Thread by @petersagal

Sen. Tillis made a point I often do: that every dictator in the modern world ran a country with a Bill of a Rights.

It’s true! Among those countries: the Soviet Union, Communist China.

Then he said the difference between them and the US was “we have a Constitution.”

Um, no.

1st of all the Bill of Rights IS the Constitution. First ten amendments thereto, in fact.

2nd, those countries also had Constitutions, which their leaders also ignored. It’s all just paper.

So what’s the real difference between them and us? I could go on about this — and do!— but it boils down to: in this country we’ve always* had the willing consent of the losers.

Not just Presidents leaving office when defeated, though that’s the most celebrated. But also — oh, just for example — a President honoring the legitimacy of a House of Congress controlled by the other party.

And also, honoring the validaty of legislation duly passed by Congress and signed by the President even if you were opposed to it.

Without that — the consent of the loser — the Bill of Rights, and the whole Constitution is just another piece of paper.

*some exceptions include the entire sorry history of the 14th Amendment, 1866 — 1956.