can dissent as well.
This country was founded to be a government of the PEOPLE, by the
PEOPLE, and for the PEOPLE. That is the
legacy I received from my forefathers and mothers and the one I intend to be
bequeathed to my children's children's children.
Listen to the PEOPLE, Injustice O' Connor: "Hail to the Thief and the Supreme Coup!" We hope it rings in your ears while you are
awake, haunts your sleep at night, and follows you beyond the grave.
JOIN THE “SHAME” POSTCARD CAMPAIGN