I don’t believe we can look at the sound and fury of the past week and a half while still clinging to the idyllic notion that we’re “the cradle of liberty.” Not anymore. The phlegm from my nasty head cold is stuck in my throat as GOP legislators paint an alternate reality of Washington, D.C, on January 6th, 2021.

The montage of virulent selfies is the clear evidence which 45’s supporters say doesn’t exist. Which is how they get away with saying “impeachment is political overkill by the Democrats.” Say what? This is no time for political courtesy. The contorted faces of those domestic terrorists, hell bent on smashing through the Capitol building and STOPPING certification of our election is proof positive that sedition and mutiny was underway. It was fueled by 45, his gasbag legal advisor, as well as many GOP legislators, including the one who exhorted the mob to “kick ass”.

Riot police and protester outside U.S. capitol, even of January 6, 2021

There’s been no hint of contrition from 45 or his minions. As a matter of fact, they brag there’ll be more “revolutionary” action in days and weeks to come. We’re n a 50-state full alert. No longer are we afraid of our traditional enemies from abroad. Now it’s the enemy within. That’s the really scary part. Some of these local terrorists were obvious, joyfully gloating about their successes. Others are less obvious. The insidious traitors who hide their hatred and contempt behind greasy platitudes about “coming together” to lower the temperature while simultaneously eschewing the “Enemy of the People” media who really are fermenting the trouble. It’s beyond disgusting.

In my 40 plus years as a television news reporter, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Nothing I’ve experienced has come even close to this hideous defilement of our once proud American legacy. That legacy now – for many obvious (and a few less obvious) reasons – seems like a Hollywood flack’s sales pitch for a patriotic, jingoistic blockbuster.

There is widespread anger, fear and bewilderment fueled daily by those who keep spreading lies and not merely for their faux emperor wannabe, but for their own political agendas, financial gains, and desire for power. There is no way we can respectfully agree to disagree. The idea of trying to be reasonable with these people seems naïve and archaic, as out of touch as those who pined for the long lost past when we supposedly were a country of knights and fair ladies in a misty land now gone with the wind.

Someone recently asked when we went “off the rails”? I have to wonder if we were really ever on the rails. From the beginning, we forged a union built on an electoral college specifically designed to balance slave versus free states. The design was wrong and everything that has grown from it is wrong. That massive error was a derailment so basic there was nowhere to go but down. We fought the Civil War to change it. We have yet to finish that war. An astonishing number of people are still fighting it.

Corruption has always stalked our political agenda and has grown worse with each passing decade. No amount of “corrective legislation” seems to have had any significant effect on changing the bigotry and hate that haunts our politics and law enforcement. We need to change the way we think. We need to change our attitude. We need to remember that — unless you are Native American — you are an immigrant. ALL of us are immigrants. It’s long past time to remember who we are supposed to be and finally start to act like it.

You can print the legend but that won’t make this right.

Categories: #News, Garry Armstrong

Tags: #News, Garry Armstrong, opinion