It’s important to write to our senators, even when we feel like our letters are just getting aggregated into some kind of statistical chart. But with so many alarm bells going off on the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) for U. S. Attorney General, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) couldn’t possibly respond to each constituent personally.
Today I received a letter that is almost certainly the same as that received by hundreds if not thousands of her constituents:
Thank you for contacting me about the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) to be the next Attorney General of the United States. I am deeply concerned about his nomination.
As you know, the Senate is charged by the Constitution with an "advice and consent" role in the appointment process. I take my constitutional responsibility very seriously, as do my colleagues. Senator Sessions' nomination will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee when Congress returns in the new year, and I fully expect that my colleagues on this committee will vigorously question his background, statements, and qualifications. I will keep your serious concerns in mind as his nomination moves through the confirmation process.
Thank you again for contacting me. Please continue to keep me informed about issues of concern to you and your family.
I believe in second chances. But I also expect that there at least be a glimmer of evidence to suggest that the person has changed for the better. With Jeff Sessions, I don’t know, I don’t think he has changed at all. And consider who nominated him: do you think Donald Trump has moved on from his racist past?
By the way, if you’re in Alabama and you’ve written to Sessions, I’m very curious to know what you’ve written. “If you could vote for yourself, you shouldn’t,” is what I would write. I’m assuming he can’t vote for or against himself.
Also of grave concern, Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos. A former university classmate of mine who now teaches music in a school posted on Facebook Stabenow’s response to his letter about DeVos:
Last week, I met with Betsy DeVos, President-elect Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. Secretary of Education.
I asked Mrs. DeVos a number of tough questions about her record in Michigan and her vision for the Department of Education. Our conversation reaffirmed my strong concerns about her nomination. Betsy DeVos and her family have a long record of pushing policies that I believe have seriously undermined public education in Michigan and failed our children. Because of that record, I do not believe it's in the best interests of Michigan families and families across America for Mrs. DeVos to be the next Secretary of Education, and I intend to oppose her confirmation.
Thousands of people like you have written me to share concerns about this nomination. I always appreciate hearing from you, and I hope you will continue to share your views on issues of concern to you and your family.
Quick note for those of you who don’t live in Michigan, or who don’t remember 2006: Betsy DeVos’s husband Dick ran for governor that year. Jennifer Granholm (D) won re-election that year. And though I wasn’t blown away in five years like she promised, at least Granholm did a lot better than Dick DeVos. But who knows, maybe DeVos wouldn’t have poisoned Flint, like Snyder—a low bar for a governor, I suppose. But I digress.
Dick and Betsy DeVos are supposedly hard-line “Christian conservatives.” But I’d find that easier to believe if she had been nominated by someone who has spent more time reading the Bible than reading Hitler speeches. What was that line in 3 Corinthians, something about not bending to envy?
DeVos might say the “right” things on abortion, but once that child is out of the womb and ready to start learning how to read, good luck, kid, you’re on your own. Maybe DeVos wants to take us back to those old times when only a very few people could read the Bible, or any book for that matter.