Gratitude for Vertebrates

James Baldwin with prescient discernment once wrote, "“The subtle and deadly change of heart that might occur in you would be involved with the realization that a civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.”

We were handed a spine-ful Constitutional victory last night. Other countries have courts, checks and balances. Most cannot check executive power when the executive denounces their credibility and impugns the judges personally. Most don't have a military as disciplined to civilian rule. We must hope that the Supreme Court will reveal itself to be just as unanimous.

But instead we worry, with good reason, about a split decision or worse. Let us be frank. Our fellow citizens elected him and 92 million did not vote. Republican Senators and Congressmen who told us they would never accept him are in lock step to empower his government even as they are insulted and willfully ignoring the consequences of their actions. This morning we learn that the National Security Advisor had conversations with the Russians pre-inauguration and everyday another action of the President* or his advisors is deemed illegal or unconstitutional. The Fire Next Time is _here_. And Paul Krugman is right, a terror attack and America may well cede all of the power to the new Louis XIV, "L’état, c’est moi."

We must be grateful this morning for judges with integrity and institutions of law that continue to function. But it is WE the people who stand between Trumpism and tyranny. The fatigue, even beleaguerment, we feel must not reduce us. We must continue to stand. We've got the spine. We must march with it, phone with it, reason with it, exercise it. Never has yoga seemed more relevant to living in the world.