We Are On Notice...The World Is Watching

Since 1775, the United States has claimed to stand for democracy and freedom. After the Revolution was won, the newly liberated colonists decided to make Philadelphia and then New York the seats of government. However, they eventually decided to build a new city, a unique capital, not attached to any state. This would be a federal district and it was named in honor of General George Washington.  The District of Columbia honored concepts of liberty while incorporating the best designs of ancient republics. Over time, the circular city has been filled with landmarks that are recognizable to people across the world. 

One of those landmarks is the Capitol. Our Capitol is the home of our legislative branch and a shrine to democracy. It is our cathedral, a sacred place that holds all of our virtues and values. And while it has been the scene of tremendous battles, it is also representative of what we, as Americans believe is right and just.  

Last week that facility was violated. Regardless of your political affiliation, what happened last week will leave a stain on this nation for years to come. No one should try to minimize what happened or try to place the blame on some other group of people. American citizens walked from a rally and stood outside of the Capitol and then decided to enter the facility during open sessions of the House of Representatives and the Senate. They disrupted the proceedings of the American government. 

However, it was not simply that a crowd walked into the building. It had the makings of a rebellion. The rally that preceded this event was planned for weeks. In terms of the protest at the Capitol, there was a degree of organization highlighted on the Internet. The protesters had vague leadership who had premeditated goals. They disobeyed law enforcement and broke through barricades, attacked Capital Police, and threatened Capitol staff, Senators, and members of Congress. They climbed up the sides of the building, broke windows, ransacked offices and took property. Some chanted death to Vice President Pence and Speaker Pelosi. These are illegal acts. This was not a non-violent protest. Blood stained the grounds, there were injuries and five people perished.

These events were captured and broadcast throughout the world. Americans cannot spin what other people saw. If this is described as terrorism, then the terrorists are us! The fact that few were immediately arrested is also a mark against the strength of America. The lack of security in suppressing the protesters turned mob, turned insurrectionists, turned domestic terrorists equally stands out. The world witnessed Americans, some dressed in various costumes with zip-ties, body armor and weapons, attacking our cathedral and halting the daily operation of government. If they saw law enforcement let the protesters enter the building, they probably concluded that America is ripe for conquest as it is engaged in some sort of civil war. They clearly believe that we openly defiled our own sacred place, our temple, one that has been held as a place of honor around the globe. It was willingly violated by people who disrespected its legacy and its role in creating the image of the United States. 

And that the response to that action has been mild. We all know that the American government has been much stronger in responding to protests against gun violence, police brutality, gender and equal rights and border rights/illegal immigration. The United States has been harsher against innocent non-white children, separating them from their parents and putting them in cages than it has against educated white adults. The world has now witnessed several occasions where white Americans have individually or collectively acted with the intent of threatening and harming Democratic governors, threatening and harming election officials, and threatening and harming elected Republicans who have rejected claims of election fraud. Few of these people have been arrested or prosecuted for terroristic threats or attempted kidnapping. 

The very fabric of the United States is coming apart. It is more than the left versus the right. We are seeing a wide range of ideologies at play, and most cannot explain what they are feeling. But people are angry. Indeed, they are very angry.  Americans have long been sheltered from what has happened in other part of the world. However, the patterns of social and economic conflicts that have characterized European history since the 19th century are taking root in America. Unfortunately, Americans have chosen the wrong time to pay more attention to some lesser conflicts disguised as a stolen election rather than the larger issues of globalism and a deadly pandemic. 

America is facing five great challenges. They are 1) comprehensive medical care and the impact of the pandemic, 2) the transformation of the economy, employment, the need for alternate sources of energy, and infrastructure development, 3) climate and environmental change, 4) homelessness, poverty, and real wages, and 5) racism, white supremacy, and the fear of the browning of America. Each challenge has played a role in the events of 2020 and they have factored into the events at the Capitol. 

Great nations fall from the inside as well as from the outside. If we believe we are looking at another civil war, the lessons of the past offer countless clues. Abraham Lincoln's assassination changed everything. Reconstruction was a failure and the defeated Confederacy refused true consolidation. Party politics and party survival were based on singular, especially racial issues. America suffered for the next 100 years. We only became "great" due to our involvement in World Wars. Those historic cracks have resurfaced, and I don't think that history will repeat itself. This time a divided America can easily fall. We can no longer prop up Donald Trump or his agenda. MAGA is a failed agenda. It is time for us all to wake up and come together. We need to destroy our internal demons before it is too late. Americans regardless of party need to rally around President-Elect Biden and support his agenda. We really have very little choice.

For the world is watching and we are ripe for the picking!