By Zamboni
Have we cats mentioned that governing is complicated and difficult? We know we have. But to be clearer, maybe we should have qualified that statement: In a democracy, governing is complicated and difficult.
Because of all the voices. A democracy has many of them, all speaking up with differing views and interests. And the goal of a democracy like ours here in America is to forge some consensus from it all: E pluribus unum, out of many, one.
In autocracies, dictatorships and cults, though — all of which the GOP is rapidly becoming — that's not the case. So we're tired of the media portraying the give, take, and sometimes maddening negotiations that the Democratic majorities in Congress have had this past year as some sort of calamity — or worse, a fatal infirmity.
It's a democracy, folks. At least, on our side of the aisle it is. So we were pleased to see historian Rebecca Solnit, in a brilliant essay in yesterday's New York Times, agree with us.
"While Republicans assault voting rights and the integrity of our elections, what fuels their advance is the rise of a gullible sector of the public ready to follow their leaders wherever they go," she wrote. "What's often described as a weakness of the Democratic Party — the existence of a variety of views and positions, freely debated or even fought over, and a restless, questioning electorate — is a strength of democracy."
All hail, Rebecca. We cats PURR.
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