Republicans command. Democrats writhe in fear.

Cory Robin and I go way back. We were in a political discussion together where the hot topic was the WTO protests in Seattle—the “Occupy” movement of 1998. Since then, I’ve always been a deep admirer of his essays; if he’s saved his emails from the intervening fifteen years, I’m sure he’d find a bunch from me praising his various pieces from the London Review of Books when they came out. I was thrilled to learn he was collecting his pieces into a book. I was even more thrilled when I read it and saw how he was able to link them together into a coherent argument which—well, read my blurb on the book…

Mitt Romney is a winner in a party of losers.

Given his steady support of Mitch McConnell, it’s a fair guess that Lamar Alexander truly believes that democrats and the people they claim to represent are not entitled to govern. Or, as Corey Robin puts it: “Submission is their first duty, agency, the prerogative of the elite.”