Around the country, Republican-led legislatures have introduced and passed laws to suppress voting. At the US Capitol, 147 Republicans refused to certify the election on January 6. Most Republicans are standing by the Big Lie of voter fraud, lying about the deadly gravity of the January 6 insurrection and rejecting efforts to investigate the truth of that day. Taken together, these actions are communicating loudly and clearly that they are willing to toss aside democracy and fuel further political violence to get and keep power.
Are the Democrats doing enough in response? Or: Do the Democrats lack urgency? I ask this especially at a moment when our democracy’s survival is in danger. If so, what’s holding them back?
As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts—and the opportunity for this community to learn from each other.
I'm very frustrated with Democratic leadership right now. They should have had a committee investigating Jan 6th underway in the first month. We need video of that event all over public media, not just cable channels. Dems need to get rid of the filibuster and move ahead quickly. They should pass the full infrastructure bill, both voting rights bills, and as many judgeships as possible.
They should also be contemplating and putting forward proposals to reform the SCOTUS, which will do its best to shoot down voting rights. They should expand the number of seats and establish term limits. It's clear that Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett have paid seats and that Roberts is all for getting rid of voting rights. It's a very pernicious body right now.
In addition, Dems need to be bold. They should reconsider the 14th Amendment. Just as it was after the Civil War, if Republican congressmen do not swear an oath that the events of Jan 6th comprise a civil insurrection, they should be banned from the rolls, remain unseated and not be allowed to vote on any legislation. We need patriots in the Senate and House, not seditionists.
I'm quite worried about elections in 2022 and beyond. If Republicans are allowed to decertify every Democrat win, we will have an incredibly serious situation on our hands. That's why we should take action now, before we get to that point.
I know these might seem like extreme ideas, but as Harris said this week "We are in the fight of our lifetimes". We cannot allow the democratic ideals that generations before us fought to defend be destroyed because we were too timid and did too little.
Yes, they lack urgency. The Democrats are operating as if this was a four-year term like any other America has experienced in the last 100 years. It's not. The GOP has openly declared war on Democracy and I can't fathom why the DEMs can't process this obvious fact and respond. Over the years, Mitch McConnell has been garnering power, created a Supreme Court dedicated to strengthening and promoting GOP policy, and laid claim to absolute control over what bills are presented and passed. Each act chipped away at our democracy. In just the last 4 years, the GOP was presented with facts about a deadly threat to American lives but chose to lie. Those lies caused millions of infections. The GOP was presented with options by experts in epidemiology needed to protect citizens but chose inactions. As a direct result 2/3 of the >600,000 of American whose lives could have been saved, died. The GOP has worked openly to curtail the rights of Americans to vote. There are thousands of more examples. There are actions even I know must be taken to preserve and protect our nation's democratic integrity: reform the filibuster, expand the Supreme Court, sign an executive order making election day a federal holiday, conduct a fully investigation on live TV of the terrorist attack on the US Capitol, including the inciting actions by GOP elected representatives, remove GOP loyalists in federal offices who are openly sabotaging federal institutions.
The GOP has been acting as a virus. It has infected the whole body, attacking system after system knowing if unchecked, the body will down all functions and death will result. Until and unless the Democrats accept this fact our Democracy will remain in harm's way, .
What's holding them back is that nothing drives "urgency" like paranoia, hatred, and severe psychopathology. Dems lack these things. Normal people are not "driven" the way haters are. As far as I can tell, the energy on the insurrectionist side is far greater (driven by pathology) than the "energy" if you can call it that, on the Dem side. Nothing is LESS inspirational than reasonableness. It doesn't sell books, it doesn't sell movies, and it certainly does NOT inspire mobs. It only appeals to people who are emotionally mature. There are not very many such people left. Those who do exist don't have a great track record with reproduction, either. (The groups with the best reproductive success tend to be primitive, repressive ones -- religious communities of several stripes, and any society in which women are held down.)
What’s holding them back is sclerotic leadership. The septuagenarians in leadership still act as though the Senate actually functions and compromise in the House is not only possible but desirable. That ship sailed with Reagan, who might be the only president less suited to the job than Trump.
I am as concerned as everyone posting here about the survival of our Democracy. However, I hear from my congressional reps (Congressman and Senator) who are both very concerned as well, so yes, they express an urgency. Nancy Pelosi does not worry about bipartisanship and her House has passed some robust legislation around Voting Rights. Joe Manchin and K. Sinema are being impossible, I agree, but to paint the entire political party with the broad brush of lacking urgency seems an over reach. AND...how about the Republicans who claim to be "moderate" or who have created organizations to rein in the crazies running their party, people like Christy Todd Whitman, Rick Wilson, or even conservatives like Bill Kristol, they are hyper concerned and yet you don't read much about what they are doing at grass roots level. There are numerous people on the left and right who are working to stem the danger tide of authoritarianism. I think the lack of urgency we are sensing comes the populace itself; from the fact that the issue of Voting Rights doesn't feel as tangible as health care, for example. Americans can resume an almost pathological complacency now that the pandemic is hopefully dying out, a complacency born of cheap goods from the Third World and China, mostly comfortable living conditions, electronic devices that entertain and distract. Thank God more of us voted to get rid of the former guy, but that was a very focused task. All the pieces of Republican legislation to make it harder to vote are not scarier enough for most Americans. What I wish is that the issue would stop being framed as mostly impacting Black and Brown Americans. The message has to hit more of us in the gut, it's got to affect ordinary people more viscerally. I wonder if you scare some senior citizens ( I am one such senior) with the message that the Republicans want to take away your absentee ballot, or something along those lines if legislators in states like Florida and Arizona will start to feel some pressure to back off.
I'm thinking of the ad the LBJ's team came up with, with the little girl and the daisy and the mushroom cloud at the end. Scared the beJesus out of people and Barry Goldwater became a footnote in history. Though some of his rhetoric was not unrelated to the whacko rhetoric of his political offspring.
I wholeheartedly agree. One of the advantages to living in Boston it’s that it is super politically friendly. The disadvantage is that our Senators and congressmen agree. During elections we knock on doors in NH and work on phone banks reaching out across the countryside petitions and make contributions when we can. The Democrats need to take the gloves off and kick ass. I’m terrified about what is happening and feel so helpless about seeing you on MSNBC is always the highlight of our TV viewing. Thanks T. Green, Wellesley MA
I can’t decide if I’m more afraid about Republican leaders lying so profoundly or the people who believe them. When will they stop the lies? What will it take to bring back our citizens lost to the lies? I’m scared for our country.
When in the South the racists tried to block Black students from school. Kennedy sent the U.S.Army to enforce the integration. Why can't Biden do the same to every poll where needed. Also they gather Black voters from home and take them to the polls. That's what needs to happen. And they were armed. Let's enforce the law with force if needed. Bill Doolittle
It is frustrating that the Democrats are not making any more noise than they are, but they seem to never respond to the same triggers that I do. Could we blame the media for not interviewing the right people? There is nothing to stop the Dems from holding a news conference and doing some pushback on these more serious situations, such as the anti-vax messages pushed by right-wing radical media/propaganda outlets and Trump suck-ups. People stumping for public office by extending the lies about the vaccines shows how little they care for their voters. I would think Democrats would be hammering on this, daily.
I know they are aware of what the GOP is doing because I get mail explaining it to me, but that mail is part of their fund-raising efforts. It feels like they are trying to copy the GOP fear-mongering in their fundraising. People who do not represent my district or my state asking for money because of 01/06. WTF? I have to decline. Having a D after their name is not enough. They really need to put some effort into earning their generous pay.
I've been watching Democracy in peril as we all have here and I mean, as Runfastandwin notes, for years. I'm a liberal Democrat, but have been extremely frustrated with the Dems during the last four years holding hearings that went nowhere or not at all, and it seems to be continuing with our new administration. Don't get me wrong. I love Biden and Harris, but I think they need to get off the bipartisan train and move us ahead. There is no reasoning with the GOP or their followers. Get rid of the filibuster! These people are domestic terrorists! DOJ Garland scares me a bit or more than a bit. I think his reaction time is slow and his call to defend Trump for the rape lawsuit is still driving me crazy. These aren't NORMAL (whatever that is now) times. We are dealing with domestic terrorism and it feels like our gov't and most of our people are just whistling past it. I've been censured by my Democratic family as have my sons for talking about the oh so obvious signs that our Democracy is, no doubt about it, in grave danger. My sons and I are actually banned from one brother's home after my son posted himself talking to the head of a Trump rally in MN, not breaking any laws, but I thought a stroke of genius that he played clown music in the background. Yes. He swore and told them he hated them. Maybe not the best move, but he was polite to the cop there, made sure he wasn't infringing on anyone's rights and basically held onto his point that they were just a bunch of clowns. My siblings are middle class, highly educated (at least two degrees or more) and they/we are the ones that have to speak up because we can and, our white privilege requires it. Again, it's over six months and just now a hearing will be held on 1/6 and they're still putting it together? And, if they go and take August off I know my hair will be on fire. So, long way of saying, "Yes. The Dems are too slow and under reacting in my opinion.
Hold up. It’s easy to say the Dems lack urgency but look at the senate. We have 50 (+1) and 2 won’t vote to end the filibuster. Which means we need 60. So what exactly would you have them do? Seriously. The House is doing its job. And the senate is trying. But we need more dems in the senate. Or we need to replace the 2 we’ve got. Until we do that, it will never move fast enough. Why don’t we have this convo again when the dems truly have control of govt. Until then, we’ve won, but not enough. Our energy must go to winning in 2022.
I don’t have any particular insight into these issues and I agree there doesn’t appear to be much of a sense of urgency from the Biden admin. about them. On the other hand, there’s a limit to what can be done.
Federal Legislation that would override the new state laws making it difficult to vote, and/or easy to reject the voters’ choice exists, but was rejected because Manchin & Sinema won’t cooperate with eliminating the filibuster. It seems that the admin. thinks the apparently delusional duo can be brought around eventually.
The U.S. Attorney General’s commitment to reviewing the state laws making it difficult to vote has been committed to publicly, but lacked something I would call “energy,” for want of a better term for it.
The Supreme Court showed its true colors by upholding AZ’s new statues about voting, but those particular statutes weren’t particularly onerous in the first place compared to other new voting statutes. SCOTUS also failed to take the opportunity to warn republicans about legislative overreach in their majority opinion which is more onerous to me than the actual ruling.
I think it should be kept in mind that the Biden admin. is not quite six months old and it inherited a boatload of serious damage done during the previous administration. In fact I recall the outgoing administration refused to cooperate with the transition, deliberately delaying Biden’s people from getting started.
At any rate, their first priority had to be planning the rollout of the Covid vaccine. Next was the fallout from an armed insurrection for the purpose of overturning a lawful election that for strange and nefarious reasons no one in a position to know, supposedly knew was coming. Now, as we just witnessed, a recent heatwave in the Pacific northwest buckled streets, melted power cables & killed approximately a million animals.
So here’s how I see it. Republicans are taking advantage of several unprecedented life threatening events requiring close administrative oversight to do what they can to rig elections in their favor. A lot of what they’ve done is unconstitutional and for that reason will not stand, but it will take time to get it sorted out. I believe one way or another democracy will prevail.
My guess is that as more people realize climate change is not a hoax, it’s real, it’s happening now, and further realize we must have a competent administration to deal with it if we want to keep some semblance of normalcy, a lot of political gamesmanship will fall by the wayside. What we have to do is make it our business to vote and get others who prefer to ride out climate change with competent, caring people in charge, out to vote too. November, 2022 isn’t that far away.
No, the Democrats are clearly not doing enough. Yes, they lack urgency. Here is how I see this playing out:
In 2022 the Republicans will take significant control of both chambers of the Congress. The House of Representatives will appoint Donald Trump Speaker of the House. Then, both Biden and Harris will be impeached, convicted and removed. Elevating Trump to President. Sounds crazy I know. I had to consult the Constitution to be sure, here is the language:
Article 1 Sec 2.5 “The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.” That is it, no mandate that it be an elected official. Any outside individual deemed appropriate by the members of the House can be Speaker. Unless the Democrats move their butts ASAP the afore mentioned scenario can and will happen. There are good people and groups trying to prevent the sinking of our Democracy, their strategy is in the courtroom and at the ballot box. But I am slowly becoming less confident in the latter approach and am beginning to believe more desperate measures are called for. I have been tweeting “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures” for going on five years now to those who one would think has the juice to take action. But nothing. We are at war from within, and we are running out of time. By the time election ’22 comes around and the For The People Act is not law in a correct form, it will not matter who votes, those votes will be discarded and the person of choice will just be declared winner. The will of the people be damed.
I'm very frustrated with Democratic leadership right now. They should have had a committee investigating Jan 6th underway in the first month. We need video of that event all over public media, not just cable channels. Dems need to get rid of the filibuster and move ahead quickly. They should pass the full infrastructure bill, both voting rights bills, and as many judgeships as possible.
They should also be contemplating and putting forward proposals to reform the SCOTUS, which will do its best to shoot down voting rights. They should expand the number of seats and establish term limits. It's clear that Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett have paid seats and that Roberts is all for getting rid of voting rights. It's a very pernicious body right now.
In addition, Dems need to be bold. They should reconsider the 14th Amendment. Just as it was after the Civil War, if Republican congressmen do not swear an oath that the events of Jan 6th comprise a civil insurrection, they should be banned from the rolls, remain unseated and not be allowed to vote on any legislation. We need patriots in the Senate and House, not seditionists.
I'm quite worried about elections in 2022 and beyond. If Republicans are allowed to decertify every Democrat win, we will have an incredibly serious situation on our hands. That's why we should take action now, before we get to that point.
I know these might seem like extreme ideas, but as Harris said this week "We are in the fight of our lifetimes". We cannot allow the democratic ideals that generations before us fought to defend be destroyed because we were too timid and did too little.
Yes, they lack urgency. The Democrats are operating as if this was a four-year term like any other America has experienced in the last 100 years. It's not. The GOP has openly declared war on Democracy and I can't fathom why the DEMs can't process this obvious fact and respond. Over the years, Mitch McConnell has been garnering power, created a Supreme Court dedicated to strengthening and promoting GOP policy, and laid claim to absolute control over what bills are presented and passed. Each act chipped away at our democracy. In just the last 4 years, the GOP was presented with facts about a deadly threat to American lives but chose to lie. Those lies caused millions of infections. The GOP was presented with options by experts in epidemiology needed to protect citizens but chose inactions. As a direct result 2/3 of the >600,000 of American whose lives could have been saved, died. The GOP has worked openly to curtail the rights of Americans to vote. There are thousands of more examples. There are actions even I know must be taken to preserve and protect our nation's democratic integrity: reform the filibuster, expand the Supreme Court, sign an executive order making election day a federal holiday, conduct a fully investigation on live TV of the terrorist attack on the US Capitol, including the inciting actions by GOP elected representatives, remove GOP loyalists in federal offices who are openly sabotaging federal institutions.
The GOP has been acting as a virus. It has infected the whole body, attacking system after system knowing if unchecked, the body will down all functions and death will result. Until and unless the Democrats accept this fact our Democracy will remain in harm's way, .
What's holding them back is that nothing drives "urgency" like paranoia, hatred, and severe psychopathology. Dems lack these things. Normal people are not "driven" the way haters are. As far as I can tell, the energy on the insurrectionist side is far greater (driven by pathology) than the "energy" if you can call it that, on the Dem side. Nothing is LESS inspirational than reasonableness. It doesn't sell books, it doesn't sell movies, and it certainly does NOT inspire mobs. It only appeals to people who are emotionally mature. There are not very many such people left. Those who do exist don't have a great track record with reproduction, either. (The groups with the best reproductive success tend to be primitive, repressive ones -- religious communities of several stripes, and any society in which women are held down.)
What’s holding them back is sclerotic leadership. The septuagenarians in leadership still act as though the Senate actually functions and compromise in the House is not only possible but desirable. That ship sailed with Reagan, who might be the only president less suited to the job than Trump.
I am as concerned as everyone posting here about the survival of our Democracy. However, I hear from my congressional reps (Congressman and Senator) who are both very concerned as well, so yes, they express an urgency. Nancy Pelosi does not worry about bipartisanship and her House has passed some robust legislation around Voting Rights. Joe Manchin and K. Sinema are being impossible, I agree, but to paint the entire political party with the broad brush of lacking urgency seems an over reach. AND...how about the Republicans who claim to be "moderate" or who have created organizations to rein in the crazies running their party, people like Christy Todd Whitman, Rick Wilson, or even conservatives like Bill Kristol, they are hyper concerned and yet you don't read much about what they are doing at grass roots level. There are numerous people on the left and right who are working to stem the danger tide of authoritarianism. I think the lack of urgency we are sensing comes the populace itself; from the fact that the issue of Voting Rights doesn't feel as tangible as health care, for example. Americans can resume an almost pathological complacency now that the pandemic is hopefully dying out, a complacency born of cheap goods from the Third World and China, mostly comfortable living conditions, electronic devices that entertain and distract. Thank God more of us voted to get rid of the former guy, but that was a very focused task. All the pieces of Republican legislation to make it harder to vote are not scarier enough for most Americans. What I wish is that the issue would stop being framed as mostly impacting Black and Brown Americans. The message has to hit more of us in the gut, it's got to affect ordinary people more viscerally. I wonder if you scare some senior citizens ( I am one such senior) with the message that the Republicans want to take away your absentee ballot, or something along those lines if legislators in states like Florida and Arizona will start to feel some pressure to back off.
I'm thinking of the ad the LBJ's team came up with, with the little girl and the daisy and the mushroom cloud at the end. Scared the beJesus out of people and Barry Goldwater became a footnote in history. Though some of his rhetoric was not unrelated to the whacko rhetoric of his political offspring.
The Dems are too stuck on the hierarchy of tenure and a promise to nurture the status quo.
I wholeheartedly agree. One of the advantages to living in Boston it’s that it is super politically friendly. The disadvantage is that our Senators and congressmen agree. During elections we knock on doors in NH and work on phone banks reaching out across the countryside petitions and make contributions when we can. The Democrats need to take the gloves off and kick ass. I’m terrified about what is happening and feel so helpless about seeing you on MSNBC is always the highlight of our TV viewing. Thanks T. Green, Wellesley MA
I can’t decide if I’m more afraid about Republican leaders lying so profoundly or the people who believe them. When will they stop the lies? What will it take to bring back our citizens lost to the lies? I’m scared for our country.
When in the South the racists tried to block Black students from school. Kennedy sent the U.S.Army to enforce the integration. Why can't Biden do the same to every poll where needed. Also they gather Black voters from home and take them to the polls. That's what needs to happen. And they were armed. Let's enforce the law with force if needed. Bill Doolittle
YESSSSSSS!!! Some please SEND OUT a 911 CALL!!!!!! Dems are in DENIAL!
It is frustrating that the Democrats are not making any more noise than they are, but they seem to never respond to the same triggers that I do. Could we blame the media for not interviewing the right people? There is nothing to stop the Dems from holding a news conference and doing some pushback on these more serious situations, such as the anti-vax messages pushed by right-wing radical media/propaganda outlets and Trump suck-ups. People stumping for public office by extending the lies about the vaccines shows how little they care for their voters. I would think Democrats would be hammering on this, daily.
I know they are aware of what the GOP is doing because I get mail explaining it to me, but that mail is part of their fund-raising efforts. It feels like they are trying to copy the GOP fear-mongering in their fundraising. People who do not represent my district or my state asking for money because of 01/06. WTF? I have to decline. Having a D after their name is not enough. They really need to put some effort into earning their generous pay.
I've been watching Democracy in peril as we all have here and I mean, as Runfastandwin notes, for years. I'm a liberal Democrat, but have been extremely frustrated with the Dems during the last four years holding hearings that went nowhere or not at all, and it seems to be continuing with our new administration. Don't get me wrong. I love Biden and Harris, but I think they need to get off the bipartisan train and move us ahead. There is no reasoning with the GOP or their followers. Get rid of the filibuster! These people are domestic terrorists! DOJ Garland scares me a bit or more than a bit. I think his reaction time is slow and his call to defend Trump for the rape lawsuit is still driving me crazy. These aren't NORMAL (whatever that is now) times. We are dealing with domestic terrorism and it feels like our gov't and most of our people are just whistling past it. I've been censured by my Democratic family as have my sons for talking about the oh so obvious signs that our Democracy is, no doubt about it, in grave danger. My sons and I are actually banned from one brother's home after my son posted himself talking to the head of a Trump rally in MN, not breaking any laws, but I thought a stroke of genius that he played clown music in the background. Yes. He swore and told them he hated them. Maybe not the best move, but he was polite to the cop there, made sure he wasn't infringing on anyone's rights and basically held onto his point that they were just a bunch of clowns. My siblings are middle class, highly educated (at least two degrees or more) and they/we are the ones that have to speak up because we can and, our white privilege requires it. Again, it's over six months and just now a hearing will be held on 1/6 and they're still putting it together? And, if they go and take August off I know my hair will be on fire. So, long way of saying, "Yes. The Dems are too slow and under reacting in my opinion.
Democrats just don't have the damn votes
Hold up. It’s easy to say the Dems lack urgency but look at the senate. We have 50 (+1) and 2 won’t vote to end the filibuster. Which means we need 60. So what exactly would you have them do? Seriously. The House is doing its job. And the senate is trying. But we need more dems in the senate. Or we need to replace the 2 we’ve got. Until we do that, it will never move fast enough. Why don’t we have this convo again when the dems truly have control of govt. Until then, we’ve won, but not enough. Our energy must go to winning in 2022.
I don’t have any particular insight into these issues and I agree there doesn’t appear to be much of a sense of urgency from the Biden admin. about them. On the other hand, there’s a limit to what can be done.
Federal Legislation that would override the new state laws making it difficult to vote, and/or easy to reject the voters’ choice exists, but was rejected because Manchin & Sinema won’t cooperate with eliminating the filibuster. It seems that the admin. thinks the apparently delusional duo can be brought around eventually.
The U.S. Attorney General’s commitment to reviewing the state laws making it difficult to vote has been committed to publicly, but lacked something I would call “energy,” for want of a better term for it.
The Supreme Court showed its true colors by upholding AZ’s new statues about voting, but those particular statutes weren’t particularly onerous in the first place compared to other new voting statutes. SCOTUS also failed to take the opportunity to warn republicans about legislative overreach in their majority opinion which is more onerous to me than the actual ruling.
I think it should be kept in mind that the Biden admin. is not quite six months old and it inherited a boatload of serious damage done during the previous administration. In fact I recall the outgoing administration refused to cooperate with the transition, deliberately delaying Biden’s people from getting started.
At any rate, their first priority had to be planning the rollout of the Covid vaccine. Next was the fallout from an armed insurrection for the purpose of overturning a lawful election that for strange and nefarious reasons no one in a position to know, supposedly knew was coming. Now, as we just witnessed, a recent heatwave in the Pacific northwest buckled streets, melted power cables & killed approximately a million animals.
So here’s how I see it. Republicans are taking advantage of several unprecedented life threatening events requiring close administrative oversight to do what they can to rig elections in their favor. A lot of what they’ve done is unconstitutional and for that reason will not stand, but it will take time to get it sorted out. I believe one way or another democracy will prevail.
My guess is that as more people realize climate change is not a hoax, it’s real, it’s happening now, and further realize we must have a competent administration to deal with it if we want to keep some semblance of normalcy, a lot of political gamesmanship will fall by the wayside. What we have to do is make it our business to vote and get others who prefer to ride out climate change with competent, caring people in charge, out to vote too. November, 2022 isn’t that far away.
No, the Democrats are clearly not doing enough. Yes, they lack urgency. Here is how I see this playing out:
In 2022 the Republicans will take significant control of both chambers of the Congress. The House of Representatives will appoint Donald Trump Speaker of the House. Then, both Biden and Harris will be impeached, convicted and removed. Elevating Trump to President. Sounds crazy I know. I had to consult the Constitution to be sure, here is the language:
Article 1 Sec 2.5 “The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.” That is it, no mandate that it be an elected official. Any outside individual deemed appropriate by the members of the House can be Speaker. Unless the Democrats move their butts ASAP the afore mentioned scenario can and will happen. There are good people and groups trying to prevent the sinking of our Democracy, their strategy is in the courtroom and at the ballot box. But I am slowly becoming less confident in the latter approach and am beginning to believe more desperate measures are called for. I have been tweeting “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures” for going on five years now to those who one would think has the juice to take action. But nothing. We are at war from within, and we are running out of time. By the time election ’22 comes around and the For The People Act is not law in a correct form, it will not matter who votes, those votes will be discarded and the person of choice will just be declared winner. The will of the people be damed.
In short, YES.