We are once again at a point where we need to say that this is normally a soccer website, but something has occurred yet again where we feel it is necessary to add our voice. What happened at the United States Capitol Building as Congress began the formal process of counting the electoral votes that will declare Joseph R. Biden the next President was sedition, terrorism, and an assault on our democracy.
The police response to this act of sedition was in stark contrast to the response during numerous Black Lives Matter protests during the summer. That is not lost on social media on this night. This sedition was sanctioned by Donald John Trump, whose term will end in two weeks’ time if not sooner, and enabled by people who have supported him over the past four years.
Honestly, there should not be any distinction between those who committed acts of sedition and terrorism at the Capitol Building and those who have enabled them. They must answer for their deeds.
We have seen too often in recent times that there have been no consequences suffered by Trump or his enablers–until the week starting November 3rd. Seven more million people voted for President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris. There was no widespread fraud to the point that could overturn the results. The election judges said so and the Judicial Branch said absent any credible evidence of election fraud, they had no case.
The Electoral College went 306-232, a similar margin to four years ago. Vice President Pence cannot overturn those results. Representatives can object to a state’s electoral ballot with the assistance of a Senator, but the objections would ultimately be overruled. The 140+ representatives and dozen senators who planned on objecting in a cynical fashion felt their pledge to Donald John Trump was more important than the oath they took to uphold the Constitution when the took office. Them, especially ringleaders Josh Hawley of Ohio and Ted Cruz of Texas should be made to answer for their act of sedition.
Social media heads Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter have for far too long allowed Trump, his enablers, and his supporters to spread disinformation and hate speech without consequence and Wednesday was the culmination of doing nothing. The First Amendment only prevents Congress from passing laws that deny freedom of speech. Facebook and Twitter have the power to delete accounts that spread this dangerous rhetoric. (Suspending an account for 12 hours doesn’t cut it, Jack!) Because they did nothing, Mssr. Zuckerberg and Dorsey should answer for their inaction.
The Capitol Police were clearly unprepared for those who came to commit sedition. It had to take the Vice President and other states to call in the National Guard while terrorists made a mockery of our democracy while waving Confederate flags. Their tame response to this sedition was, as I mentioned before, was in stark contrast to how police handled numerous Black Lives Matter protests across the country. While we still condemn the damage and violence that was caused in those riots, we also see a clear double standard as to how things are handled when most of the people doing the rioting are white, waving confederate flags, and wear red caps that have become the new white hoods. For their inaction and emasculation, the Capitol Police must answer for their inaction.
Former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler planned on joining the objectors. She lost her Senate race to Reverend Raphael Warnock. Her colleague David Perdue is set to suffer the same fate. Her association with Trump, given how many players on the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream were in support of Black Lives Matter, has become toxic both for the Dream and the WNBA. She must answer for her support by either relinquishing her shares in the team or via removal by the WNBA. Just ask former Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals owner Dell Loy Hansen how it feels to be on the wrong side of a societal issue.
English football ultimately had to be brought into the 20th Century as the Taylor Report suggested after the Hillsborough Disaster. What happened today needs to be the moment America needs to have to be brought out of the Civil War that many Trump supporters were clearly intent on still fighting. However uncomfortable the conversations and subsequent actions need to be, this country needs to make an effort to, as the Constitution states, form a more perfect union by ensuring democracy is upheld, Black Lives Matter the same as all other lives on this earth, that this Earth is better cared for so disasters like the coronavirus pandemic do not happen.
Too often in 2020, and for the four years previous at least, many people failed to be human beings. Too often, consequences did not follow misdeeds in too many cases. For that, we as a society must answer for that by being better human beings and coming up with solutions to prevent something like what happened on January 6th, 2021 from ever happening again.
