Fables of the insurrection
Nine months ago this week, thousands of polite and respectful tourists marched in an orderly procession to the U.S. Capitol where they were determined to participate in a bipartisan celebration of the American democratic process.
Though somewhat disappointed that their candidate was denied his rightful election outcome, the tourists, most adorned in patriotic Revolutionary war finery and many carrying celebratory props like zip-ties, bear spray and “Trump/Jesus 2020” flags sang several rounds of “Hang On, Sloopy” to keep their spirits up.
As they crossed the barricades that were erected to keep out Mexicans, not Americans, they were greeted by Capitol police who kissed them and smothered them with so much love, it was embarrassing.
Even though the Capitol was supposed to be closed to the public because the Electoral College vote that would confirm Joe Biden’s election victory was being ratified by Congress, the friendly officers invited the crowd into the building. It was so chilly outside, what else could they do?
There was some rowdiness around the edges as one can imagine whenever thousands of peaceful white people gather. Still, there was less obnoxious behavior than would’ve occurred at the average Beach Boys concert.
What little commotion there was was likely caused by members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter who infiltrated the crowd of “no drama” tourists and hijacked the chant that changed “Hang On, Sloopy” to “Hang Mike Pence.”
After looking around the premises a bit and entering several empty but unlocked congressional offices for selfies and free danish, the tourists left with a few souvenirs ranging from laptops to podiums. The feces left smeared on the walls was nothing personal — just examples of bad hygiene.
Yes, there was some unpleasantness with one very exuberant tourist who got shot and killed by Capitol police, but she was an outlier. Most tourists were peaceful and can produce plenty of selfies with cops in the rotunda to prove it. Besides, the president himself invited them into the Capitol. Who were they to turn down such a direct command?
If anything, it was the shockingly skittish members of the House and Senate who refused to meet with their constituents that afternoon who turned out to be the real insurrectionists. They would not come out of their tunnels and hiding places to meet the people who marched through that cold January day to express their disappointment with what democracy had wrought.
If you don’t remember the events of Jan. 6 happening quite the way the previous paragraphs interpreted it, you’re not alone. It did not happen this way in reality, but this is only a slight exaggeration of the way right-wing media, goaded on by the former president, wants us to remember it.
Jan. 6 wasn’t a big deal according to many Republicans who describe it as the moral equivalent of a fender bender in democracy’s parking lot. Nothing to see here, they insist. Move along. Because of this attitude, they’re refusing to play a constructive role in determining what happened that day.
Of course minimizing Jan. 6 is ridiculous and offensive, but this is the level of unreality that many conservative Republicans insist on operating at nine months after a televised coup attempt by the deputized shock troops of President Donald Trump.
This level of unreality has led to open discussions about the desirability and likelihood of states like Texas seceding from the Union and taking their resources and wealth with them.
That defection would be followed by poorer but like-minded southern states still smarting from the last demonstration of Confederate folly 150 years ago.
A recent YouGov poll reports that 37% of all citizens — regardless of political ideology — want to secede from the United States, but that the sentiment is most prominent with conservative voters in southern and mountain states.
The talk of secession and a possible second Civil War is still at the “wouldn’t-that-be-romantic” phase of nihilistic nationalism. There are militia-types who truly believe that because they’ve bought tons of firearms over the years that they will be in a position to intimidate and rule “the libs” whose “disdain for the Second Amendment” means they will be unprepared to defend themselves against marauding gun nuts.
They will find to their horror that many liberals are actually great marksmen and harbor an unhealthy desire to “go all Clint Eastwood on some rednecks” at the first opportunity.
The end result is that horror will consume and destroy Red and Blue America, just as it did a century and a half ago when 700,000 soldiers died in a conflagration over whether slavery should be allowed to expand beyond the south to the new territories out west.
Our differences aren’t as clearly demarcated by the Mason-Dixon line as they were in the 1860s. Those who support Mr. Trump and his ideology are intertwined, sometimes by bonds of blood, affection and family with those who despise him. A second Civil War would be even more personal and devastating than its predecessor.
Of course that won’t happen, but it is interesting to see how many folks are talking about it and preparing for it like it is some tragic inevitability.
We are a country that is profoundly divided in ways we haven’t been since the 1850s, The run up to Fort Sumter in 1861 when the first shots of the war were fired by the South feels like an America where teachers and healthcare workers are under siege for advocating vaccines and face masks.
It’s interesting that COVID-19 has already claimed as many lives that were lost on both sides in the Civil War. But how to deal with this pandemic isn’t the only thing that divides us. There’s a disenchantment with democracy and a debilitating suspicion of science that animates the adherents of one of America’s two major political parties.
How does one explain the influence and power of Q-Anon, a dangerous cult currently metastasizing and destroying the GOP from within? Why isn’t there more resistance to this alien life force by elected Republican officials?
How does one explain the fealty shown to the cult of personality that surrounds Donald Trump even when he’s been out of office for nearly a year and potentially facing criminal prosecution? Why are American evangelicals still in bed with such a duplicitous charlatan who has nothing but contempt for them and their religion?
As dark as things look given the current irresponsibility of the GOP and the recklessness and moral abstention of the U. S. Supreme Court, I don’t believe a Civil War is imminent. Fortunately, most Americans are too lazy to willingly enter into the blood, chaos and inconvenience that would result from a civil war.
Still, that doesn’t mean any of us are exempted from worrying that Jan. 6 might end up being America’s next Fort Sumter moment.