really striking mismatch between the maximalist rhetoric (“this is a REVOLUTION, it is going to be VIOLENT”) and the reality (a debate over a floor vote and whether it seems cool to tweet vitriol at each other.) it seems to me to be a sign of both weakness and profound despair.

I think accountability from elected officials is good, and it is actually not easy to get despite that being one of the rationales of representative gov’t—so we can have conversations about how best to do that, from whom we most need it, and what it can achieve.

But even if we were agreed on all that, and shared the view that this tactic and this vote were a crucial way to get accountability, that would still be a far, far cry from a revolutionary overturning of an oppressive system. It’s just, like, normal representation

So I guess what I am asking is can we please cool it, just a little bit, and try to build something together, as if we actually knew and believed we would need each other in order to end the truly massive suffering all around us? like, as a treat?