Yesterday, I watched and listened to Paul Krugman having a penetrating conversation with a military historian, Phillips O’Brien, who teaches at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). They were discussing us, i.e., America in the throes of today.
It was thoroughly absorbing. What struck me most, though, was that Krugman, to whose intellect, perceptions and ways of communicating I am devoted, said that he was scared about our future. I’ve never heard him say that previously.
Tim Snyder has been warning us about the potential for tyranny here over the past several years. The other night, I heard him on MSNBC, talking about the insane sudden switch perpetrated by the Trump cabal on Ukraine. Snyder used some language I’d never heard him use previously.
I began to feel seriously uneasy.
Then I read Ryan Goodman’s Just Security compilation of all the lawsuits filed against Trump, et al., challenging the tsunami of illegal Executive Orders attempting to drown our government. Since these lawsuits (and Marc Elias’s work) reinforce my abiding belief in the strength of our nation of law, I felt part of the legal resistance.
On MSNBC I listen to some brilliant lawyers who really know what they’re talking about talk about what they know so well. And I feel better informed, which always makes me feel better about our nation of law.
I read and hear constant yells at the Democratic Party, its elected officials (especially Hakeem Jeffries — [now what’s up with that?? ⇒ sarcasm] and leaders, along the lines of “Why don’t they do something?!?!” I’m serious with a bit of sass when I speak back to the social media posts and my friends and relations similarly. “What do you want them to do?” I say. Nobody has an answer. I may follow that up with “What do you think they have the power to do?” Nobody has an answer to that, either, except to reinforce their demands by yelling louder: “They have to get some balls and do something!!!”
Balls do not give the Democratic Party the majority in Congress. Votes do. (There are three special elections coming up soon in Republican-held districts. If the Democrats win all three, they will have the majority in the House. Take a look at Florida’s 1st and 6th and New York’s 21st.)
And a lot of people who are doing the yelling don’t seem to know what individual Dems are actually doing. Which is speaking ferociously in the Senate and House, publishing videos of their speeches and media appearances on social media (try BlueSky and get off TAFCAT). They are holding town halls, as did Ron Wyden a few days ago, and my own Rep. Jerry Nadler is having one next week on the 25th; he’s welcoming questions.
They do what they have the power to do.
To the people yelling that the Dems are too old, need younger leaders, blah, blah, blah: not every elected Congressperson or Senator is an effective orator. Some of them are government geeks, legislators who understand the intricacies of our intricate government. We need them, you know?
But are you actually listening to the Democrats who are effective speakers, impassioned effective speakers, fierce and effective speakers? I’ll name a few names: AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jamie Raskin, Chris Murphy, Adam Schiff, Elizabeth Warren, Robert Garcia…and I’ve left out many more.
Instead of yelling, try paying attention.
Below is an excerpt from a piece by a distressed ex-Republican on the state of the GOP in Congress:
But a whole new conception of what it means to be a Republican congressperson, and what they will be expected to do, has finally taken shape. Gone are the Camps and Romneys, the diligent wonks and the rangy strategists. Here now are the little Javerts, running star chamber investigations in newly weaponized committees, alongside an army of what are essentially internet trolls, producing content for an increasingly low-minded media economy.
Yeah. And (FIY) there are a lot of them to yell at.