A
Clear and Present Danger
As one whose ancestors entered the then British colony
of Virginia in 1670 and who fought against Cornwallis at the Battle of the
Cowpens (January 17, 1781), I am hypersensitive to displays of corrosive power
based on lies, rumors and innuendo aimed at the democratic ideals of the
seminal documents of our land and the proven will of the majority of the
American populace. The current example of that corrosive power is now found in
the “tyranny of the masses” under the Trump banner and the outlandish
conspiracies promulgated by the likes of QAnon, The Proud Boys and The Oath Keepers.
In recent Boston Globe Opinions by Evan Allen and Zoe Greenberg
(January 11, 2021) “Trump’s presidency is ending, but his increasingly
violent movement remains” and by RenĂ©e
Graham (February 11, 2021) “’Stop the Steal’ fueled white fears about their
country being stolen”, I had thgree conclusions:
First: on January 20th, 2021, many of the Trump supporters referred
to in the articles chose to secede from the United States of America mentally
and emotionally. Second: while weaponized by Donald Trump throughout his corrosive
presidency, divisive political thought over the last 400 years between various
segments of our population has been laying the foundation for our current state
of affairs. Third: “a nation divided
against itself cannot stand…”as Lincoln so eloquently stated during another
time in our history so fraught with division and danger.
This situation poses a clear and present danger to the
domestic tranquility of our populace because it will continue to chafe against the
bonds that unite us until the costs of our warring posture is greater than the
cost of believing in our mutual worthiness and wellbeing
Perhaps it is just another impact of the Covid-19
Pandemic that has left so much of our population bored and feeling unfulfilled
due to the totally negligent handling of the pandemic by the Trump
administration that threw so many out of work and shuttered so many businesses.
Maybe it was the fact that Mexico never did pay for the border wall. Maybe it was the fact that so many farmers
and fishermen and business owners ended up on the federal dole due to Trump’s
economic policies. Maybe it was the gradual realization that rather than
“Making American Great Again”, much of the goodness, beauty, stability, and
civility of America had eroded during the past four years which inevitably left
Americans poorer, more divided, more stressed and less hopeful than at any time
in the past quarter century. And, maybe
it was the suspicion that our billionaire President really had been more
interested in his brand name than in the plight of the common men and women of
our country. Whatever it was, I believe it created a misplaced anger that
should rightfully be directed to Donald J Trump, the members of his family, his
aristocratic administration and a Republican controlled Senate that ignored the
signs and then created fantasy stories of cause and effect to fulfill QAnon,
Proud Boys, Oath Keeper and other anti-government
conspiracy theories..
After the events at the Capitol on January 6th,
it is time for Trump supporters to take a long look in the mirror where, if
they are honest with themselves, where their righteous anger belongs and how
close to the support of sedition they have come.
Every four
years, we go to the national polls to elect our President and the rules for
such election are outlined in the Constitution for the United States and the
individual states. If most of the electors from the states cast ballots on
behalf of the popular votes of the states and those votes are certified by the
states, then, the recipient with the most electoral votes becomes the
President. We may not all like the result but, from that day on, our attention
must be focused on doing what we can to fulfill our part of “the American
Dream” under the new administration. The
National Election of November 2020 was not a “stolen election”! The votes, the
states, the courts and the Congress confirmed it.
Unfortunately,
it will not be until the US Presidency and the Congress achieve a rapprochement
that we will begin to reduce the inherent danger to our democratic form of
government. This is a time when our
politicians must put aside Party and focus on the good for all of the country
or the clear and present danger will prove to be the prelude to wider and more disastrous
conflict.