OUR NATION IS ON A DANGEROUS TRAJECTORY
The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., by supporters of then-President Donald Trump exposed a United States under peril, where violent civil strife has become tolerable to undermine domestic democracy. Inaction and continued peddling of Trump’s “Big Lie” by some policymakers — saying the presidential election was stolen and purposefully dismissing the serious implications of the mob attack — have further undercut the alleged principles that maintain the United States as a beacon for democratic rule across the globe.
Jan. 6 didn’t occur in a vacuum, and, as congressional investigations continue, the viewpoint that it was an attempted orchestrated autocoup becomes clearer. As precursors to Jan. 6, similar violent “takeovers” of state houses occurred in Idaho, Michigan and Oregon, where armed far right-wing Trump supporters, emboldened by his anti-establishment messages, entered state buildings, mostly protesting pandemic restrictions, but with an overlapping carbon copy tone of what transpired on Jan. 6.
In the days leading up to President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the FBI issued an internal memo warning “armed protests” replicating the Jan. 6 insurrection were being planned at all 50 state capitols. This was unprecedented in the United States.
A common question I heard reporters ask while the chilling images were transmitted live that day was how this could happen in the United States. They often used the pejorative term “banana republics” to compare the United States with countries where coups and revolutions have forced new power structures to emerge. But efforts to subvert democracy are hardly new terrain for the United States. Historically, Washington D.C., power brokers have funded and participated in covert operations throughout the world. In Latin America, dirty wars funded by the United States have had generational impacts, with massacres and genocide being leading causes for mass migration.
A phrase popularized by Malcolm X, “the chickens have come home to roost,” might be appropriate in this situation. However, that might presume too much credit for how universal those democratic principles apply across the country, and it belies the illusion of a democracy that works for all but in practice is really designed only to work for some.
In at least one recent report, the United States is labeled as a backsliding democracy because of a decline in fundamental checks and balances at the federal level, but also because individual states are making it harder for people to vote. This could have serious implications on how U.S. citizens, especially those who are poor and of color, can participate in what could be tumultuous elections this year and in 2024, during midterm and presidential contests.
The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol didn’t so much change the nation, it further entrenched all sides now strategizing on how to gain control of government institutions. This dangerous trajectory has yet to fully run its course. It is clear, though, that an intolerant autocratic force guided by White supremacist beliefs has moved from the fringes to the center in some quarters.
As much as Jan. 6 was a clarion call about this, it also must serve as an opportunity for those of us who believe in freedom to commit to preserving it without replicating the violence that devalues human life.