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The Rule of Law
I support the rule of law, and never more than in a Presidential transition. I reject whatever violence is occurring right now.
The law was abused and broken in states that couldn’t bother themselves to manage their most important civic responsibility in a competent way. I have little doubt that, in many instances, they set us up for failure, knowing that the resulting chaos would serve one side well.
My side lost. I think we were cheated, but we were cheated in such a way that there’s no effective legal recourse.
Now we have to live with the results, and work to prevent it happening again.
I categorically condemn violent protests and attempts to disrupt the orderly transition of power. I often criticized the President for his intemperate rhetoric, and I disapprove of it now, but I’ll stop short of harsh condemnation so long as he stays within the law. I do condemn those who think their outrage gives them a justification for violence.
And I will preemptively dismiss anyone who wishes to pile on the President now for his words, but who wasn’t willing to speak out in his defense over the past four years while he was unjustly savaged by a dishonest press.
Published in General
And in the state legislatures.
It is far worse than imperfectly applied I am afraid
Which state Republicans shut down or submitted to executive/judicial fiat, because COVID.
Henry is right that it is responsible to assume legal options are our best course, amid propaganda battles for hearts and minds, because the alternative is war.
There has been some childish talk among conservatives this week along the lines of “Violence is never the answer” as if the American Revolution and the violent establishment of all free nations were terrible mistakes. Some peoples of history waited too long to resist tyranny and so had no strength left to overturn it. But war is universally horrible and uncertain. And I love some Democrat family and friends enough that I will bend over backward to avoid that last resort.
This is not just another mixed episode in American history.
We face not just a few nuts on the fringes but the official leadership of half the nation (Democrats) — backed by nearly all of formal education, most news and entertainment media, most platforms of communication, all financial institutions, most major corporations and corporate employers, etc, etc — preaching hatred and intolerance of the other half (us) on a daily basis.
There is an absolutely unprecedented divergence in fundamental worldviews between left and right — not just a political divide but a religious one (even among supposed co-religionists) and a social one. We disagree about some of the most basic facts of life. We disagree on basic moral principles, like the acceptibility of ends-justify-means behavior.
The US Constitution has long been twisted and sidestepped by those who don’t respect it. But now we have presidential and congressional candidates openly running on upending all respect for private property, free speech, gun ownership, and so on. President Obama’s FBI director outlined how Hillary Clinton grossly and repeatedly violated laws regarding national security, yet she was neither prosecuted nor prevented from running for the nation’s highest office. Ocasio-Cortez and other popular Democrats are trying to recreate the French Revolution.
These are dire times. There is a real possibility of losing the Constitution altogether in the next four years, especially if swing states can violate election laws and get away with it. But Hank is right. We have to try all we can as long as we can before turning off the lights on this great republic.
“Events, dear boy. Events!”
There was another time that many Americans flirted with the most outrageous ideas, like communism and Nazism. Our culture was reunited in the harsh trials of WWII overseas.
Surprising events never stop coming in history. Some are awful. Some are redeeming. Many are both. Perhaps war with China or some other hard test will force Americans back into fellowship once again. God might be heating up the forge.
Definitely.
Raclette: Here are Trump’s words: ” “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” “Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!” he tweeted on that morning.”
Guiliani used the word “combat” in an over-long speech prior to the riot.
How stupid can you get? No politician with half a brain would say these words. Instead of incitement to riot there should be a crime of political stupidity. Trump committed political suicide with his dangerous comment. Guiliani is a washed up politician who tried to clean Trump’s dirty laundry and failed. The dummy couldn’t even make a coherent argument of fraud in court.
The business of politics is politics. Trump followed his own advice generally while relying on has-been pals for support. The losers club. Politics requires some level of sophistication, and the ability to speak coherently, even when they spin and lie. Trump lost not only because he alienated voters by his endless, thoughtless comments, but by his failure to communicate in the English language.
I think every politician uses these words. :)
You clearly won’t get purged. Good work.
Seriously? No politician with half a brain would call on his constituents to “fight?” (I’d have to read Giuliani’s comments in context — he’s not a well-spoken man, any more than is Trump — but I can easily imagine “combat” being used innocently as well.)
I refuse to accuse a man of inciting people to violence simply because he uses figurative language. That’s nuts.