Reconstruction Junction

Today, I learned a few lessons from watching the second impeachment proceedings of King Donald Trump I. First, if they erected a guillotine in chambers I imagine the proceedings would be far quicker and less painful, at least for the viewers, than staging this almost surreal display of common sense versus smoke and mirrors mythology, one side following the Constitution, the other, not so much.

It is indeed a sad day where there can be any true democratic debate over whether our duly elected officials must hold our first blatantly incendiary, seditious and violent President accountable for his disgraceful and patently unpatriotic actions against the people versus, well, a dog and pony show mounted for what I believe to be no more than a very thinly veiled attempt to keep a group of not patriots in any sense of the word but at best “victimized” malcontents who are unwilling to relinquish their right to profit by proximity to power.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a great deal of allure to believing you are the light, the way forward and perceive yourself as having the ability to influence both individual events and perhaps even add or distract from our national identity. Who we are, what are we and how do we go about it are admittedly big ticket items.

But there is a serious problem when our representatives espouse and encourage the views of those who would challenge the very foundations of our society by no less than an act of violent insurrection to invalidate a free and fair election and the peaceful transition of power.

These are two of the most important foundations of American greatness for these institutions reflect the idea that We, the People, never one person, or even an angry mob of persons, are more than capable of acting on our own, and as part of a political collective, toward seeking the truth, justice, and equality under the law for all.

This is no time for technicalities, semantics, slight-of-hand, or gas-lighting. False equivalents must be discarded for what they are, false and not in any meaningful way equivalent to the events at hand for the truth is not at issue. We know what happened. We saw it. Here’s the funny part. They did too.

The events on January 6 did not happen spontaneously or in a vacuum. It was the culmination of four years of self-interest, cowardice, delusion and derision by one individual at the top. He never hid it. His plan to divide and rule by divine fiat, probably in perpetuity was never subject to serious question. As the end grew near, so did his desperation and as desperate persons often do, he turned to far greater demented acts of doom, destruction, and punishment, including death.

On the anointed day, he summoned the faithful and assembled them outside the gates of the enemy. Then, unleashed what is best described as nothing more than an angry mob to commit acts amounted to an armed insurrection upon our democratic government, in a cynical, misguided, underhanded and far overplayed gambit to install himself as a singular entity, blessed by the Almighty, his every thought, wish, whim and action pre-approved and beyond question, as an extension of the divine order, the way of things.

Including racism, misogyny, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and the religious intolerance for those who believe hatred in its many forms is what made American great.

The time for debate is long over. Today’s vote for a second impeachment is all but guaranteed to pass. History will gain another presidential asterisk for further generations to ponder. With each passing day, the brutality of the assault upon our sovereignty becomes more apparent, and horrifying.

You know what happens when the collaborators call for unity? It means the accomplices, the conspirators, those who thought they were too smart to get caught, the cowards who would have others do their dirty work and take the fall are starting to panic.

After four years of open and outright lies, misdirection and division, the idea of “forgive and forget” to heal our nation seems insulting, naïve and if not a cry for leniency, at least an admission of some culpability. Or, if that is a bit too optimistic, at least an admission that someone is going to pay? The only question being who? Mercy for the merciless. It’s not a great look, is it?

Could American unity of actions and spirits be achieved by the capitulation of most Americans suddenly consenting to the continuation of discriminatory tactics by the minority against a significant segment of our population because another, possibly slightly bigger contingent of racists believe it is not only their right but an obligation, a duty, as an “American” to do so?

Their head-fake go to defense until that doesn’t work anymore is “stop the steal”. But have you asked yourself what “stop the steal” means? If you said it is a slogan designed to insinuate and propagate the notion that somehow through voter fraud, Vulcan mind melds, or Waffle House patty melts laced with LSD (courtesy of the CIA or perhaps the mole people), the election was stolen you would be right. But it wasn’t stolen, and they know that.

They know there is no widespread voter fraud so what exactly is it they are losing? I suggest what they are losing is a sympathetic ear in the White Hose that agrees with them that America has lost its way and they only way to recapture and achieve further greatness is to return to a time where the Federal government would not interfere with individual rights to practice discrimination in all its evil forms as the “way” to trigger the “Great Storm”.

For those of you who don’t know, the QAnon “Great Storm” conspiracy theory involves a satanic cabal of mostly democrats whose stock in trade is the sex-trafficking of kidnapped minors. It is an even crazier extension of “Pizzagate” but without the saving grace of pizza. But the Great Steal is not real and they know that.

So, what are they losing? My guess is their perceived God given right to hate their neighbor. The colored ones, at least. Their fellow Americans who have every right to vote, but as they are not “true” Americans, not rich, white land owners who prospered through the evil institution of slavery, and hence are not “legally” eligible to vote, via the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment or otherwise. Darn the Second Framers and their Civil War. Damn Yankees.

Here, yes here in this still continuing miasma of hatred and intolerance the Reconstruction and the Civil rights Movement of the 1960s could not conquer is where one of the bedrock problems facing us as a society still lives. Racism is a plague, disease, a thief that robs all who come into contact of their humanity, grace, and dignity as well as their right to engage in legitimate political discourse and policy.

In short, MAGA adherents completely lost, as if they ever had, the right to install the hateful, disgusting, bigoted, racist and dangerous president of their choice in office merely because he agrees with them. Alas, even after five persons died, the MAGA 45 Death Cult still don’t think they did anything wrong. But they did and continue to do so.

Forwarding the belief that somehow making America great again involves going back to a time where we made a detestable distinction between citizens and property, turned a significant portion of our population into fractions, (don’t forget the recent census debacle) and enshrined 2nd Amendment rights into our Constitution at least in part so slave owners who formed a posse could chase slaves across state lines without fear of losing their firearms.

This is justice? The way forward? The path of redemption? To salvation by excluding your brothers and sisters from any chance at glory beyond the empirical, material world? I thought, hoped and prayed we had all learned that lesson. What became clear from today’s hearing was we have not, not all of us anyway.

At any rate, too many misguided haters are still left, they are losing their proximity to power, to legitimacy and their celestial rewards, gained at least in part by their willingness to exclude others. Now, after the events of insurrection at the Capitol, they have crossed the line and are dangerous.

Alarmed? You should be. While the mad king still sits upon his throne of animus, resentment, aversion, diversion and hostility, we are all at risk. The emperor is no longer naked. He is clothed in robes of deceit, deception, fear and loathing and he is an abomination to all, except those who worship him as a king, a prophet and perhaps even a god. What they see is anyone’s guess, but what they are willing to do in furtherance of his scam is nothing less than alarming. We must stay strong. It is the only way.