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Our Opinion: Standing firm

Fortunately, some Democrats in the U.S. Senate are beginning to think about the meaning of “loyal opposition” in government. It means standing firm on specific issues, without engaging in wholesale obstructionism.

Many Americans disagree with some or even all of President Donald Trump’s policies and actions. Some of them have pulled out all the stops in their opposition, even to the point of making ethnic slurs against the first lady, Melania Trump.

No one in Congress should cooperate in any way with Trump, the temper-tantrum minority insists.

“We need Senate Democrats to do everything in their power to shut down business as usual in the Senate,” demanded Anna Galland, executive director of Moveon.org. You may remember that outfit. It was responsible for the most militant support of former President Barack Obama. So irrational have some of Trump’s opponents become that they are lashing out against old, firm supporters of their political, economic and social ideology. Even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., faces their wrath. Why? Because Schumer, a frequent, vocal critic of the president, has dared to support three of Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been even more strident in her condemnations. Not good enough for Moveon.org and their ilk, because she voted in committee for Dr. Ben Carson, Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Some senators are not bowing to the extremists. One, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., refused to say he would attempt to block Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court before even knowing his name (on Tuesday, Trump said he will nominate respected federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch to the high court).

“I want to make sure we thoroughly review the record and then go forward,” Casey said of action to fill a vacancy on the court.

Good for Casey, whether he votes for or against Gorsuch. He understands our system of government is built not on take-no-prisoners partisanship, but on those who differ standing up for what they believe — then moving on to make the best of things. Trump opponents such as Moveon.org care less about making the system work than about destroying it if they do not get their way.

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