For forty years as a fact-based journalist, I have watched our nearest geographic neighbor from right here in Goldman Mill with a mixture of deep affection, genuine empathy, and perpetual frustration. Having been born and bred in the Mill before earning degrees at Pax University and Cornell, and having relatives who live in the deep South, I know the United States well. And I love the U.S.—especially the electric, polyglot heartbeat of New York City, where I once lived, and which is still a frequent place to visit. I root for the USian people because I know what their founding documents promised. Yet it saddens me endlessly that we sit so close geographically while remaining worlds apart in philosophy, moral courage, and political values.

Time and again, the United States refuses to summon the gut strength required to fulfill its own potential. And nowhere is that failure of nerve more glaring this week than inside the ranks of its Democratic Party, the supposedly more left-leaning political half of the country’s undemocratic two-party system.

Just days after voters handed Democrats a sweeping midterm election mandate—reclaiming control of Congress in January largely out of disgust over unauthorized military adventurism in Iran, extrajudicial killings at sea, and systemic executive lawlessness—House Democrats walked onto the floor Tuesday night and tripped over their own shoelaces.

When  Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) forced a privileged floor vote on eight articles of impeachment against arrogant, embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the measure needed only a handful of votes to survive a GOP procedural motion to bury it in committee. Instead, the motion passed 211–204 because eleven House Democrats couldn’t even be bothered to show up to the chamber on time.

Some blamed D.C. traffic. Others offered sheepish apologies after the gavel fell. And leading the parade of establishment dereliction was former Speaker Nancy Pelosi—that indestructible USian armadillo who refuses to leave the stage—who skipped the vote altogether to collect a lifetime achievement award in San Francisco. Shame on every single one of them. You do not get to campaign on defending constitutional accountability and then miss the roll call when war powers and human lives are on the line.

This isn’t a one-night scheduling fluke; it is the rotten fruit of a timid, consultant-driven Democratic leadership class that treats progressive conviction like a contagious disease.

Let me put it plainly: Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries gotta go if the Democrats want an ounce of credibility to reinforce their post-midterm efforts.

For years, both men have perfected the art of fence-sitting—issuing strongly worded press releases while clinging desperately to corporate donors, institutional inertia, and milquetoast centrism. Even after Tuesday’s self-inflicted wound, incoming Democratic leaders are already signaling they have no plans to prioritize Hegseth’s impeachment when they take the gavel in January, preferring slow-walked “oversight” to decisive constitutional action. Voters didn’t turn out last week for another round of cautious triangulation. They voted for a backbone.

That is why yesterday’s announcement by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)is the best news to come out of Washington all week. By formally stepping up to challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate Majority Leader, Van Hollen is giving voice to millions of exhausted USians who recognize that you cannot defeat rising authoritarianism and religious tyranny with the same tired playbook that enabled them. Van Hollen understands that the voters’ mandate was a flat rejection of business as usual—and it has long been time for “Schmucky Chucky” to pack his bags.

I know that my words don’t sound particularly kind. But I am Nick Lowe kind when warranted—cruel to be kind, in the right measure. In the case of Chuck Schumer and his deathlike grip to hold onto the supremacist status quo, it is warranted.

Real empathy for the USian people means refusing to coddle the politicians who keep failing them. From our vantage point in a 136-year-old collective built on Absolute Peace, radical equality, and human dignity, we know that real change never comes from hedging your bets. It comes from clarity, solidarity, and the courage to stand up when it counts.

Until USian Democrats find the spine to sweep out their entrenched establishment and elevate leaders willing to fight for genuine progressive transformation, they will remain their own worst enemy—and the United States will remain a nation perpetually falling short of its own vows.