On Wednesday, January 6th, 2021, I watched what I have been waiting for and praying against. Insurrection. The rebellion has come out in the open for all to see. No longer hidden by rallies and thin excuses, we are confronted with an evil that has been building in the United States since 1866.
Over the years, the U.S. has failed to deal with the resurgence of racism and the growing privileges of our ruling elite. This has led to armed nationalist paramilitary groups and a class of wealthy, privileged elite who do not fear the law and even use it to punish the innocent. While the lack of equal justice impacts middle-class white Americans, its consequences are far greater on people of color, disabled, infirm, poor, illiterate, and elderly.
Even now, just a few days since domestic terrorists occupied our nation’s Capitol Building and invaded other state capitals across the country, the politicians and pundits are beginning to equivocate about holding the chief Domestic Terrorist, Donald J. Trump, legally accountable for his concerted, years-long attacks against our democracy and our people. They use the same arguments that were used when President Ford pardoned Richard M. Nixon. We must heal the nation and, to do so, we must not hold the President accountable because it will only provoke greater unrest and bitterness. Political considerations overruled the law. That bitterness never went away. The Nixon pardon was an object lesson that there are people above the Law, starting with the President of the United States.
Congress, with its unwillingness to hold its own members accountable has provided another lesson that shows the Law does not fully apply to them as well. In the past six years, we have seen the Republican controlled Senate bury nominations and laws to thwart the will of the people. Barack H. Obama, 44th President of the U.S., was held hostage to the whims of Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican, Kentucky, who abused his position as Senate Majority Leader. In the last four years, Senator McConnell has continued to block House bills, even when bipartisan, from being considered in the Senate, effectively denying the will of the people.
The last two decades, since the Supreme Court interfered with the 2000 Presidential Election, giving the election to Republican George W Bush despite the popular vote going to Democrat Al Gore, we have seen the steady erosion of Democracy and Rule of Law. It has accelerated in the last six years until now we have an open insurrection to deal with. All of this is due to our government and the American People being unwilling to face the hard truths and do what must be done. We must hold all those responsible for this insurrection accountable in a court of law, regardless of their position.
Within a few hours, the rebels began to regroup. Within minutes of the assault on the Capitol. Fox Broadcasting was already spinning the events to fit their long, traitorous narrative. Without missing a step, Fox’s commentators began trying to shift blame away from the Trump insurrectionists to someone else, Antifa. They continue to demonize Democrats. Rather than stepping back, Fox doubled down on the Big Lie that the election vote was rigged, and everyone was out to get Trump. As Republicans scrambled to save their own asses by distancing themselves from Trump, Fox commentators and other traitorous media personalities turned on them as well. For instance, Lindsey Graham belatedly began to voice concerns about Trump; he was mobbed at the airport and required police protection.
Across the nation Trump supporters have become more belligerent and are openly trying to intimidate the American people. Ever since 2015, when Trump announced his candidacy for President there has been a growing wave of hatred and violence directed at people of Black Americans and other people of color, Jews and Muslims, and Trump’s political opponents. Now the fascist rebels have dropped all pretense of legality and shown us who they are.
And yet, Trump’s Republican supporters continue to caution against holding him legally accountable for fear of violence. That ship sailed a long time ago. If this were a typical western drama, this is the scene when Clint Eastwood would be told by the oppressed, frightened town folk that, “We don’t want no trouble here. Don’t mess with the Trump gang.” YouTube provides ample evidence that the trouble is here and must be firmly dealt with.
A Minneapolis Star Tribune video of a rally in front of the Minnesota State Capitol makes the point. The speakers clearly demonstrated that there was little room for discussion and threats were made.
An unidentified man in a long black overcoat said, “We have gone beyond the point of protesting, we have gone past the point of rallies, and we are now at the threshold of civil war. Where do you see us today? Have we moved forward? Hell, no we haven’t. We’ve regressed. We’ve gone backwards. Historically, in America, the only time we’ve progressed, we’ve marched forward, technological advances, economic advances, the only time we’ve evolved was after a war. “
“We have reached that point. We cannot move forward. We cannot evolve as a people because we are being choked-off by weeds. Weeds of Communism, weeds of Socialism, weeds of [inaudible] Liberals, [inaudible] suffocating us. We are a garden that needs to grow. We cannot grow if we have weeds choking us off. We need to burn; we need to pull the weeds.” [Crowd applauded and cheered.]
A woman speaker said, “Without you, without the middle-class, America cannot survive. The middle-class is the backbone of our economy. And while I’m speaking, the greatest wealth transfer in this country is taking place before our very eyes. The Democrats that claim they care about the little people, don’t care about you.” Crowd agrees with the speaker.
Another speaker said, “And now we have an executive branch that chooses not to support the law, and now we have certain members of the judicial branch, who are usurping the constitution, ignoring the constitution, and rewriting the law as they see fit. We can’t have that.” Crowd agrees.
Another speaker, Rep. Steve Drazkowski ,Republican, spoke, “Steve Simmon, the Secretary of State, and Keith Ellison, the Attorney General, [both Democrats] who are supposed to defend our laws, said that ‘You can’t do that. They said this in front of a judge. Her name is Sarah Grewing. Sarah Grewing was appointed by Mark Dayton [ex-Governor, Democrat] and formerly served as Senator Amy Klobuchar’s [US Senator, Democrat] State Political Director. [Booing]”
Next, Republican organizer, Alley Waterbury took the mic. “Shame on you Grewing, booo! Pence said that he would uphold the Constitution. No, no, no, no. He’s going to uphold the Constitution because he doesn’t have the right to say what electoral votes are true … and which are fake and which ones are real. That’s how he’s upholding the Constitution. At that point, at that point, patriots, over one million patriots, [unclear, may have been,’ whatever the figure was’], stormed the White House grounds. I believe. Now you know why Trump wanted us there.” [Cheering and flag waving.]
“I can trust you guys. You will be threatened. You will be scorned. By God you guys, we’re going to fight! We’re going to go down! There’s going to be casualties! I’ll be the first casualty, I don’t care! We’re not going to give up!” [Crowd cheers.]
State Representative Susan Akland, Republican, “My district had been blue for 16 years. I didn’t know what I was up against, but it didn’t matter because somebody has to stand up and speak up. We need our conservative Christian values represented. And they were getting washed away and I couldn’t stand it one more second.”
State Representative, Glenn Gruenhagen, Republican, “Remember that this is a cultural war on which direction our country is going to go. And the future of your children, and your grandchildren, and even yourselves are at stake.”
Unidentified speaker, “Waltz, [Minnesota Governor] if you get a piece of this, I just want to say to you, that literally, God created you and I guess you have a purpose. But you’re really using it wrong. Please take time to meet with us, one-on-one. Because if you don’t, you’re going to make us do things we don’t want to do. [Pointing at the video camera] We will come for you. We want to talk to you first. We want to use [unclear] and logic. If you don’t open our state back up, we are willing to do whatever we need to do. Because, at this point we have nothing left to lose.”
It is unarguably clear that our nation is faced with a terrible choice. Surrender to the insane rage of the insurrectionist Republicans and their supporters. Or make the hard decision to stand firm, defend our Constitution and the Rule of Law, and hold to account all those who instigate and participate in this rebellion.
Let us be honest with ourselves. The probability of a peaceful resolution is almost zero. While I believe that many who have followed Trump will have second thoughts and decide that a peaceful solution is best, there is a hardcore of believers who desire confrontation and the destruction of our government and way of life. It is this group that is prepared to wage a long war of terror using hit-and-run tactics. These domestic terrorists have dehumanized a large portion of the American people and see us as expendable in the pursuit of their selfish goals.
Prophetically, Republican organizer, Alley Waterbury, spoke the truth. There are going to be casualties. There have been casualties for years, victims of racism, bigotry, and hate. We have been at war for years and have refused to acknowledge it. We have chosen appeasement rather than face the truth.
Our biggest enemy is here at home, domestic terrorists incited by leaders who deny reality and parrot Russian propaganda. We cannot hide from the truth any longer. It is now, regardless of the cost, that we demand justice and use our democratic institutions to bring to account all those that threaten our nation, regardless of rank, wealth, or power.
Our opposition is not evil or disposable. They are people who have been misled and lied to. They have been seduced by others whose agendas are to gain personal power and wealth. Our fellow Americans deserve to have their rights observed and treated with understanding.
Unlike our enemies who wish us ill and believe that the ends justify the means, we must remain resolute and firm, in the knowledge that the United States is the greatest experiment in history to promote individual freedoms while maintaining a civil society.
The days, weeks and years ahead are not going to be easy. Justice delayed is justice denied. Our path is clear. Bring to justice all those that promote and engage in this rebellion as quickly as possible. We must unflinchingly challenge the propagandists and defeat them with both truth but also our behavior.
At the same time, we must proceed in rebuilding our fractured society while ensuring that all Americans share in our nation’s prosperity, have opportunities to succeed, and are treated fairly.
We are a great people if we have the courage to be.
01/12/2021 – Corrected typo Capitol not Capital.