If one were to inquire as to the date of the violent, insurrectionist mob attack on Washington’s Capitol Building, reactive to the election defeat of President Donald J. Trump, the expected response would be, January 6, 2021. Any informed American, from political scientist and newscaster for the public media to the more casual, lay observer, would, expectantly, so respond. One hears from the dedicated, investigative committees, that their proceedings are purposed to uncover the facts and hold the miscreant, participators, and their tactical supporters, responsible, “so that this un-American and undemocratic travesty will not be repeated.” It is the latter, quoted, portion of the statement of ultimate purpose that we find sophomoric and troubling, and that, responsibly, inspires the contextual theme of our present writing.
We have chosen to refer to the Nation, by reference to the common, employed, philosophical term, “the body politic,” to stress its status, as an admirable, but, vulnerable, organic creation. In the analogous and observable way that toxic diseases, empirically, possess the potential to diminish the health of the Homo sapiens, so too, does the dynamics of anti–democratic, bigoted and autocratic sentiment, invade, and existentially, threaten, the health of the vulnerable, body politic of our Democratic Republic.
To further exploit our elected anatomical, analogy, we would, relevantly observe, as commonly, known, that the occasion of an individual’s, overtly demonstrated, fit of epilepsy, is never perceived as a “one-off,” occurrence, but, rather, a probative indication of a serious, chronic and continuing systemic malady. Its individual manifestation may have occurred on a specific, medically, recorded date and location, but more insidious is the fact, that the dread experience, predictably, will be replicated.
Likewise, the sordid events of January 6, 2021, are empirically, not a singular, or “one-off,” event, but, rather, represent but a recent manifestation of an anti-democratic, pathology, which, like the epileptic fit, has a regrettable, historic, and systemic existence, (even prior to the aberrant term of Donald J. Trump, its latter day, deranged, avatar.) If it were possible to ascribe a positive dynamic, to this horrific and lethal event, it was its function as a grim reminder of democracy’s eternal vulnerability.
Any cursory attention given to the errant mindset of the Nation’s, substantial hordes of autocratic sympathizers, would note the perverse, existence of anti-democratic traditions, of racial and ethnic bigotry, voting interference, opposition to responsible government health regulation, opposition to universal equality, to privacy, most, harmfully, to abortion rights, opposition to the employment of truthful facts, to the legitimate, established media, to freedom of thought (book banning and elimination of the educational study of the darker periods of American history), to anti-immigration and xenophobia, to individuals of, (inherited), non-binary gender, to acts of capitalistic compassion ( as, ”socialism”), to reasonable gun regulation, free speech and enlightenment. All such fascistic positions have eternally, been manifested by the Nation’s populist, enemies of democracy, and still persist, as its endemic and systemic, pathology.
In order to effectively, preserve the enduring, health of our Democratic Republic, we, as citizens of goodwill, are mandatorily, obliged, to remain acutely aware of the ever-present threat of fascistic infection, which disease, chronically, persists as an existential, threat to democracy. We need to eschew the hapless, understanding, that this, ever-metastasizing, vulnerability, was, restricted to the January 26, attempted coup which was, but an episodic, failed event. The latter, episode, as stated, did perform the service to mainstream America, as a revelation or, reminder of the pernicious existence of a populist, anti-democratic virus, that eternally persists and poses a lethal threat to our Nation.
One cannot resist a passing comment on Trump and his hordes of atavistic and ignorant followers constituting the “populist underbelly,” who mounted a Bastille-like, physical assault on the Capitol Building. In medieval history, the monarch and his supporters, traditionally, occupied a castle with their Court and military. What atavistic and limited intelligence on the part of the insurrectionists and their sponsors, could have perceived that the medieval-style, take-over of the Capitol Building, would effect a National coup d’etat? Trump and his less than literate cult, were dangerous and undemocratic, but, also delusional, and anachronistically, ridiculous. We remain hopeful that all of the participants in the riot on January 6, and their promoters (especially, its instigator, Donald Trump) be brought to justice.
We have often written, concerning the ever-present, danger to the perpetuation of our Republican Democracy, posed by its regular, substantial inventory of inadequately, educated and poorly informed citizens, especially, vulnerable to extremist demagogues, in the nature of the “poster boy” for populist purveyors of autocratic, and pernicious propaganda, viz., the abominable, but dangerous, Donald J. Trump. The mainstream American citizen must remain, eternally watchful of the activities of its populist underbelly, for further iterations of January 6, but most especially, for their persistent, daily, attacks on democracy.
For the present, Congressional, members who are steadfast believers in democracy, can advance the cause of democracy and universal equality in our Nation by passing the John R. Lewis, Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, purposed to combat the contemporary, wave of racial discrimination in voting and to establish and safeguard strong National Standards, regarding elections.
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