departing by choice, others not so much, are giving their farewell speeches from their senate desks. >> as i stand here today, i am optimistic about the future, but my optimism is due more to the country that my parents gave to me than is due to the president condition of our civic life. i believe that we all know well that this is not a normal time, and that the threats to our democracy from within and without are real. and none of us can say with confidence how the situation that we now find ourselves in will turnout. >> peter morgan, an author, said no family is complete without an embarrassing uncle. we have too many embarrassing uncles in the united states senate. the united states senate is no longer the world's greatest deliberative body. and everybody needs to quit saying it. until we recover from this period of polarization and the fear of the political consequence of tough votes. but with all the problems i've