I would like to say something comforting, uplifting, hopeful.

But I'm heartbroken.

Most of the thing we humans care about are imaginary, made real only by shared belief: money, country, democracy, equality, fairness, the rule of law.

They exist only because we believe. 1/x

They're not just like houseplants that die if not watered.

They don't exist at all if we don't agree they do.

Money? It's valuable only if you accept it and if the ones and zeros linked to my plastic card mean something to you.

Rule of law? Democracy? Same. 2/x

The rules only apply if we mostly follow them in good faith. And evil people only follow them if we set drastic consequences when they're broken.

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, and 62 courts have rejected baseless claims to the contrary. 3/x

The fraudsters in the GOP (Hawley, Cruz, most of the GOP House) don't claim there was fraud. (There wasn't.) They say there are _allegations_ of fraud.

Huh.

Well, I'm my wife alleges I'm cute and athletic, but let me tell you--opinions vary, and reality somewhat differs. 4/x

In today's GOP, they refuse to seat a Democratic Senator in PA that the state supreme court says won. They claim that the VP has the right to unilaterally rule who won the last election Trump lost by 7 million votes.

If we don't stop them, punish them, they become right. 5/x

They don't become right today, but they erode our sense of outrage, of wrongness, of inexcusable non-compliance with what we've agreed to as a society. It doesn't work this time, but next time--or the time after that--it does. 6/x