How history will see it

Jan. 6, 2022, has come and gone and, on the anniversary of the Capitol invasion, the sitting president flayed his predecessor for the assault on democracy. Fittingly, it would seem, but frankly there’s no consensus among Americans as to whether the incursion was a good thing or a bad thing, or maybe just a thing.

So let’s look at Jan. 6, 2021, from another perspective. Fifty years from now, when the United States as we know it no longer exists, the residents of the United States of Football (USOF—that’s the arc from North Carolina, down through old Dixie to Texas and then north up to and through the Dakotas) may look on that date with the same feelings as Americans used to have about April 18, 1775—the first step toward freedom. Jan. 6 would mark the end of one nation and the beginning or two others, neither of which would be respected by the rest of the world. But there would be daunting challenges. Among the biggest for the USOF: How will it fare in competition with its combination of the lowest taxes and the lowest education levels in the developed world? How will things work without what Washington provides: Social Security, Medicare, highways, airports, defense, etc.? Sounds unappealing in almost every way. The lesson that freedom isn’t entirely free might quickly be driven home.

Is this end game what any American really wants? There are, and always will be, differences in the views of how the nation should work. These differences can be overcome with some compromise, on both sides, but if the maniacal ramblings about election fraud by our recent president are the driving force for one of the sides, the prognosis for the future is grim. And for those who favor that side, what will you win?

DENNIS BARRY

Little Rock