I have kept this image on my computer all year. When the politicians attempt their brain-melting trickery, I look at this picture to remind myself where I stand:
Over one year ago today, a protestor wielding a traitorous confederate flag was allowed to prowl the seat of our legislature. Others wore Nazi paraphernalia or openly supported white-race militias. Others were just idiots, but they were all united in a common cause: to overthrow a democratic election. The president of the United States sat by and watched the show, his face glued to Fox News and Twitter.
From experience I know that many of the more conservative leaning people of the United States become irritated when the word “fascist” is used to describe certain behaviors that the right has undertaken in recent years, but the January 6th riot pretty much wraps the word in a bow. Storming a democratic process with the intent to disrupt a democratic election, capture politicians, and and steal documents is exactly the sort of activity that a Brownshirt would engage in. And as we know from our history classes, the Brownshirts were a rabble, a militia. The thugs that the KGB/whatever Putin calls them now hire to kidnap and torture Russian dissidents are people willing to do dirty work for cash. The idiots that are willing to attack Democratic institutions in the name of their glorious leaders are the foundation of future fascist states. History has shown us the fruits of this path over and over again, but, as my old history teacher once said, “people just don’t know their history.”
I can’t guess what the average Trumpy wants, and I suspect they are not entirely sure what they want, either. The Neo-Nazis and the Neo-Confederates, however, have very well defined prejudices and goals. They want America to be a new China or a new Russia- a state run by bosses, fueled by slavery, and controlled by force. The greatest failure of the Trump administration (and there is a heap of failures taller than a skyscraper), was the elevation of these fascists to political relevance. The worst part is, there is in all likelihood an alarming number of people out there that see this trajectory as a success.
Don’t let the fascists win. They want to enslave us and rot the heart of democracy out of our world. Let January 6th stand as a reminder that our way of life is always transitory. Unless we work to maintain and improve the values of the United States, our country is just as likely as any other to go the way of Rome and erode softly into failure.
I like the idea of observing January 6th as a day of reflection on the state of our government. When there is enough grievance to allow confederates to rally the masses, then there is something seriously wrong here. On the other hand, perhaps there has always been a violence-idolizing strain of America obsessed with bringing back the old ways. If that latter case is true and the confederates are mobilizing once again, then get the guns ready fellow Patriots because it is time to remind the traitors what it feels like to be the losers.