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Truth and Reconciliation: An Orwellian Strategy
When I first heard the proposal of a “truth and reconciliation” process in the United States, I felt my hair stand on end. Robert Reich, formerly of the Clinton Administration, proposed this kind of commission be established, and I knew that he was up to no good. I actually felt outraged when he used the term because I knew that these commissions were established internationally to deal with the outcomes of devastating upheavals in 40 countries. I am very familiar with events in Rwanda:
The Justice and Reconciliation Process in Rwanda— During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, up to one million people perished and as many as 250,000 women were raped, leaving the country’s population traumatized and its infrastructure decimated. Since then, Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious justice and reconciliation process with the ultimate aim of all Rwandans once again living side by side in peace.
Justice after the genocide—In the years following the genocide, more than 120,000 people were detained and accused of bearing criminal responsibility for their participation in the killings.
Following this kind of horror—one million people killed in one month—Rwanda knew that steps had to be taken in an effort to unify the country.
But Robert Reich’s proposal borders on evil:
‘When this nightmare is over, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission,’ Reich tweeted. ‘It would erase Trump’s lies, comfort those who have been harmed by his hatefulness, and name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe.’
Seriously? Does Reich truly believe that a commission of this type will unify the country? Do we need to execute people’s reputations or even lock them up because people’s feelings have been hurt? Not alone in his ruthless commitment to take revenge, he followed Chris Hayes’ recommendation at MSNBC who proposed a similar commission for those who questioned COVID-19 protocols.
It’s clear that Reich and other Trump-haters are determined to punish Trump and anyone associated with Republicans. All the positive outcomes of the Trump administration are irrelevant: improved foreign policy, a thriving economy, reduced regulations, energy independence. None of those achievements matter. The only goal that matters is destroying the political Right and the Republican party.
The columnist at the Chicago Tribune, John Kass, has taken the punishment for his positions as well. Here’s what he said recently about Reich’s proposal:
Among Republicans, the outraged hot take on all of this is to bring up George Orwell’s ‘1984.’
‘It’s Orwellian,”’ they say.
But Orwell’s ‘1984’ was a soulless world ruled by dispassionate intellects. Their terror was numbing and methodical. These Reich/Hayes Truth Commissions are tinged instead with the angry passion of the zealot seeking revenge. It’s rather French. No, not the France of today, but of the French Revolution, of tribunals and trials and the Reign of Terror, the France of the Jacobins.
That prominent Democrats feel free to propose a Truth and Reconciliation Commission is unnerving, even frightening. We must assume that they are deadly serious.
Let’s hope more than ever that November 3 is a Trump victory.
Published in Politics
The effects of a Democrat-run “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” will not be limited to Donald Trump individually. Mr. Reich himself proposes extending it to seemingly prominent people who “enabled” the Trump presidency. But we have seen in the last few years how quickly the targets expand to include not just prominent people, but “ordinary” people. Part of the “reconciliation” settlements with the prominent people will include requiring those executives to punish their employees, contractors, and suppliers who donated to or otherwise supported President Trump. The process will encourage and embolden the protestors who are already inclined to commit violence against Trump supporters.
No. 538 had Hillary at 71.4% and Trump at 28.6%. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/
Please retract your assertion or show some sort of documentation for it.
For some odd reason this nonsense from Reich reminds me of a quote from W. H. Auden. The phrase “riot of subjective visions” seems particularly appropriate.
Reason will be replaced by Revelation. Instead of Rational Law, objective truths perceptible to any who will undergo the necessary intellectual discipline, Knowledge will degenerate into a riot of subjective visions . . . Whole cosmogonies will be created out of some forgotten personal resentment, complete epics written in private languages, the daubs of schoolchildren ranked above the greatest masterpieces. Idealism will be replaced by Materialism. Life after death will be an eternal dinner party where all the guests are 20 years old . . . Justice will be replaced by Pity as the cardinal human virtue, and all fear of retribution will vanish . . . The New Aristocracy will consist exclusively of hermits, bums and permanent invalids. The Rough Diamond, the Consumptive Whore, the bandit who is good to his mother, the epileptic girl who has a way with animals will be the heroes and heroines of the New Age, when the general, the statesman, and the philosopher have become the butt of every farce and satire.
Can we all agree to abjure any violence, and support a peaceable transfer of power?
Picked a fine example of the species he did.
EXC: Hunter Biden ‘Brought Every Single Person To White House, VP’s House’ That Foreign Business Partner Wanted, Received Resort Villa Stays, Artwork In Exchange
LOL. And not Demented either.
“Tax avoidance” = “Following the tax laws”.
I do.
Obama was worse than Nixon when it came to corrupting the powers of the government against his political opponents.
No.
First, the phrase “transfer of power” assumes (or demands) an outcome that has not been established. Assumes facts not in evidence.
Second, the point of the OP is that prominent Democrats are proposing harsh (and probably violent) actions against those who have the audacity to disagree. I cannot rule out violence against those who propose to use violence against me. And they have promised to use violence regardless of the outcome of the election.
If Trump loses, I think the transfer of power should be exactly as peaceable as the transfer from Obama was.
Hopefully the FBI will be fully engaged.
Wow.
The only people threatening violence that I have seen are Trumpists.
I worry about the future of our country.
Sure thing. it will be 4 more years of Trump.
And if Trump loses, will you abjure any violence and support a peaceable transfer of power?
You are either blind, deaf or stupid. Where have you been for the last year with the Antifa, BLM and Leftists riots all over the country. There are numerous examples of calls to action by the Left after the election threatening violence.
This is an evergreen tweet:
Then you are truly not paying attention.
Not from what I have seen. Plenty of people on the Left are just itching to go out and smash things if Trump wins, or if it is close, because they have convinced themselves that any Trump victory will necessarily have been a stolen one. Frankly, some of the militant right is, by the same token, just as eager for that outcome for an excuse to go bash heads in. In short, plenty of malcontents all around sound like they’re hoping for a close election, because then it will be an excuse to fight.
I do not hold out high hopes that anything but a decisive win (one well beyond the error bars of accusations of stolen votes) will actually let any steam out of the pressure cooker.
I would say that the mood of the country right now rather reminds me of the mood of Europe in June of 1914 – a certain ready eagerness for a war to finally settle things and defuse tensions, and the heady belief that such a war will be short, sharp, and decisive.
I think we should offer the same level of support your Democratic friends offered after November 9, 2016. Deal?
Here’s hoping . . .
I think — hope — “eagerness” overstates the attitude of the right. It’s more a feeling that violence can’t be avoided, that the Antifa-types will initiate it, and that we should be prepared for it. And then deal with it.
I’d rather avoid the war in the first place. People who think that a war “to finally settle things” is somehow necessary, or at least inevitable, are not going to be inclined to pull back. But they also fail to grasp that such a conflict would actually not be short lived, nor will it settle anything, and will create new issues besides. We can imagine what Europe might be like today if cooler heads had prevailed in 1914, or the years beforehand. We should pray cooler heads prevail this time too.
Well I should note that while the Right in general is not eager, and neither is the Left in general. But we should not discount the factions at both ends that are eager to fight anyway, nor should we discount an attitude one hears in the rhetoric even away from the fringes “I can’t wait until the libtards try to come take my guns,” or “when these rednecks try to march through downtown we’d better be ready…” It may be mere bravado, but it is a bravado that can be used to shame into action.
I’m not optimistic about a short duration. Too many people have been waiting for this moment and if and when they gain momentum, they will be very hard to stop. I look around and wonder, who might those cooler heads be?
Better yet, don’t even read his comments.
I think they are good comic relief. They are good parodies of the delusional libs who read the NYTimes and listen to NPR exclusively and think they are well-informed.
I am not your research assistant, however you are correct regarding 538. Here are the 95% or better stories.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sam-wang-princeton-election-consortium-poll-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-victory-a7399671.html
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/11/06/matthew_dowd_clinton_has_95_chance_will_get_higher_margin_than_obama.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/polls-hillary-clinton-win_n_5821074ce4b0e80b02cc2a94?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHFwXDs1U9-BfAkjys5BNBUQ0XZzlHOyA8GEP8BtkLnPT9dV35btrmKOO2JZGlz13l8CrdSRfeiVN7CZbU90yTvPw9DrWfTbK__GosOxYyQzH-9WqyCHCuTiqX0MarAnG14mveBOQq9wH8B20j1D97tnV5abbFE_8_MSdyfIHRd-
The rest are somewhere in here.
https://www.thewrap.com/every-poll-that-got-election-wrong-donald-trump/
There are a few I worry about. I saw a short video of the riots and confrontations where one guy, in a very calm, cold voice, told a masked antifa guy, “When the police are gone, you’ll have to deal with us.” I don’t think that one was bluffing.
And that’s what worries me.
The Economist. Would that be this Economist?
Why, yes, it would.
I would like to go to Washington DC on election night, and be accompanied by 100,000 individuals committed to a peaceful transition.
I anticipate that Antifa will be there to riot. They rioted at Trump’s inauguration. I would like enough people to be there to physically displace them. I am now in a position to to that. I will be within two hours of DC. I plan to be at the Lincoln monument by 7:00 p.m. At the minimum I will take videos of rioting Antifa forces. I probably will be taking videos of people taking videos of Antifa rioters. All their riots are pretty well documented. The inauguration riots were very well documented. Please join me and round up another 99,000 people.
Maybe so, but I can see where he’s coming from.
In a world where rule of law applies, I can maybe afford to wait for the cops, and they’ll probably try to end a situation without violence.
When it’s just me between my family and antifa, I’m not going to be messing around with nonlethal force.