Clearly, I've been looking at this issue the wrong way.
I foolishly thought we were keeping our powder dry for a really important moment. A threat to our Constitution or our basic rights and liberties that must be responded to with every weapon in the legislative arsenal. And indeed such a moment has arrived.
And yet, some hesitate to reach for the desert-dry powder we have so carefully saved for this moment. Why?
My theory after the flip...
In the powder scheme of things, having powder, even powder you never use, is better than using powder and then having none. So we can all agree that there is a finite amount of powder and we must have some and never using it is the best way to assure that. Done.
Wet powder is of no use to anyone. So we must continue our vigilance about the moisture level of our powder. Maintaining the threat of powder use is dependent upon having use-ready, bone-dry powder. So we must continue to have powder, and dry powder at that, for some future use. Done.
If we demonstrate our dry-powder capabilities by using our powder, then we have depleted our stores and created a powder-gap that will weaken us in the eye of the enemy. Can't do that.
So the optimal powder state is one where we have plentiful stores of dry powder. Where we discuss in loud voices our intentions to use said stores should the correct moment arrive. Where we resist the impulse to use the powder at such moments because you never know when another moment may come along. Where we create a project an air of such total powderfulness that all quake in our presence. Done.
I feel so much fucking better, don't you?