- Reaction score
- 5,845
- Points
- 1,090
With a little distance, I've been thinking a bit philosophically about this whole thing. I think that in retrospect the crappy security presence was a good thing.
The GOP has been playing with fire for at least the entire Trump presidency. They were trying to ride the populist bandwagon and supported a guy who often was criticizing and challenging the validity of the democratic process and its institutions because it didn't always turn out in his favour. The Republican party allowed this behaviour to happen because it energized their base and won elections. They coddled and supported this stuff. And then it all got away from them. If the security at Congress was able to repel with violence the insurrectionists than it would only serve to reinforce their beliefs that they are the picked on people and the government was against them. It would have also fed the fire of the populists of the GOP.
The fact that the mob got into the building, did harm, and threatened members of Congress forces the Republican party to look at the deal they made. They have to choose. Are they the party of Law and Order or are they the party of the mob? Do they believe in the process or do they think that as long as the leader is on your side anything goes?
Americans as a cultural zeitgeist believe in democracy. They believe in America and the American dream. America and democracy are the same things in many of their minds.
Now we can argue whether or not this was really a threat to democracy from a realistic perspective. No, it wasn't. It takes a lot more than one angry and oddly successful occupation of a government building. But perception is everything, and one thing American's do better than anyone is over-react when they think are being challenged. When their democracy (aka America) is being challenged. And trust me they are going to overreact like crazy to this.
If the police were successful the GOP leadership wouldn't have been directly threatened. Their leadership is now afraid. They looked at each other and thought "my god the fire is out of control, we were in control, what the hell happened". They fed the fire and got burned. Bad.
It also gave social media the excuse they were looking for to remove the method from which Trump used to rally his followers. A violent repulsion of that mob wouldn't have done that.
So I'm glad that the mob got in (not glad people were hurt). I'm glad that US Democracy got a scare. Maybe they won't take it for granted so much. This needed to happen. It's a See It Now moment...
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it—and rather successfully. Cassius was right: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
The GOP has been playing with fire for at least the entire Trump presidency. They were trying to ride the populist bandwagon and supported a guy who often was criticizing and challenging the validity of the democratic process and its institutions because it didn't always turn out in his favour. The Republican party allowed this behaviour to happen because it energized their base and won elections. They coddled and supported this stuff. And then it all got away from them. If the security at Congress was able to repel with violence the insurrectionists than it would only serve to reinforce their beliefs that they are the picked on people and the government was against them. It would have also fed the fire of the populists of the GOP.
The fact that the mob got into the building, did harm, and threatened members of Congress forces the Republican party to look at the deal they made. They have to choose. Are they the party of Law and Order or are they the party of the mob? Do they believe in the process or do they think that as long as the leader is on your side anything goes?
Americans as a cultural zeitgeist believe in democracy. They believe in America and the American dream. America and democracy are the same things in many of their minds.
Now we can argue whether or not this was really a threat to democracy from a realistic perspective. No, it wasn't. It takes a lot more than one angry and oddly successful occupation of a government building. But perception is everything, and one thing American's do better than anyone is over-react when they think are being challenged. When their democracy (aka America) is being challenged. And trust me they are going to overreact like crazy to this.
If the police were successful the GOP leadership wouldn't have been directly threatened. Their leadership is now afraid. They looked at each other and thought "my god the fire is out of control, we were in control, what the hell happened". They fed the fire and got burned. Bad.
It also gave social media the excuse they were looking for to remove the method from which Trump used to rally his followers. A violent repulsion of that mob wouldn't have done that.
So I'm glad that the mob got in (not glad people were hurt). I'm glad that US Democracy got a scare. Maybe they won't take it for granted so much. This needed to happen. It's a See It Now moment...
This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it—and rather successfully. Cassius was right: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
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