1. United States
2. Conn.
3. Letter

You are missing the urgency of this moment. You frame this as a question of rules versus chaos, but what you fail to acknowledge is that the rules themselves are being weaponized by those who have no interest in democracy. The norms you seek to uphold are being used against you and against all of us who believe in the rule of law. There is no functioning democracy without those willing to stand up and fight for it. We are watching the systematic dismantling of democratic institutions, and yet you cling to a procedural purity that the other side abandoned long ago. This isn’t just about Al Green’s protest—it’s about the fact that you continue to insist on playing by a rulebook that is no longer being followed by those in power. The idea that adhering to “decorum” will somehow protect us from authoritarianism is deeply naive. History tells us the opposite: authoritarianism advances when good people hesitate, when they rationalize, and when they refuse to recognize that extraordinary times demand extraordinary resistance. There is no moral equivalence between what is happening now and what happened when Joe Wilson shouted at Obama. That was a bad-faith attack on truth. Al Green’s protest was an act of desperation in the face of an existential threat to our democracy. You had a choice between standing with those who recognize the stakes or reinforcing a system that is being eroded in real time. You chose wrong. You talk about protecting the most vulnerable. The most vulnerable do not have the luxury of waiting for you to take a principled stand on process while their rights, their safety, and their futures are on the line. We need bold, fearless leaders who will meet this moment with the urgency and defiance it requires. I urge you to reconsider how you define your role in this fight—before it’s too late.