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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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As the men on the Ford defense team ramp up further their increasingly frantic protests and shrill complaints about the terms of engagement, through their rhetoric and demands, they expose ever more clearly the terrifying reality behind their behavior and the agenda of their supporters and mouthpieces: the totalitarian drive for absolute, unaccountable, and unopposable control over the lives, words, and actions of everybody else and the threat of personal destruction of any who dare to stand in their way or any who expresses the slight unapproved criticism or questioning of their authority or of the narrative and code of behavior and thought processes that they would impose on the world.

Not to mention a massive dose of doublethink and hypocrisy.

This is a movement that, on the one hand, claims to empower women to live full lives but that at the same time treats them as such untouchable fragile vessels, who will irreparably fall apart unless they can fully control their interactions with the world around them.

A world in which the object of their accusation is such a monster that they cannot abide even being in the same room with him 35 years after the alleged incident

A world in which their life and words and actions must not be exposed to the slightest question or hint of challenge, even while they craft the most odious charges against another person and demand that those with power immediately destroy that person’s life and reputation and honor and cast them out of society just on their word alone.

A movement that arrogates to themselves infallible possession of “truth”, asserts control over defining the standards for evaluating their truth claims, and enforces this “truth” on everybody else just because they say so – and will use all means necessary, including intimidation and force, to silence and destroy any dissent, and by projection labeling any such dissent as oppression in good Orwellian fashion.

A movement that claims unprecedented authority to dictate to the members and staff of the U.S. Senate the entire structure and rules for their witness, seeking to overturn centuries of covenant and jurisprudence for judgment of public accusations, and in its place, seeking to control who can speak to them, what can be spoken in the hearing or by any person outside the hearing in any setting – while at the same time being granted untrammeled power to tell their narrative and to bully and silence any contrary view. Twisting historical rules and custom into a pretzel.

A movement that would spread fear and exalt anger far and wide in our land to create a climate of suspicion and distrust between individuals, a world in which a vocal minority with media hegemony can dominate conversation and though manipulation, create a false “consensus” and “settled truth”.

It’s time to recognize what is going on around us, starting with the Republican members of the Judiciary committee and Senate leadership, to stand up for – if nothing else – just simple decency and fair process and civilized behavior, while that still remains an option. Time to cast off the fetters that are being tightened about them before it is too late to assert authority.

This the face of the fundamental transformation of America and the American people that is staring us in the face.