Per Markos, it’s clear that the joke is and has always been on us.The question remains how we respond to being the butt of a joke before we pick up our marbles and go home.

Just to be clear, here’s the Way Things Work, as listed by kos but previously observed by anyone who has spent upwards of three years blogging:

1. Republicans ask for the absurd, threaten nuclear/economic armageddon if there’s no action.

2. Democrats cower in fear.

3. We try to talk some sense into them.

4. We get scolded for being unserious, and wanting the terrorists to win/people to lose their jobs.

5. Democrats promise oversight!

6. We roll our eyes.

7. Democrats cave on every single point, but pretend to win anyway.

8. We wonder what we ever did to deserve this sorry bunch of representatives.

9. Republicans do whatever the hell they want.

10. Democrats pretend that no one could’ve ever predicted Republican outrages and express “outrage”. Sometimes, they even write a sternly worded letter!

11. We make “no one could have foreseen” jokes and wonder what we ever did to deserve this sorry bunch of representatives.

12. Rinse, lather, repeat.

In all seriousness, one of the online progressive movements greatest risks is that because our hopes rest on timid Democrats who cannot get out of their own way, we are likely to disillusion and burnout the talented people who are fighting for change every day. At a certain point, you can’t help but be cynical about our prospects and the lack of impact our efforts are having on the course of our nation. Continuing in the face of this ongoing joke is hard. Most people still do it, but there will undoubtedly be a point where each individual feels they cannot continue to proceed. I don’t know where that will be for us as a movement, but I don’t doubt that more people will reach it under a Democratic administration than under the previous Republican one.