For a long time, I thought the Democrats were fighting valiantly but just overwhelmed by the oligarchy and the Republicans. Then I saw that the Democrats keep losing fights they should win and figured they must be just weak and ineffectual. Then I kept seeing them backing off without putting up any fight at all and decided they were gutless cowards. Finally, I noticed that enough of them keep voting with the Republicans to always ensure that the Republicans more or less win almost every fight, and that they start by bargaining from the Center position and moving Right—and eventually, after enough of that, it became impossible to ignore the only conclusion that actually fits the facts: The Democrats are not overmatched, they aren’t weak, they aren’t cowards ... they’re complicit.