Insurrection

How has Republican intransigence damaged their brand? They have shut down the government, come to the precipice of having this nation default on its debts and committed to the concept that compromise is DOA in Washington.

And yet they have, since talk of their demise after the 2008 election, made enormous gains in both the Senate and the House and turned a dominant Democratic party into one searching for answers to stop the bleeding. 

So for every Republican declaration of war on sanity and every prognostication that this one or that was a step too far, the truth has been demonstrably to the contrary.

Thus, when a Mitch McConnell draws a line in the sand and announces that the President need not waste a moment of his time proposing a replacement for Justice Scalia, there is the most important of all precedent for his action. 

It lies not in lame ducks of the past or historical appointment shenanigans but in today's reality. It resides in the fact that there has not been a price to pay for open hostility. It speaks to Republican hubris, borne of recent results, that there is no stance too severe, no action too fraught with political peril. It allows the concept of insurrection to flourish.

And thus, do not call upon Constitutional mandate or potential voter revolt to change the course set by these Republicans. For they understand they have little to fear in brandishing their collective sword and cutting the heart out of the concept of governing.