Agog

     I admit it: I'm watching history reel past, shocked.  I had thought the rule of law and the strength of tradition were stronger in our government; and if anyone was going to break them, I didn't think it was going to be the Republicans.

     Sure, the occasional Republican or Democrat would try to bend the rules, and more often than not get slapped around for it; or sometimes Congress or the Courts would change the rules in a way that bugged me, and not all of that got reversed down.  But the wholesale abrogation of the separation of powers, the meek rollovers from the House and forelock-tugging of the Senate and the absolute partisanship-over-law on the part of some members of the Supreme Court stuns me.

     Historically, representative governments don't last (no form lasts forever).  The first few decades are the most risky.  But if they get past that, they usually last for centuries.  Two hundred and fifty years is pretty weak.

     Maybe we'll pull back.  We've done it before, more than once.  That's what I'm hoping for and voting for.  But it's a long way from being a sure thing. And there sure are a lot of citizens cheering for it to go the other way.