Linkmeister

Civics

HY VOTE in a mid-term election? Does it really matter? Well, consider the possibility of a White House (already in Republican hands) and a Senate possibly controlled by Republicans. This would mean committee chairmanships would move over to the Republicans (note: that list is obviously slightly out-of-date), and some of those are critical. Imagine the Judiciary chaired (again) by Orrin Hatch; presumably this would clear the way for Bush appointees to make it out of committee and to the full Senate floor, where they would likely be confirmed. Judging from prior selections alone, this would mean selectees whose views about a woman's right to choose, environmental protections, the death penalty and civil liberties are antithetical to those many Americans hold. Similarly, the chairmanship of environmental affairs would move to James Inhofe, no fan of the EPA. Regulation of clean air and water might be enforced less stringently, and new regulations could be written by those companies subject to the regulation. We saw this happen with the Cheney energy plan, where utilities like Enron had much more input than did the environmental community. That’s not only undemocratic, it’s plain stupid. Foxes are not given contracts to run henhouses.

These kinds of issues are not abstract. They will have an impact on every single one of the 280 million or so Americans in the country, and, in the case of judges, on the children and grandchildren of each of us. These are lifetime appointments, remember. The rules set by EPA will also determine the cleanup of Superfund sites, the quality of our air and water, and nuclear power site management for years to come.

Take the time on Tuesday to vote.