For anyone who has ever ignored, or not understood, the importance of the power of the majority to American politics, last Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and aftermath, was the proverbial "teachable moment." We should all pay attention to the abuse of power exhibited by the majority, the injection of fairness into the process by a public institution, the ability of a member of the majority to influence a predetermined outcome, and, of course, the courage of a witness to subject herself to unreasonable scrutiny to speak truth to power.
Clearly, the Republican majority and its committee chair, Chuck Grassley, wanted no part of a fair hearing informed by corroborating witnesses and an FBI investigation. What they wanted was to escape the hearing without appearing to bully and demean a female accusing their nominee of a disqualifying sexual act and move as quickly as possible to a vote. In this, they almost succeeded. Their unprecedented ceding of authority to question Dr. Christine Blasey Ford to a professional female sexual abuse prosecutor avoided the spectacle of 11 males cross examining Ford. However, it failed. Her testimony was believable, damaging and compelling.
In understanding how power in this kind of setting works, it's essential to recognize that both the majority and the minority developed and repetitiously employed talking points (tactics) for public consumption. The Democrats repetitiously argued for an independent FBI investigation, the Republicans that the Democrats waiting until the 11th hour to divulge Dr. Ford's allegations was a sham political maneuver designed to "smear" Judge Kavanaugh.