Historically, there have been lots of cases where democracy has been established or reestablished without violence. Two examples: the democratic reforms in Britain over the course of the 19th century
You need to study British history in more detail if you think that the democratic reforms were accomplished without violence: from the Reform Riots (and some conservative responses) to the Manhood Suffrage Riots, and yes, I'd include the Swing Riots and the Rebecca Riots: though not directly concerned with suffrage, they were a violent response to unjust laws from those with no other means whatsoever of protesting. Historically, the century of reform that established universal suffrage in the UK, from 1832 to 1929, was begun in violence and continued with the threat of violence, though ultimately it was accomplished without revolution, by democratic vote in Parliament.
It's conceivable that the US can have honest elections again, but I think it unlikely so long as most Americans are comfortably persuaded that dishonest elections happen elsewhere. It is still regarded as outright heresy in some circles to point out that Bush lost the election in 2000, even though that at least is backed up by hand-counted votes: it is regarded as outright fantasising to point out that we don't know who won the election in 2004, but that by the exit polls, it was John Kerry.
John Ruskin was an ardent fan of Kate Greenaway.
Generically across the Internet, it is much more likely that people who would have linked to Electrolite (because it's a man's blog) won't link to Making Light (because it's by a woman, and the generic "everyone" knows women don't blog about serious issues).
I note this not to deny anyone's experience of women only linking to blogs by women, but to point out that, if this behavior exists, I strongly suspect it's a reaction to the much more widespread habit of not linking to (and never acknowledging) blogs by women.
Having said that - I agree with everyone else who said that it's entirely up to Patrick and Teresa how they arrange the furniture in their own blog(s), and that I will keep visiting, no matter what you do, so long as I'm let.
In terms of "we knew but we did nothing" I've found it endlessly interesting, in a terrible sort of way, that it's difficult to impossible to make most well-meaning, well-informed Americans acknowledge any one of the following:
1. The wipe-out of Native Americans in North America, from the early 17th century onwards, was in fact genocide, by any reasonable definition of the word.
2. The US military targets civilians. Targetting civilians is what cluster bombs are all about. As is deliberately bombing civilian TV stations, which the US has also done at least twice.
Nothing has really changed since 1945. People who are part of the winning side have the really vile crimes slide off them. Winning is what really matters.
In honor of Matthew Yglesias:
It's 2020. President Edwards is coming to the end of his second term, and for the first time in two decades a Republican candidate looks like she has a chance of gaining office. Eloise Anderson is speaking at a meeting about the bad old days of the Bush administration, where no one dared speak their mind, and how it's important that, if she gains office, the new Republican administration should prove itself to have made a clean break from the last, unbelievably corrupt Bush administration. There must be honesty and fair dealing. Eloise Anderson got her start in politics as one of Bush's staffers, as is well known, though she was never connected to any of the scandals, and never indicted in any of the 2005 trials.
A heckler at the back pipes up "What were you doing then?"
Anderson walks down the room between the rows of chairs, looking about her at the staffers. She looks terrifyingly angry. "Who said that?" she snaps.
Everyone keeps their head down. No one meets anyone else's eyes. Their careers depend on Anderson's goodwill. No one says anything.
Anderson walks back up to the front of the room. Everyone is watching her now, wondering what she's going to say.
She stands in front of them all and nods. "Yes. That's exactly what I did, too."
See also Sebastian Holsclaw on the same topic: Republicans Must Not Support Torture.
I strongly believe in the principle of policing your own. I am a Republican and a regular advocate for the Republican Party. You should consider this post a kind of 'toughlove'. As such I have some harsh words for the sponsors of this bill. This portion of the bill is morally, ethically, and politically wrong. It may be that you did not know all of what you were sponsoring (the bill is 300+ pages). But you should know now, and you should take action to change it.
Any right-winger who starts arguing that this won't be so bad should be pointed directly at this post.
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