Beware of the elite

I should be happy. The Senate's confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court last week was supposed to rest my fears about the judicial nominating process and revive my faith in the Senate. Yet despite the pleasing outcome, something still bugs me about the way things went.\nNevermind the unforgivable behavior of some senators during the hearings. Nevermind the disappointing polarized vote. The filibuster is what calls my attention. \nLed by Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, the filibuster was almost finished before it began. So why did they, along with many of their fellow Democrats, think it would be a good idea? Like my mother says, whenever the motives of a person are unclear, money is almost always the answer.\nInterest groups like MoveOn.org offer big bucks to senators and congressmen who conform to their agendas. The last-ditch efforts of the filibuster weren't intended to actually block the Alito confirmation, they were a way to say "Hey, I did everything I could, so give me your money in 2008." \nBy no means am I uncovering a revelation: It is well-known that interest groups have huge political influence, partly because of their wealth and partly because of the absence of the average voter. But the extent of their power is ballooning into an uncontrollable, well, balloon, and the Alito filibuster is a wake-up call to the state of our democracy.\nThe Founding Fathers never envisioned a government like we have today -- run by unelected wealthy extremists. The fact that we're all too busy with our daily lives to continually check the government's actions doesn't mean that we are lazy or that we don't care. But being busy is no longer an excuse. While we, average American citizens, are occupied with daily life, extremists with narrow interests are wooing our elected officials, and we're losing our precious representative government to an elite few.\nTheir influence is beginning to extend beyond policy initiatives -- interest groups and lobbyists are now affecting the way our government conducts its business, too. Just look at the filibuster. Last week, senators nearly stopped a perfectly qualified judicial candidate from being confirmed because they're concerned with possible presidential candidate contributions that may or may not be given two years from now. Putting aside the Founding Fathers' vision, is this what we the people believe an acceptable way to conduct government affairs? \nUnfortunately, no law will fix this. And ironically, no Supreme Court decision will fix this. It's up to us -- the people -- to fix the mess we are in.\nThis is a much more complicated issue than I let on. Ordinary voters are faced with so many obstacles when it comes to overcoming factious interests (like money, time, resources, etc.), and changing the institutional milieu in Congress is daunting. But to start, we must recognize the problem, acknowledge it exists, and do what we can to change things.\nInterest groups might have the cash, but the people have a greater power: voting. In America, change begins at the bottom.