This great political experiment has been running for almost 250 years, if we use The Declaration of Independence, or just over 230 if we use the ratification of a majority of the state conventions.
However one chooses to measure that period of time, our country has presented to the world and represented some ideals that to this day attract millions of people who want to start a life in a nation where there is opportunity and freedom unlike few other places. Let us not ignore the dark, ugly history that is also ours, and tarnishes our luster, dims the beckoning light upon the hill, as to do so only lessens our ability to strive towards those ideals.
Today, I speak of a dark and ugly moment. One in which the experiment of a democratic republic that espouses Liberty and Justice came to a halt. We claim to be a nation under rule of law. On January 6th, 2021, we witnessed a turn toward rule of claw, instead. The chain of peaceful transition of power from one presidential executive to the next had almost been broken. Led by individuals who claimed to believe in, love and respect the US Constitution, they violently attempted to subvert that process, and they continue to make threats to continue to instigate violence and create chaos, and they were urged, in not too subtle a manner, by the individual who was supposed to be transferring that executive authority.
Why? Well, there are probably as many theories as there are registered voters in our country, but it boils down to this...a man whom had a large cult of personality, used his charisma, his populist appeal, and his bombast to rile up his most devoted of followers into the belief that He was the rule of law to be followed, not the US Constitution.
I get it, on some base level. He is well-liked by many who see him as The Outsider who was going to bring America back to some sense of her old glory. However, what exactly that era, period, timeframe of greatness was was never truly defined. So, groups that have extreme ideas about when such glory existed and were emboldened by the rhetoric came out to help Make America _________ (fill in the blank with what have you).
Initially, when it was deemed that the election had been lost by him, he used the lawful and time honored means to challenge his loss. However, he had been setting the stage for calling the entire voting process into question if he lost long before the first vote was cast. Yet, the poll monitors and vote watchers found no wide spread irregularities. Courts, of which some had judges whom he had nominated to their positions on the bench denied the merits of his claims as baseless and refused to hear the arguments. At this point, a reasonable person would concede that rule of law had spoken and go back to private life and his business holdings. Instead a petulant child cried and these people who supported him and also claimed they were patriotic citizens, instead felt compelled to take part in an insurrection and subvert the will of the majority of the electorate by forcing their way into the halls of the legislative body and creating chaos to intimidate those elected representatives of the people.
Lex Talionis, has no place in the modern world. Should we plunge into some apocalyptic dystopian future, then an eye for and eye, and blood feuds and family/clan/tribal communities rising up to avenge what they see as an injustice probably shall be an important aspect of life until some norms and forms of civilization and society can arise again. However, this is not that time.
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