On the Tightrope

No Net

We, Americans, are walking a tightrope.  Our national experiment in a republican form of government is at risk.  Last night, the January 6^th Committee began to show us how close we came to our experiment failing a year and a half ago.  But that risk hasn’t ended.  The mob is still out there, ready to rise up and claim their “power”.  There are millions of Americans who refused to watch the hearing last night, already set in their mind that the lies of 2020 are true.  

We are on a tightrope, and there is no net.  Our democracy hangs in the balance. It only exists due to the brilliance of the flawed Enlightenment men who founded the nation, and it only continues by the heroism of today’s women and men who stand up to the “mob”.  We saw the evidence last night:  the thin line of Capitol Police Officers, representative of America.  They were men and women, black, white, Hispanic and Asian; the very few that stood against the thousands.  They ultimately fell, but they delayed the mob long enough to protect the Congress, and, very late in the day, let the “cavalry” ride to the rescue.

The Plan

And as we heard last night, it was not a crowd that “lost control”.  It was a plan:  from the White House, from the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, and from the headquarters at the Willard Hotel.   The Proud Boys scouted the defenses well before Donald Trump sent folks down to the Capitol.  The Oath Keepers had weapons caches just outside the District, ready for deployment. They had military like “stacks” with specific goals: Pelosi, Schumer and Pence.  The plan:  force the electoral count back to the states.  If Vice President Pence wouldn’t do it, then stop the count altogether, but whatever means necessary.  

And if you need more evidence that the “mob” is still out there today, look at what the Fox News Channel did last night.  They refused to cover the hearing, instead, giving a platform to those who still promulgate the lies.  And they didn’t even run commercials:  why risk that a viewer might switch over to almost any other channel to hear and see truth.  Their most popular figure, Tucker Carlson, wrote a long editorial, full of the same lies that filled the ether in 2020 (I won’t give him the “honor” of a link – it’s on the Fox News website). For him, and his millions of viewers, nothing has changed.

One Shot

Earlier this week, I stated that the January 6^th Committee had “one shot” to get this right with the American people (A Television Moment).  They certainly took that shot last night.  Two Congressmen from the heartland, a Mississippi  Democrat and a Republican from Wyoming, narrated the story.  They laid out the case against Donald Trump and his henchmen.  And they even revealed that United States Congressmen who supported Trump, then asked for Presidential Pardons before he left office.  They knew, even then, that their actions were wrong.

There are more hearings coming.  The Committee will present the evidence to the nation that there was a plot to overthrow the Constitutional government, led by the President of the United States himself.  There are three audiences for these hearings.  First is the Congress itself.  The Committee is charged with developing legislation to protect our Republic from further damage.  The second is the Department of Justice.  If the evidence is strong, then Attorney General Garland cannot turn away from prosecution, regardless of his (and President Biden’s) desire to return to “normalcy”. 

Final Arbiter

But most importantly, the ultimate audience is the citizens of the United States of America.  The whole point of our Republic is that we are not passive observers in our own government.  We the People of the United States have the ultimate control, the ultimate say.  We can vote.

Many Americans are tired of politics as usual.  Some demand that we place limits on the terms of our leaders.  But there is no need for term limits:  every legislator, every elected officer is term limited.  They are limited by the need to win the next election.  It only takes the citizens to vote them out of office.  

The January 6^th Committee is asking the final arbiters of American government, the People of the United States, to stand for their government.  We have a choice; continue to support those who still back the lies, or reject them and stand for the Republic.  It’s really as simple as that.  It would be good for Garland to bring charges against the conspirators, even including the former President.  But it isn’t necessary to protect the Nation.  What is needed, is that the citizens themselves stand, stand like Congressman Cheney, stand like the Capitol Police Officers, stand against those who think that the “Stop the Steal” movement is behind us.  

It’s not.  Our form of government is at greater risk than ever, because we have somehow “normalized” politicians and a political party that has accepted the “Big Lie”.   We are walking a tightrope, and the rope frays as the lies infiltrate the truth.  The January 6^th Committee hearings may be the last, best chance to repair those fibers, and keep our Republic.  The alternative, is a fall into authoritarianism: a loss of the America we knew, and were entrusted to keep.