When Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced that she was providing Republicans with the votes necessary to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, I imagine liberals felt something similar to the way that conservatives felt when the Democratic majority passed Obamacare.

After all, Obamacare was an unpopular piece of legislation — there were moments when it seemed in danger; conservatives rallied and placed their hopes on a handful of self-proclaimed centrist Democrats. In the end, it didn’t matter. All that mattered, conservatives were reminded, is that the party in power has the ability to impose its will on the rest of the nation, and the only way to change this is to win elections. The anger that followed fueled a Republican takeover of the House and, eventually, the Senate.