Yet another comment didn't get through the screening process this morning, due to partisan crap-stirring and an apparent misreading of what I wrote.
Hey, fine, you only came here to dunk on The Other Party -- but I ain't your Other Party. Not a Democrat, not a Republican and ever since many of them went nuts in 2020, not a Libertarian, either. I do not consider "they make people I dislike boiling mad" to be adequate criteria for supporting any politician or party.
Right now, too many Republican politicians are whining and too many Democrat politicians are gloating, especially at the Federal level. I'm not impressed by it. I'm even less thrilled when other citizens do so.
Crimes were committed by some of the protesters at the U. S. Capitol on 6 January 2020. The Feds are busy rounding up the malefactors, who will be given fair trials and will face serious consequences if found guilty. I have no problem with that, just as I have no problem when rioters and looters elsewhere are arrested, charged and brought to trial. I don't care about any of their politics, it's their unlawful and destructive behaviors that matter. We don't police opinions in this country, only actions.
The nature of the incursion into the Capitol was almost unique.* It merits careful investigation, with an eye to keeping protests outside (look, if you leave the keys in your car and someone steals it, they're the criminal -- but you still screwed up) and Congresspeople worrying about re-election rather than possible physical harm. What it doesn't merit is any whining or gloating, not from Congressthings and not from my commentariat. Twitter and Facebook is full of that sort of thing, any flavor you like; newer social media and the old blogosphere have even more. I'm sick of it, heartsick over it. Our political system only works if most of us are not trying to smash it up. It's not perfect; it's clumsy and slow, but it does work, it does have mechanisms that tend (however crudely) to self-correct and it's supposed to aim for fairness. Shoving a stick in the spokes as the wheels turn does not improve matters.
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* Our good, good friends the British did rather worse back on 24 August 1814. I suppose subsequent history shows that even huge differences can eventually be reconciled.
The raid on Washington was in response to America raids into Upper Canada (Ontario).They crossed at Detroit and burned everything in their path until they got to the Grand River (Mohawks and Redcoats).
ReplyDeleteThe inspiration for the raid on Washington was the burning of York(Toronto).
I'm a firm believer that all elected officials should live in constant fear...of losing their jobs.
ReplyDeleteMaking them fear for their physical safety is counter productive. (and wrong, but that argument doesn't seem meaningful for too many people).