What should have been an ordinary week turned in to anything but ordinary. Last week, protestors stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the Electoral College votes in the 2020 election. I’m fairly certain that before last week, no one even knew that Congress certified the Electoral College results much less watched them on television. Other than C-SPAN, none of the news networks had ever thought to even cover past sessions regarding election certification. I suppose that we should have known. After all, this has been an election and a presidency for that matter, like no other.

I was at work like I am most days of the week. And in the back of my mind, I knew that it was the day that made the election results official. I was also aware that protests were planned. I did not however fully understand the scope of the protests. I was surprised when I looked outside our office window and saw a small group of protestors carrying Trump banners and flags. I was too far away to hear anything, but it looked like any other protest that has carried on in our downtown area. There was just as much media as there were protestors which resulted in several joking comments among staff. We dismissed it as a novelty and turned back to the work of the day.

Shortly thereafter my phone started flashing as the news notifications of what has happening at the Capitol started to come in. At first I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The pictures seemed unreal. It wasn’t until I got home and was able to see it on television, that the events really seemed to sink in. And like most people in this country, I was shocked and dismayed. The violence and hate were overwhelming. And because I live in a place that has been targeted by that same hate, I was very much afraid of what it meant for our country. And as the night wore on, it was the reactions from overseas that were the most comforting…a reminder that we are a country of freedom and the hope for so many around the world. The world remembers and still believes even though we may have temporarily forgotten.

Mike Pence said exactly the right things when he addressed Congress when they reconvened after the protestors were finally cleared of the building. The most meaningful to me being, “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house. And as we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy, for even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this Capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” His full statement can be read here.

There will be investigations and plenty of finger pointing as to who is to blame in the coming days. First and foremost being the current President of the United States, who by some reports was enjoying the riot on Capitol Hill. And yes, I use the term riot deliberately. Many want to call this a coup or insurrection. And while I can see why these terms might apply, I’m not entirely sure they fit. I do know that while the President may not have thought or planned for this outcome, he did incite the actions. He and his cohorts intentionally riled up the crowd of protestors and created a mob. I don’t know his intentions and I won’t try to guess them now. Though I don’t believe he has the capability of the critical thinking and planning that a true government coup would require. This president has always been more concerned about the superficial and optics. His need to be the center of attention has always been more important than the needs of the country. A mob in his name would appeal to his ego and I doubt he gave much thought beyond that.

A protest becomes a riot when violence erupts. Add bombs and weapons to that riot and place it at the center of government and it becomes an insurrection. Call it whatever you want. The label doesn’t matter. What does matter is how we got here, why it happened and where do we go from here. The authorities will take care of the who was behind the most egregious of the violence and destruction. Arrests will be made and punishments will be meted out. And then what? How do we make sure that what got us here won’t happen again?

The movie 1776 is a musical version of the events surrounding the writing of the Declaration of Independence and what it took to get ratified. It was very loosely based on the letters between John and Abigail Adams. While not based strictly on historical fact, there is a moment in the movie when the South walks out over the slavery issue. It is only when the passages referring to freedom of slaves is removed that they agree to sign the Declaration and declare our freedom official from the British. The actor playing John Adams says to Benjamin Franklin something to the effect that future generations won’t forgive them for not settling the slavery issue. To which Franklin responds that first and foremost we must secure independence. Without that, nothing else matters. And that was true in 1776. The founding fathers were very much aware that the slavery issue was going to be an issue for the country.

Fast forward 85 years, and the U.S. engages in a Civil War that was based on a variety of issues but primarily over the practice of slavery. Somewhere between 620,000 and 750,000 people died fighting over racial superiority. And while we may have ended the practice of slavery, we didn’t solve the issue of race inequality. In the 1960’s we again fought over the issue of race in our country. Some gains were made, but the issue still festered. I bring all of this up because it occurred to me while listening to the reasons people attended the protest in D.C. that it was again about race in this country. We can say that the spark was the election process, but the fuel was again about racial superiority.

I believe that many of the protestors do believe that it is about the election process. They truly believe the rhetoric that the election was fraudulent and the presidency was stolen from them. Those that disagree point to a lack of evidence to support this theory, but there is no dissuading people when their emotions are fully engaged. And I can’t say that if I believed the election process was based on fraud that I wouldn’t be just as angry and willing to fight for my country. I don’t believe that there was widespread voter fraud. I do think that malevolent white supremacist groups hijacked the election in an effort to legitimize their fight for their brand of hate. Election fraud is much more palatable than saying they want white men to remain superior to others.

So how do we get past this moment? I agree that we need to hold those responsible accountable. However I don’t think this means we need to arrest everyone. Mob mentality is, to a certain extent, a moment of temporary insanity. And for those that truly believe they were fighting for democracy after a fraudulent election, then address their concerns. Have the Department of Justice conduct an investigation of the election practices of every state. Determine that state laws were actually followed. Make sure that voting machines were not and could not have been tampered with. Similar to the Mueller investigation, a prominent Republican should lead the charge. Give them the time and resources to do a full investigation of every state and not just the battleground states. Put to rest the idea that voter fraud is rampant in our process. Prove that our democratic process is alive and well. And to those who think this is tantamount to agreement, I say you’re wrong. Checks and balances are what this country was founded on. There is no shame or guilt in addressing the concerns of 70+ million of our fellow citizens.

The issue of inequality is a much tougher issue to solve. Each of us has to look to ourselves and recognize our own biases. And we have to decide where we stand on the issue. I do know that those of us that believe in equality can no longer stay silent. Silence is part of the problem and makes us all complicit. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s statement is a powerful reminder of what silence can do. Silence gave rise to the Nazi party. Silence permitted the persecution of those in the Holocaust. There is no one better suited than an immigrant, to remind us to learn from the sins of past and give hope to the future.

I still believe in the words that our founding fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” There are no more powerful words in government than “We the People.” We decide. We choose. We are the driving force of behind our system of government and we are the ones who will find the way to fully realize the promise of our country.

This republic and democracy requires work. The founding fathers got us started and laid the foundation, but it still requires work. It is up to each of us to do our part. Freedom isn’t easy and we’ve taken it for granted and left it unattended for too long. What happens next? It’s time for us to go back to work. That’s what’s next.

Game night update –

We played Pandemic this weekend and to say the pandemic won would be an understatement. Another cooperative game, it was clear that we didn’t have the right player roles to quell the spread of the pandemic. And it was easy to see how the game mimics real life in the way outbreaks spread. Just when you think you have the situation under control, some event happens to prove otherwise. It’s a battle of brains, timing and little bit of luck – very similar to reality. There are multiple versions of the game in existence and regardless of which one you play, the game mechanics are similar. We were clobbered twice before we threw in the towel and conceded that the game was the winner.

Latest Netflix binge –

I’ve been rekindling my love of music by watching music documentaries. I’ve watched documentaries on David Foster, Quincy Jones and Clive Davis. Garth Brooks has a great behind the scenes video/documentary of his music and career. And I’ve watched retrospectives on Duran Duran, New Order, The Go-Go’s and Depeche Mode. I even enjoyed the Bee Gees documentary that was recently made available on HBO Max. But I think that my favorite is a show called Song Exploder on Netflix. Each episode takes one song and looks behind the hit and talks to the artists about how it was written and produced. I am always fascinated by the process whether I like the song or not. As a relatively new country music fan, I wish there was more of these stories available.

The last word –

“I believe this world ain’t half as bad as it looks. I believe most people are good.” ~Luke Bryan, “Most People Are Good”