It is high time for democrats to call

[Ol Janx Spirit]

3. I worry that a lot of people think Democrats have the power to do this and just aren't because they are weak.

That's not the case. Democrats in Congress do not have the power to initiate official hearings being in the minority. If they can win in the mid-terms next year they will have that power again--but that is a long way off.

Democrats have held a few "shadow hearings" that have the look of official proceedings--but they aren't. They can get friendly voices to show up and "testify," but they do not have the weight of official hearings--and they can't compel anyone that doesn't want to speak to do so. They are essentially press conferences dressed to look like official proceedings.

State officials have very limited power to compel federal officials to testify even in court cases due to the Supremacy Clause, so individual states run by Democrats would also have a very difficult time compelling any testimony unless they can show that crimes were committed--and even then it would be a tough time-consuming exercise.

Elections have consequences, and this is one of those. Democrats have never gotten the memo that voting is about more than just who sits in a chair in the Oval Office or a congressional office. From what bills make it to the floor for a vote; to what hearings are called; to approving Supreme Court justices and federal judges; to policies like the horrific ones ICE are carrying out now: a vote means so much more than just being a popularity contest.