House Democrats sit in

The House Democrats in Washington shocked the world on Wednesday. Not only did they show uncharacteristic signs of life. They actually staged a sit-in on the House floor!

See: Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Today, John Lewis Stood Up for Human Dignity Once Again Moyers & Company 06/22/2016; Michael Collins, Steve Cohen, other Democrats stage sit-in over gun control USA Today 06/22/2016; The Latest: Pillows, sleeping bags for House Dems protest AJC.com 06/22/2016

Which brings to mind this Malvina Reynolds song, performed here by Malvina Reynolds ("Turn Around", "Little Boxes") has been running through my head, performed here by Barbara Dane and the Chambers Brothers.It Isn't Nice:

But it's not actually a song about manners. Here are some of the lyrics:

It isn't nice to block the doorway,
It isn't nice to go to jail,
There are nicer ways to do it,
But the nice ways always fail.
It isn't nice, it isn't nice,
You told us once, you told us twice,
But if that is Freedom's price,
We don't mind.

It isn't nice to carry banners
Or to sit in on the floor,
Or to shout our cry of Freedom
At the hotel and the store.
It isn't nice, it isn't nice,
You told us once, you told us twice,
But if that is Freedom's price,
We don't mind.

It's the Democrats doing it, so of course they aren't pitching an issue to change the framing. They're doing it over the "no fly, no buy" proposal to restrict gun purchases to people on the dubious no-fly list. And that's about the Democrats framing their own popular issue (anti-small arms proliferation) in a Republican way (we have to do it to fight terrorism).

But still, it almost doesn't matter what the particular demand is as long as it's a recognizably Democratic issue. The Democrats are showing a dramatic level of willingness to fight, the kind of thing that Democratic base voters love to see. And we see it so seldom that it's downright exotic to see.