A masterpiece

Over at Raconteur Report, Aesop has penned an excellent essay on democracy, our Constitution, and the importance of voting.  (Profanity alert;  he doesn't pull his punches, or his language.)  It's far too long to excerpt all the important points here, so I'll just hit a couple of highlights.

If any people were populated solely by absolute saints, a theocracy would suffice, and no written laws necessary at all. Such has existed never, nowhere, in recorded human history, and the Founders knew this. They also knew that laws only ever work for the law-abiding, no matter what form of government. And lastly, they knew that government itself was the biggest problem in the equation. Even if George Washington never uttered the famous lines, they are self-evidently true nonetheless:

"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

So what was needed was a government that would prevent a tyranny from arising.

Without becoming one itself.

. . .

[The Founders] constructed the whole so that nothing happens easily, nor fast. Ever. That's a feature, not a bug. You need consensus to do things. No wild swings. No one-man dictatorships, nor even fiefdoms. And you need both houses, the president, and the assent of the courts for anything to happen, and stick. Anyone of them backs out, and it gets a lot harder to do anything at all.

But someone will pipe up that things are awful, and "muh Constitution" failed, and woe is me, and we should burn everything down, because reasons?

. . .

The checks and balances inherent in that document kept HopeyDopey from zooming the country right over the cliff all at once. They keep President Trump from going batshit tweety-fingers barking mad, just as they kept Shrillary and Algore out of the Oval Office, except as visitors. They'll restrain Judge Kavanaugh, even if he becomes Mr. Justice Kavanaugh, as they've restrained Satanmayor, Ruth Vader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O'Communist, and their colleagues, and good men and evil ones since generations before you were born.

There's much more at the link.  I highly recommend clicking over there and reading the whole thing.  It's worth it.

Basically, Aesop is saying that we really, really need to get out there and vote this November, to ensure that our Constitution - and the checks and balances it provides - prevails over the forces of anarchy, lawlessness and nihilism that are currently trying to derail it.

I agree.

We have a voice.

Let's use it - because if we don't, others are all too ready to silence it.

Peter