Silence is golden ...

 ... or, you know, maybe the democratic process proceeding democratically is, at least in a nation with decency and laws and rituals sanely upheld.

I write this as I sit at the kitchen table with the light coming up, revealing the classic January tableau: Gray on white on gray, and quiet in a way it never is during the bellowing growing time. The earth is deeply asleep now in this part of the world, and as always it inspires this crazy urge to tread softly and talk in whispers lest you wake it up.

Which brings us back to silence being golden, and the democratic process.

Yesterday, after all, was the fourth anniversary of one of the most shameful days in American history, a day when plain insanity got right out in the open. A mob of flag-waving loonies attacked the seat of American government, egged on by a deranged narcissist all butt-hurt because he lost his presidency.

And so here came his acolytes, knocking down barricades and assaulting police who tried vainly to stop them, breaking windows and otherwise vandalizing the Capitol building in an unfocused attempt to stop the certification of a presidential election. It was an insurrection no less worth the name because it failed, and it failed because it was fueled not by coherent thought but by the equally unfocused rage of its delusional source.

Anyway, January 6 passed as quietly as today's dawn this time. And you know why?

Yeah, OK, because this time it was the deranged narcissist whose election was being confirmed, so no need to assault the Capitol building, hunt down Nancy Pelosi or spin fantastical tales of corruption and electoral fraud. Amazing how quickly reform can happen when the vote comes out right. 

But you know how else Jan. 6, 2025 was not Jan. 6, 2021?

Because the losers didn't act like losers.

Because Vice-President Kamala Harris, who lost by a touch more than a percentage point to Donald Trump back in November, dutifully conducted the certification of her opponent's victory. Because the losers behaved liked grownups. And, most of all, because they understood the American way of doing things, and acquiesced to it.

I find that refreshing, after the madness of four years ago. I find it ... encouraging, as if there's yet hope for our battered national experiment.

As if, however mad the coming madness gets, we'll survive it.