Mike Johnson refuses to swear in a Democrat who won her election in a landslide just so he can block a vote on the

[DFW]

21. It's a small consolation indeed, but it's there

This is the Republicans' was of admitting that Democrats are the people's choice, but they will do everything they can to prevent that choice from determining who governs us. Republicans despise Thomas Jefferson, channeling John Locke in the Declaration of Independence, asserting that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed."

If the "consent of the governed" can be extrapolated to mean majority rule, the Republicans lose power. They obviously don't want that. Ergo:whatever method, legal, illegal, or in-between, can be employed to prevent the will of the governed from being carried out--those methods are, in Republican minds, legitimate. It is Jefferson who is, in Republican minds, illegitimate. After all, what did Jefferson know? All he did is write that Declaration of Independence that they all pretend to cherish so much, they all carry a copy of it around with them. The Republicans are with us inasmuch as they consider the pursuit of happiness a legitimate goal. When it comes to life and liberty, that's where they differ from us. That's where it turns into "not interested" for them.