Healing our nation by cleaning its wounds

We cannot put a bandage over the Insurrection Infection. The Congress must, for the sake of the United States of America now and in the future, tr y this proto-fascist person, before his insurrectionist actions and army become acceptable.

The time for healing our nation by conciliation was when Joe Biden was declared president by The Associated Press and all respected media. But Donald Trump and his enablers would not accept the results.

The next time for healing by conciliation was when the swing states recounted their votes, and the results were that Biden was elected president by those states. But Trump and his enablers lied and sowed distrust of election officials and workers, many of whom were Republican and also received death threats.

The next time for healing was when each of our United States cer tified their results that Biden was president-elect. But Trump and his enablers lied and sowed distrust of selected states and encouraged division in our union and tried to disenfranchise millions of American voters.

The next time for healing by conciliation was after Trump lost 61 appeals to try to overturn the election and argue without any evidence of wrongdoing. Our state and federal cour t system, including the

Supreme Court, ruled the election results were fair and free. But Trump and his enablers lied and fomented distrust of 88 judges and our entire judicial system, including the Supreme Court of the United States.

The next time for healing by conciliation was when our Electoral College voted and declared that Biden was president=elect. But Trump and his enablers lied and sowed distrust of democracy and our constitutionally mandated election process.

The next time for healing by conciliation was when Trump and his enablers needed to cer tify that our Electoral College voted and that Biden was presidentelect. But Trump and his enablers lied and fomented the insurrection against our democracy and the majority rule. Only a few hours after Congress was brutally attacked, Trump and his enablers pandered to the fascist mob, who desecrated and defecated in the halls of Congress, threatened to lynch the Vice President of the United States, execute the Speaker of the House and overturn the will of the people and replace it with racist results.

Now, we witness the unfathomable hypocrisy of the pleas, by these same insurrectionist enablers, that we forget the atrocities that this lynch mob committed, and all of Trump’s crimes that incited them. And shall we excuse the complicity of those members of Congress who vehemently supported these lies in order to pander to this traitorous segment of our flawed democracy?

The answer is no — we cannot forget, and we must prosecute all guilty parties, including those in Congress.

We cannot heal by failing to prosecute the murderers, police assaulters, insurrectionists against democracy and defilers of the halls of Congress, plus their organizers and enablers. We must clean out the traitorous infection in our governmental and informational systems that allowed this mob to rush in unchecked.

We cannot heal by failing to hold accountable, by ever y legal means necessar y, those who also fomented this attack on democracy and our Constitution, including Sen. Joshua David Hawley, Sen. Rafael Edward (Ted) Cruz and ever y member of the House and Senate who refused to do their constitutional duty to cer tify Biden’s election as president of the United States and instead impotently objected and pandered to the lynch mob in hopes of gaining their votes. And most impor tantly, we cannot heal by failing to prosecute the impeached Insurrectionist-in-chief Donald J. Trump.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution states any person who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States is prohibited from “holding any of fice … under the United States.” I strongly argue that the facts dictate that Mr. Trump, and every member of the House and Senate who fomented this insurrection, should also be tried and barred national office forever.

C. Pen Volkmann is an ar tist and sculptor and chairman of the board for Open Studios Boulder. He lives in Boulder.