Fresh start can’t blind us to reality of Jan. 6
I just spent most of the day watching the inauguration and celebration — what an uplifting, positive experience it was. It is such a breath of fresh air from the past four years, and I look forward to a bright future.
The obscene events of Jan. 6 may seem to be a distant memory; however, people died, millions of dollars in damage was created, and irreparable harm has been done to the American reputation abroad, along with a loss of innocence that will cost us dearly here at home. As such, we must hold those responsible accountable even as we hope they will be reconciled to us. As everyone should be aware, for someone to be forgiven the process is (1) they acknowledge their guilt, (2) they are contrite and sorry for their actions and (3) they accept the punishment they deserve.
I’m not a lawyer, but certainly feel the deserved punishment are:
1. To those identified as contributing to the death of the seven people, a capital offense, life in prison.
2. To those identified as striking police officers, 20 years in prison.
3. To those identified as going beyond the barricades, 10 years in prison.
4. To those identified for curfew violations, five years in prison.
Of course, in addition to prison, they should all pay hefty fines that would cover the damages, and they should forfeit any government job, pension and Social Security they may be entitled to, since they obviously don’t respect the government that provides these benefits.
Everyone else who has been a party to disrupting the peaceful transfer of power and spreading lies needs to be called out for what they are — traitors to our democracy. We all have that “crazy racist” uncle that subscribes to crazy QAnon theories or watches hate-filled TV shows that trade in lies. In the past, we just tolerated them. No more; we must call them out for these unAmerican views and remind them of the harm they do.
The media can help with this effort so we do not forget — I would like you to have in bold type on your front page two counters — one, “Number of Traitors Arrested,” the next, “Number of Traitors Convicted.” There are thousands that need to be accounted for, and with all the pictures from the event, I’m sure they all can quickly be found.
The average person would be astounded to know how many right-wing hate groups are out there, many of them operating in Connecticut. They are tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center and publicly available. Do not allow yourself to be distracted by those on the right wing who will point to others that have done bad things, as well, or who say now is the time to forgive, etc. — the events of Jan. 6 were unique and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.