Monday January 25, 2021
I read news about Navalny returning to Russia and being immediately arrested. There are protests in the streets. Will it be enough? I doubt it. Putin will not easily cede power to the will of the people. Unfortunately, their institutions do not have a long history of being strong or able to stand up to the abuses of one man. Look at how close we came?
I think about that woman who took a private jet from Texas to participate in the riot in D.C. Her justification was that the president asked, and therein lies her problem. A person asked her to break the bond to the Constitution. That is for her a fundamental misunderstanding of what this country is all about. Now she wants to say, “Oh gee.” To which I say, “Sorry honey, if you had paid more attention in civics class you might have known.” I don’t want to be too harsh in my judgement. Maybe 25 years? And let her off in five?
These false patriots are the epitome of what authoritarians use and love. Symbols of patriotism to invoke insurrection so they can seize power. It’s not like this is a new thing. Politicians and priests have been using these tactics for as long as their have been leaders. If you can get someone to believe you can control them. Typically, you can use the symbols lying around in the culture, appropriate them, and have your troops march forth. Hitler did it. Genghis Khan did it. The popes of the Dark Ages did it. Donald Trump did it.
The question then is not, “Will they do it?” The question is, “Will we stand up to it?” People like the woman from Texas and Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley need to be held to account. Why?
“Peace in our Time!” Remember that? Neville Chamberlain to Hitler. “Appeasement,” that was a favorite term of these idiots when W was running – remember? Yeah, well. If you let them off the hook they will do it again. And why not? Remember after the first impeachment of Trump? He and his followers took it as a sign of victory. They won!
No, it must be made clear: legally, symbolically, legislatively, and any other way that this can not stand. You can say, “Oh, I didn’t know” or “Oh, I’m really a patriot.” And do what these people did.
For the sake of our democracy they need a hard lesson in democratic civics.
I certainly thought that people in the bush administration should’ve been prosecuted, or we would have it happen again. It seems like history repeats itself because no one learns the lessons of history. Trump must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as all of the GOP who supported him and continue to support him should be prosecuted censored or expelled.
Don’t forget Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan. Once could line up all these Republican crooks and see that they all have common factor-disgusting
Attitudes.