Breathe

 As they are happening, all events in history quiver in the winds of the leading edge of time, leaves on the ends of the branches of an eternal tree of cause-and-effect.  To say history repeats itself is just a nod to Mandelbrot. To actually figure out how and why something happened could drive you mad. 

Just over 19 months ago--the base of a small twig on a branch of our tree--George Floyd, a black man, was killed by Derek Chauvin, a white policeman. The Media, for whom violence, fear and outrage were its bread and butter, spread the word.  People who had grown sick and tired of the police treating black people worse than they treated white people began to protest.  The President of the United States spoke out against the protests, and the police whose job it was to quell the violence that erupted only made it worse by over-responding (or, you might say, just by responding) in a way that reinforced their negative image. The President kept "doubling down" on his growingly outrageous statements that seemed to dismiss the plight of black people in our society and to support the violent behavior of the police, seemingly unaware that if you double down on a lie enough times its growth becomes exponential and it soon becomes a monstrosity. 

All this was subsequently pushed off the "front page" as the Covid-19 pandemic got worse and worse and the President, true to form so far, spoke in ways that dismissed the pandemic and supported the idea that something called "the economy" was far more important. As he did this, and the Media stepped in and stirred the pot with its giant spoon of fear and loathing, tensions rose, and the President began saying outrageous stuff, again, and then of course had to start doubling down on it when called out. And, again, the lies grew exponentially and another monster grew on the American landscape. 

Then, as if only to make things more interesting, if that were possible, the 2020 Presidential election rolled around. The President was voted out, but he began a movement sparked by his own claims of voter fraud, that the election was "rigged." Enough people believed him because the claims seemed to be backed and reinforced by their own source of information--specific Media outlets that specialized in targeting certain demographics with fear and outrage. 

Emboldened by past success, the President began to encourage his supporters to resist the election results, as well as file toothless lawsuits seemingly designed to reveal the claims of election fraud. This all culminated on a march on the Capitol building on the day that Congress was obliged to count the Electoral College votes and declare the winner, and finalize and make official the President's loss.

The people in this march to the Capitol became a mob, enraged by what they perceived as a threat to their country--the lawful carrying out of the election process--and they broke into the Capitol building. This was regarded as a very frightening and outrageous act by the rest of the country. We all got to watch it on television and Internet programming supplied by the ever-present purveyors of violence and fear, the Media. 

And here we are. 

Now imagine the whole thing, but as seen from space. Not forever, but just for a short while--take a break. Watch Earth spin slowly in starry night, turning the faces of its continents and blue oceans one by one, toward the warmth of the eternal sun, all the while the moon going round. 

OK.  Break's over. 

The realization dawns that we, as a nation, or at least those of us who would rather not have a revolution, cannot just ignore what happened, shrug our collective shoulders, make a little joke and "move forward," as Missouri's Senator Roy Blunt likes to say, without addressing what just happened. I suppose it is just my opinion, but there is a system in place already for people to express their wishes, possibly change how things are done in this country, usually referred to a democratic republic, and of course there are elections. The reality of it, though, is that in elections there are "winners" and "losers." Losing an election is not a disenfranchisement. Not if you voted. What we saw on January 6 was a bunch of people who would not accept the fact that an election didn't go their way, and who then want to cheat and break the rules and force things to go their way.  There is a term for that, and it is not "democratic republic." Bullying, would be the kindest way to put it.