About last night: 51 people decided that exercising power in an institution is more important than the institution itself. That was not inevitable. It was an active choice. And it is an abomination.
At the same time, America has a long history of corrupt bargains. On the list of Moments Congress Traded Morality for Power, this doesn't make the top ten.
Well-meaning and justifiably-outraged people are talking about this as the end of our democratic republic. It could be. It doesn't have to be.
The beautiful thing about democracy is that it does not have to be static. That this Congress is on a glide path to accepting a president abusing the office does not mean future congresses must.
The next Congress can institute sweeping reforms. We see you post-Watergate-era and raise you a Trump hotel.
Not just that, everything is more fluid than we discuss. The Supreme Court can reverse itself. The Constitution can be amended. The voting public can hold every single person who has been complicit to account - not swiftly and now always as we would like to, but in some form.
It's easy and right to feel discouraged about these things because of structural issues. I've come, reluctantly and regretfully and sadly, to the conclusion that this is by design. If your vote can't be earned, the GOP's second choice is to suppress it- actively or passively.
But I still believe that our system is so easily manipulated because so few of us participate in it. More of us can show up and declare this unacceptable, and that's our role now, regardless of how we feel about the eventual presidential nominees or the choices down ballot.
So many people and communities have had to fight-harder than we are being asked to right now-for basic fairness in this country. We can do it. -b
