J.J., you seem to totally misunderstand what Speaker Pelosi is doing. I’m a 74 year old combat veteran and software engineer. Fear is the least of my drivers. I’m alive and still working today because I use ethics. knowledge, logic, and reason to govern my actions. I’m coming to understand that, just like Lauren, you are young, impatient, and have a very high opinion of the knowledge you’ve acquired in so few years. A very long time ago I was that way too, before I understood just how much more I still had to learn. I’m still embarrassed by many of the things I once thought were absolute truths. Throughout history, the young have been impatient with the older and believed if the older only understood the brilliance of their ideas we would let them run everything.

That being said, we’re going to have to live with Republicans for some time to come. Speaker Pelosi is experienced and knowledgeable enough to understand that fanning the flames of partisanship will only impede our efforts to pass the legislation our nation needs. There are too many Republicans to ignore and too many Democrats are uncomfortable with the left. If Pelosi can create some consensus with the few moderate and/or Constitutionalist Republicans in Congress, then we might have enough leverage to discredit the ultra-right and punish those who instigated or condoned January 6th —and to get something done. Or we can play Mitch McConnell’s way and get little or nothing done and pave the way for a Trumpist surge in the midterms — or have you forgotten the Tea Party storm in 2010.

No matter what or how you think, you are and will probably remain on the minority. Learn to work within that constraint.