It was a year ago today when the Capitol Insurrection took place. Many of us were watching in horror as it played out on live television.
Chicago's Cardinal Cupich had a good article today on his re-reading of the statement he made last year on the day "...that the world watched in horror as a violent mob attacked the US Capitol in a coordinated and deadly attempt to overturn the legitimate results of a presidential election": Thread by @CardinalBCupich on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
"We should all agree that those who instigated and participated in such anti-democratic crimes should be held accountable. People died that day, and soon after. Some were killed. Some took their own lives. Many others were gravely injured. "
"They are still learning how to live with the trauma. But all of us must awaken to the reality that the rights we Americans hold dear are secured only by the legitimacy of our form of government."
"The lies that led many millions to believe the falsehood that the 2020 election was “stolen” must end. We must also be vigilant and resist all attempts to restrict voting rights. We ignore these and any effort to weaken our democracy at our own peril."
"This moment of anti-democratic sentiment is not unique to the United States. As @Pontifex recently noted in Athens: “Today, and not only in Europe, we are witnessing a retreat from democracy.”"
“Democracy requires participation and involvement on the part of all. Consequently, it demands hard work and patience,” @Pontifex said, when he visited Athens, the birthplace of democracy last month. "
“It is complex, whereas authoritarianism is peremptory, and populism’s easy answers appear attractive.” The Holy Father is right. The work of building up the common good through democratic processes is not easy. "
"It requires the participation of all sectors of the citizenry, not only those at the center of society, but especially those at the margins. That’s why it’s called the common good. "
"But make no mistake: If we succumb to despair, if we numb our minds to what is unfolding before us, we are tacitly surrendering our democracy, and all that it can do to protect the dignity of all God’s children."
Both statements are outstanding - in fact, I think I'm going to share both of them with some people I know. Katherine, many thanks!
ReplyDeleteI guess those are nice words by someone with some moral authority. But I doubt they're going to precipitate a wake-up-and-die-right moment for anybody.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I fear that too much time is being spent on reliving the insurrection in vigils, speeches, and TV special reports. It's not like Congress and the DOJ are doing nothing. Over-coverage may backfire by making the goon squads feel scary and powerful, and thus swell their ranks.
Of more concern than reliving the riots are signs that decent Repubs are caving to the weirdo wing of their party:
Pete Meijer, a moderate Michigan West Side Republican who voted to impeach, was on The News Hour. I am not really sure what to make of his remarks. But he seems to be trying to accept the dangers of Trumpism while trying to placate the party dominated by the very vocal Trump base. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/death-threats-primary-challenge-followed-rep-meijers-vote-to-impeach-trump-after-jan-6
Fred Upton, another Westside Repub who voted to impeach Trump, has been redistricted and faces a runoff in 2020 with pro-Trump Republican Bill Huizenga. Upton has not decided whether he will run.
Adam Kinzinger, who is the only Republican on the select committee besides Liz Cheney, has said he won't run again.
Meantime Ron Johnson from Wisconsin says that God created our immune system and where do we get off trying to improve on it?
And that's just this week.
Gloria Purvis article and interview at America - some interesting information
ReplyDeletehttps://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/01/06/jan-6-capitol-riot-black-lives-matter-242162
Good article by Gloria Purvis. The comments are interesting (I guess I always walk in the weeds). Ms. Purvis displays more patience and courtesy in answering some of the comments than I would be capable of.
DeleteI do read comments at America and at The New York Times. Often very interesting. Most are at least minimally civil, Ben from the few trumpistas who comment. , I haven’t read the comments yet for that article. Probably posted shortly before I read it. I do not read comments at the Washington Post as the Post does not seem to have as effective a filter against the hater- trolls as the NYTimes has. Most other sites I follow gave up having comments a long time ago.
DeleteQuite interesting from her interview with Dr. Robert Pape that the 700 dopes arrested on 1/6/2021 were primarily middle-class and middle-aged (average age of arrestees: 52). Most were not members of right-wing militia groups. Pape described the arrestees as "doctors, lawyers and architects". Overwhelmingly, they came, not from red-state, rural "Trump country", but from large metropolitan areas where they constitute a political minority. 15% had prior military experience, which doesn't sound like a lot, but the general population has only 10% - and I'd assume that the great majority in the general population now are elderly (i.e. from the Vietnam draft era or earlier - I'm 60 years old, and the draft was long gone by the time I turned 18 in 1979). On the whole, the arrestees were not particularly religious.
DeletePape suggests that this is one reason the police presence at the Capitol wasn't sufficient: the cohort didn't look like police expect a violent mob to look.
This was Karl Rove in the WSJ:
ReplyDelete“If Democrats had done what some Trump supporters did on that violent Jan. 6, Republicans would have criticized them mercilessly and been right to do so,” he notes. “Republicans would have torched any high official who encouraged violence or stood mute while it was waged and been right to do so. Republicans would have demanded an investigation to find who was responsible for the violence and been right to do so. To move beyond Jan. 6, 2021, we must put country ahead of party. For Democrats, that means resisting their leadership’s petty habit of aggravating partisan fault lines by indiscriminately condemning all who came to Washington that day. We Republicans have a heavier burden. I’ve been a Republican my entire life, and believe in what the Republican Party, at its best, has represented for decades. There can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy. Love of country demands nothing less. That’s true patriotism.”
(I) believe in what the Republican Party, at its best.....
DeleteIt hasn’t been “ at its best” for decades now.
What does this comment add up to? He’s just one more out of power representative of a dead political party whose name has been stolen by people who want to transform America into a variation of what we see in Hungary. They want an authoritarian government, elected by a minority of citizens under cover of a pseudo- democracy. The few Republicans in Congress who resisted pure trumpism are resigning or will be forced out by the trumpistas, backed by very deep pockets who try to remain in the shadows.
The silence from the current political leaders of the GOP on the anniversary of the first attack on the US Capitol since the British in the 19th century is deafening. Much more devastating as it was an attack by Americans, urged on by a President who was determined to overthrow the results of the election he lost and lost decisively.
"The silence from the current political leaders of the GOP on the anniversary of the first attack on the US Capitol since the British in the 19th century is deafening"
DeleteYes, one more deplorable thing from GOP leaders, atop all the other deplorable things from the last 14 or so months.
The Dispatch newsletter yesterday made the point that, in the immediate wake of the attacks, when Trump's role in bringing them about was still a bit murky, many GOP leaders in the House, Senate and elsewhere made very strong statements condemning the attacks. In the ensuing months, as it's become clear (thanks in no small part to the House's 'partisan' investigation) just how entangled Trump and his coterie really were in the attack, those same leaders (Kevin McCarthy, Lindsey Graham at al) have all toadied back up to Trump. Even Mitch McConnell, who seemingly has been trying to thread the needle of being somewhat his own man without completely alienating Trump and his base, voted to acquit in Trump's second impeachment trial - after making a speech that Trump needs to be held accountable. (All that needle-threading hasn't appeased Trump, who has been openly slamming McConnell for months).
Jim, I will check out the Dispatch. It sounds like the same content I received fro French in his Atlantic email newsletter.
DeleteI wonder if (I want to say "when") the trumppubs take over if they will retain the Democrats as a faux villainous opposition. I could see the sellouts among the Dems purging out AOC et al. as they blame them for losing the election because they tainted the party with radical ideas like universal health care. That would work. Big Punch vs. little Judy.
ReplyDeleteHas Uncle Joe not proved how stupid it was to go with the "safe" candidates?
ReplyDeleteRE villanous opposition: The "beauty" of Trumpism is that anybody who disagrees with you is a villain involved in a vast conspiracy against "regular" Americans.
Feminists? They want to abort babies and join Hillary's pedophile ring.
Socialists? They want to steal your money so you can't get rich, keeping you dependent on the nanny state that keeps them in power.
Immigrants? They want to come here and take American jobs and send their $$ back to their families who live in huts.
Health experts? They want to tinker with our natural bodily fluids and make us dependent on Big Pharma.
Climate scientists? They're in the pockets of the alternative energy people, who want to take away our snow mobiles and give us seizures with rotating windmills.
And so on.
Before my brother stopped speaking to me, these were his common rants.
I think any of the Democratic candidates would still be dealing with the same stuff if they had been elected. As you said, anybody who disagrees with Trumpism is a villain in a big conspiracy.
ReplyDelete