You know what?

[sholio]

Watching the last 20 minutes or so of the NYT livestream of the Congressional electoral vote confirmation was totally worth it, in part because I got to see Pence stand up and read out loud that Biden won the presidency in realtime, but also ...

-- I just feel really, stupidly proud of them, you know? They just had an absolutely horrific day; they had to evacuate and hide, someone was shot, and then they went back to work and stayed up 'til almost 4 a.m. finishing what is technically a stupidly long ceremonial vote. They could have gone home; no one would have blamed them for going home and reconvening tomorrow. But they stayed and they got it done. And yeah, in the grand scheme of things, something like this isn't like ~profiles in courage~ or anything. But it is strong, and it is brave, and it's a 538-member strong fuck-you to an attempt to subvert our democracy. And I feel ridiculously, weepily proud of it. I feel like the only thing the Trumpists actually managed to accomplish was galvanizing Congress (well, most of them) into actually being the people we elected them to be. It feels like a giant and very satisfying fuck-you to everyone who tried to break our democratic process today.

Comments

[szzzt]

*sniffles*
Same.

[sheenianni]

A couple translated quotes from Václav Havel that came to my mind recently:
"The natural disadvantage of democracy is that it is extremely tiring* to those who mean it honestly, while it allows almost everything to those who do not take it seriously."
*Makes things extremely difficult; imposes a ton of obstacles

"Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance."

And the sappy one:
“Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred.”

[naye]

♥

[lunabee34]

I agree. I keep thinking there has to be a road too far for the Republican lawmakers, and I'm hoping this is finally it.

[trobadora]

I'm so glad.

[princessofgeeks]

My feelings exactly. I fell asleep on the sofa and didn't see the end of the proceedings, but OMG.

And with the Georgia results I am feeling more hopeful than I have in a while.

[pauraque]

I feel the same way.

[sartorias]

Amen to that!

[violsva]

Yes.

[sheron]

I have never watched a US Congress electoral vote before, but boy was this one gripping XD

(And yes, having Pence read things out added a cherry on top.)

[alatefeline]

Thank you for this perspective. It’s helpful.

[yalumesse]

I feel kinda proud of them too, though it's a lot more distant for me (emotionally/etc and literally). We were watching it unfold on Youtube news livestreams over here (much better time zone for us; by the time they were back in session it was evening instead of sleep-o-clock) and while I'll never stop being sick and tired of the American arrogance "we're the BEST EVAR!!!" attitude, in this case it... didn't piss me off so much. Which I know sounds like weak weak praise, but to us, American politics are a thing we shouldn't have to care about but inevitably do because the big-rich-playground-bully thing means we're always affected by what happens over there. And I hate it, but it means keeping an eye on things is just safer. I pay more attention to American politics than local, because I trust local to be no more than usual levels of bigotry and stupid and at least generally competent, while at the same time watching your dumpster fire of ever-more head-shakingly amazing displays of stupidity and hubris. So this? This was satisfying, and relieving, and just a "FINALLY" sort of feeling. I still hope the orange disaster gets impeached and arrested, and then I will party, and I'm basically holding my breath till he's officially out of power, and it won't stop there but it won't be such a huge sword of Damocles anymore then, you know?

I don't know what I'm saying, this has turned into a ramble. But. tl;dr I feel you

[timespirt]

Amen!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm so glad you said this. It's hard to appreciate Congress, but that was a special effort they made.

[lokifan]

Absolutely. <3