Seldom have so many Americans been so thoroughly patronized on a single day as during this week’s hearings for Supreme Court justice nominee Samuel Alito.
Senate Judiciary Committee members tried to outdo each other Tuesday as they expressed their concerns again and again about Alito’s attitude toward “the little guy” in his legal rulings.
When did the United States become a nation of Lilliputians? Who is this “little guy” arousing such anxiety on Capitol Hill? Is he the man or woman without the vast financial resources of a Ted Kennedy or a Joseph Biden? Without the political power of a Diane Feinstein?
Senators apparently have acquired seats on Mount Olympus where they can gaze down at the rest of us. Their lofty perches evidently convey rarified status and qualify them to categorize the rest of us as “little guys.”
Here’s a message for condescending politicians in Washington: Be careful how you patronize the “little guy” whose vote can pitch you onto the street in the next election.
The average American’s citizenship is just as inviolate as Sen. Kennedy’s. The average American’s home is just as important to him as is Sen. Biden’s. Our families, our lives, our jobs mean as much to us as Sen. Russ Feingold’s means to him.
It was the “little guy” who left his farm and shop and family to wrest the 13 colonies from British control. The “little guy” settled our western territories and hammered out a mighty nation. He went to war, nurtured a democracy, built our cathedrals, raised a family, fed the world, rescued the persecuted and comforted the afflicted.
The “little guy” wrote our literature and scratched out our anthems. He helped his neighbor – no matter how far away he lived. He did it with good humor, determination, backbreaking labor, an occasional touch of genius and a strong faith in God.
Honorable senators, many of those “little guys” today are in Iraq fighting a war you sent them to – a war from which you now want to cut and run. Hundreds of those “little guys” continue to line up at military recruiting offices because their country needs them – and because patriotism still runs in their veins.
Perhaps, senators, you tangled your rhetoric. Perhaps the “little guys” are those sitting on Mount Olympus. The big guys are at home, doing what they do every day – working to keep this nation alive.
“Little guys”? Look in the mirror, senators.
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