A Republic consists of its Citizens. That is the point of our Experiment in Democracy, where power resides in the collective will of the people, as expressed through their representatives.

At the time of our creation as a nation, this was by no means a generally agreed idea. We were colonies of a monarchy, one of many across Europe, each with its own landed hereditary aristocracy. Power was tightly held by families who had always held it, and for good reason, they thought. To let peasants through the door was madness.

Of course, the citizenry of our new nation was somewhat constrained, and would remain so for more than a century — continuing to this day, many would argue — but let’s set aside the cynicism of our founding and liberate the ideals from their circumstance. They’re fine ideals, after all. They continue to inspire. Our cynicism arises from not living up to them.

And hey, we did fight a war over them. A revolutionary war.

What was that about?

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Summer is here, and we’re now some four months out from our last, best hope of salvaging what remains of our country.

Okay, more like six months. If Dems take back the House or Senate in November, you know Republicans are going to do what they can to trash the joint before January.

A House flip — good luck with the Senate — won’t set things straight. Trump will still wield enormous power, the courts are lost for a generation, and four in ten Americans will still be vile, racist, mendacious scum. But anything, anything, that throws sand in the gears will be welcome. We all need to hold on for the next fight.

Maybe MJ Hegar can help. She hails from Texas, and she’s running for the House against an entrenched teabagger. We have no clue whether she stands a chance, but a DC/Boston agency whipped this up for her, and holy shit, it’s inspiring. We can use some of that right now.

Do not weep for him. He was a monster.

We were born in a 49-state America, which is kinda cool, although we didn’t really think about it until recently. You’d think there’d be some notice of 49-star babies, some passing human-interest piece on a slow news day, something exploring our sliver of a Unique Perspective, but that’s what you get when you’re wedged between Boomers and GenX. You get ignored.

Our perspective, as it happens, is that of growing up in America during the Sixties and Seventies, of JFK and RFK and MLK, of Vietnam and Nixon, of gas shortages and pollution. When nostalgia became pop culture, it was for happy days we had never known. Except in reruns.

And when America’s truths became known, we watched everyone run away from them as fast as they could.

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We are not a foodie.

We have the culinary taste of a five-year-old. You put something unusual on our plate, we will resist. We may have an adventurous mind, but our mouth is strictly domestic. The only food group we consume is Comfort.

We love Anthony Bourdain.

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CNN’s Anthony Bourdain dead at 61 [CNN]

“Feckless” is one of those words you may have heard, maybe even used, but haven’t much thought about. If one can be feckless, what is it to have feck?

The part you know reads as expected: useless, incompetent, good for nothing. The part you don’t know is what’s lacking: effect. As for how you get from effect to feck — and thus the absence of effect — well, ask the Scots. We hear they’re good cussers.

As is Samantha Bee.

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