An Open Letter to Democrats: Decorum is Not Virtue, it is Cowardice
A response to the Democrat party's weak attempts at "resistance"
For a long time, I have given Democrats as much charity as a given situation would allow me, likely far more so than many of my fellow leftist/progressives would like. I did this because, even though I don’t always agree with the majority of Democrats who are closer to the center, I understood that it would be easier to make progress from that position than starting from a Republican one, and our beliefs mostly aligned. Democrats were simply better at running the country in general, and at the very least they were nudging things forward in a direction that I wanted.
However, given their tepid response to Donald Trump and MAGA, my good will towards them has run dry. As I write this very article, Rep. Al Green was just censured by the house. The following Democrats voted yes to the censure:
Ami Bera (CA 6th) - https://bera.house.gov/
Ed Case (Hawaii 1st) - https://case.house.gov/
Jim Costa (CA 21st) - https://costa.house.gov/
Laura Gillen (NY 4th) - https://gillen.house.gov/
James A. Himes (CT 4th) - https://himes.house.gov/
Chrissy Houlahan (PA 6th) - https://houlahan.house.gov/
Marcy Kaptur (OH 9th) - https://kaptur.house.gov/
Jared Moskowitz (FL 23rd) - https://moskowitz.house.gov/
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA 3rd) - https://gluesenkampperez.house.gov/
Thomas R. Suozzi (NY 3rd) - https://suozzi.house.gov/
They are traitors, and should be treated as such. This is not a matter of party politics, this is a matter of lawmakers falling in line with a fascist and anti-American regime, which is something I will not tolerate. I also include Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries in that group, as their complicity has allowed the environment we find ourselves in. I plan to send the following to each of them; any of my readers, feel free to do the same. I recommend using snail mail or an encrypted email if you don’t want your identity to be known by the recipient, because this gets a little spicy. Also, write a letter to Al Green and other Democrats like him showing our appreciation and support.
An Open Letter to Democrats:
To all the Democratic lawmakers to which this may regard,
I consider many of you no different than the gutless police officers who stood outside of Uvalde petrified, all the while barring parents from entering, each of them having to suffer the hellish sound of every gunshot, and grapple with the possibility that the next one they hear could rip their child’s life away forever; In other words, you are too feckless and cowardly to properly do your job, and uphold the responsibility that was entrusted to you by the people. I also hold you to be no different than the Republicans and NRA members who cynically send “thoughts and prayers” to grieving mothers and fathers. After all, a thought or a prayer are no different than a failure to act; The only difference is you get to pantomime the part of the moral paragon, clutching to those unexercised and anemic beliefs that you claim to care about.
A belief not stood for is a meaningless affectation, no different than something a child writes in their diary before going to bed. Words only have the power that we give them, and if they are not spoken or written with the intent of action, then they are better off never having been uttered at all. I’m sure it felt really brave to walk into the chambers with your little signs and symbolic colors; but guess what, Trump and all his goons are laughing at you right now. Did you really think Trump or any of his supporters would politely rethink their actions because y’all were pouting silently in the corner? This isn’t an elementary school feud, this is the future of our nation. The one man who had enough integrity and courage to stand for what he believes in, Rep. Al Green, was escorted from the chambers. How powerful it would have been if you all stood with him, or better yet, challenged Trump like he did.
If it sounds like I am angry, it’s because I am; In fact, anger isn’t a strong enough descriptor. I write this boiling with righteous indignation at the state of my country, and many Democrat’s refusal to put up a fight in spite of the desires of their constituency. Of course, I blame Trump and Republicans more than anyone else, but I expect nothing from them in the first place.
It’s time for Democrats to ask themselves, what do you stand for? If the destruction of the constitution, of people’s livelihoods, and every value America holds dear is not enough to get you to do everything in your power to stop this madness, then I am sorry to tell you, but you are a waste of space on the Congress floor. Ask yourselves, if you were to be replaced with another cookie cutter democrat tomorrow, would anyone even notice? I’d reckon the answer is no for about 80% of you useless bench-warmers. If you can be replaced by a robot holding up a yes or no sign, then I kindly ask you to resign, or at least have the courtesy to die faster so we can elect someone who actually has value.
I know many of you must not have always been so cynical and weak. Was there not ever a time when you actually believed in what you say? Think back to when you were in college taking your first politics courses, when you were full of ideas and dreams. Think back to the moment anxiety gave way to ambition, and you decided to run for public office for the first time. Would that version of you have supported you now?
There are times for decorum, and times for action. Take a guess which of those times we are in? We learned this lesson already countless times: the politicians kicking the can down the road on the slavery issue, until the tension built to its breaking point; the Laissez-faire policies of the early 20th century that caused the great depression; the countless appeasements and charity given to Hitler on his rise to power, and American isolationism impeding us from acting to protect our allies. Authoritarianism and crisis do not respond to decorum; in fact, they count on it to steal power out from under the complacent government. Don’t make us relearn lessons we’ve already fought to correct.
What benefit do you all believe is conferred to you by sticking to your holier-than-thou, decorous moral grand-standing? I suppose you think that when the ash settles, and your people are destitute because there were no more safety nets to catch them, or they were forcibly taken away and sent to camps for being different, you will be able to sleep at night knowing that when America needed you most, you chose to stick to your precious decorum. When all that you worked for crumbles and blows away like dust in the wind, and your actions fill the streets with bodies, I hope you feel the viscera and bloody ichor staining your hands. And when you finally depart from this earth, history will view you as nothing but a coward, your legacy ruined by complicity. You must understand, no one weeps for the ridding of a worm.
A Message to the Wayward & Hopeless:
I’m sure we all remember how we felt on that dreaded election night a few months ago (it feels like ages since then). My unease would not allow me to sleep that night; I stayed up until the morning watching, scrolling, and hoping, but the results became clearer and clearer. My hope for the future, my pride in my country, and any semblance of optimism for people as a whole were stolen from me. As the clock ticked over from night to morning, I felt it being wrenched from my soul in real time.
The atmosphere after the election was not like any I have experienced before. There was no fight left in many of us, just dejected disbelief, and more than that, vitriol and disgust. Believe it or not, before this, I wasn’t much of a writer, and I wasn’t particularly into politics, nor did I ever study it formally. I would say I’ve only been really politically informed and active for the past few years. But the days following the election, all I could think about was what I could possibly do to fight back. I don’t have political connections, I don’t have much money, and I don’t have the resume to do anything formally within the party. The only gift I was ever given was my mind, and it was racing with ideas, so much so that my brain felt pressurized. Anxiety turned to fury, which turned into determination. I started keeping tabs on what was going on in the world mostly to warn my family and friends, and protect them from what I knew would be a terrible and tyrannical administration. I then realized that I could expand that to others, and help inform and protect them as well. That is how Minerva’s Watch was born.
So my advice is this: Take action! Speak out! Bottling all that emotion and anxiety up was tearing me apart on the inside, and I know it is doing the same to many of you. It may not be much, but the knowledge that I am doing something rather than wallowing is massively cathartic for me. At the very least, if the worst is to happen, I know I will have stood for something, and hopefully pulled others out of that pit of despair that I experienced in those days after the election.
Upcoming Protests:
March 7th: Stand Up for Science Protest | https://standupforscience2025.org/
March 8th: Women’s March | https://www.womensmarch.com/
March 14th: Act Now / Veterans Protest | https://nowmarch.org/
Contact Your Representatives: https://5calls.org/
The General Strike: https://generalstrikeus.com/
If you would like to know more about protest methods and organizations, here is my article on the subject: We March to Revolution: A Call to Action & Ways You Can Fight Back
Ever vigilant, your eyes in the sky,
~Minerva
Ethical Chaos: A User’s Guide
Suppose we are going to talk about the current state of politics, democracy, and the creeping authoritarianism taking root while Democrats wring their hands. In that case, we need to call this what it is—an ethical collapse enabled by the same people who once claimed they’d protect us. And Minerva? She’s taking her story straight into the heart of that darkness, demanding that we stop looking away.
1. The Center Does Not Hold (Because It Never Existed)
The whole idea that there’s some golden middle ground where reason will win out? Where decorum is a shield against tyranny? That’s a fantasy. The reason the left keeps losing is because they still believe in a middle ground that doesn’t exist. They think politics is a friendly chess game when it’s a cage fight with no referee.
This ethical chaos we’re living in is by design. Trumpism thrives on disorder, but only disorder that benefits them. They break the rules because they know we will still follow them. They lie because they know we will still believe in the power of truth. It’s not just hypocrisy; it’s strategy.
Minerva gets this. It’s not about gently nudging people toward “understanding.” It’s about making it impossible to ignore the betrayal happening in broad daylight.
2. The Death of Neutrality
Neutrality is a weapon wielded by those who benefit from injustice. The Democrats who keep choosing “civility” over resistance? They aren’t neutral. They are propping up a system that is killing people—literally and figuratively.
Trust in government is being gutted, and democracy is being deliberately sabotage by those who pretend they are its stewards. This is a roadmap to resistance, not some empty manifesto of hope. Because hope without action is a bedtime story for people too scared to fight.
3. Decorum is the Smokescreen for Cowardice
We are being conditioned to believe that anger is the real problem. Not fascism, not white nationalism, not corporate oligarchy, anger.
-- Why are you so mad?
-- Why can’t you be civil?
-- Why won’t you just trust the system?
Because the system is burning itself down, that’s why. And yet, Democrats still think they’ll win points by acting like the last sane adults in the room.
Minerva is writing against that instinct. She understands that history doesn’t look kindly on people who “played it safe” in moments of crisis. And she’s giving people permission, no, a directive, to abandon that losing strategy.
4. We Are in the Fire Now
There is no waiting this out. There is no “correct process” that will set things right. The people running this country do not care about following rules but about consolidating power. And the people who should be stopping them? They care more about their reputations than the lives of their constituents.
This is a survival guide to this moment. It’s not just political commentary; it’s the equivalent of screaming “MOVE” when you see a truck barreling down the road at a crowd of people still checking their phones.
The message? Get up. Fight back. Burn the idea of “decorum” to the ground because it’s nothing more than a velvet-lined coffin for democracy.
History doesn’t wait for cowards to catch up. And neither should we.
ALSO: https://twvme.substack.com/p/ethical-chaos-a-users-guide
If one more delusional human suggests that I "trust the process" I will absolutely lose my shit.
Rep. Laura Gillen posted her position on Instagram so one could leave a comment there. Her constituents are angry. I wrote postcards for her and I regret it.