Disgusted

I just feel hammered flat right now.  Yesterday, I saw a completely credible accusation from Dr. Blassey Ford.  I then saw Judge Kavanaugh meltdown and yell at the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  I saw repeated calls for an FBI investigation of the events dismissed by both Kavanaugh and the Republicans on the Committee.

The idea that you wouldn't want an FBI investigation to clear your name is a massive red flag.  The second red flag is that Kavanaugh transparently lied about many small, easily disprovable things: his drinking, his yearbook page... Yes, I'm convinced he did it.  Or at the very least, he's lying about some aspects of it.  He was a drunken lout, a beer soaked bully, and while he may not be doing keg stands anymore, that aspect of his testimony was on full display yesterday.

And it won't make a difference.

The rural, Red State tilt of the Senate means that Republicans enjoy a razor thin margin, and they will leverage that margin - as they did against Merrick Garland - to force an undemocratic result on an undemocratic body.

We shall see how we survive Trumpistan in terms of the wild, moronic narcissist ensconced in the Oval Office, but the broader damage to democratic legitimacy in this country is very troubling.  The skewed nature of our representation in the Senate and House give an undemocratic advantage to the rural, white, high school educated base of the Republican Party.  There is no easy fix for this, beyond the unlikely emergence of different voting patterns among Democratic and Independent constituencies that could somehow overwhelm the natural and partisan gerrymanders in our Congress. 

This isn't just about Brett Kavanaugh or #MeToo.  It's about whether our institutions still represent the will of the majority.  They do not.  If November doesn't change things, I fear for the very fabric of the country.