A Wake Up Call

I'll get some grief and disagreement for this but I'm OK with that. It's my blog, my opinion. I don't need approval.

I've been thinking about the violence in the country over the last year. Over the summer of 2020 we watched cities burn. Minneapolis had billions of dollars of damage to buildings and businesses.  Portland had rioting and destruction every night for nearly three months while their mayor supported the actions of the rioters... until they tried to burn down his apartment building. In Seattle, rioters took over an entire section of the city, killing two innocent people, and the Police Chief retired because the City Council wouldn't allow her officers to intervene.

Many people died in the violence. Police officers and civilians were killed and injured. Democrat politicians, from governors to the Washington elite, mostly ignored the violence. Some defended and even encouraged it. Congressman Jerry Nadler told a reporter the violence was a myth.

The violence caused by left-wing demonstrators went on, often unchecked, for months. Then there was an election and the Democrats won. Suddenly, with a few exceptions, the violence stopped... until January 6th.

On January 6th, some Trump supporters, some far right-wing people and some far left-wing people (all verified) descended on the U.S. Capitol Building, breaking windows, vandalizing the building, entering private offices and stealing artifacts. The violence lasted for several hours. One rioter was fatally shot. One police officer was hit in the head and later died from a blood clot in his brain. Three others died of medical complications.  Then it was over - the same day.

The violence should all be condemned, regardless of who perpetrated it and regardless of where it was. But the outcry over the Capitol Building was far greater than it was for the violence and destruction in our major cities all summer. Many say it's because the January attack was on our center of government. But rioters tried several times over the summer to burn down federal and state government buildings. I suggest a different reason for the increased outcry over the Capitol attack.

For the first time since the 2020 violence began our elected officials in Washington were scared. Suddenly the violence became personal to them. It was no longer some city a thousand miles away. It was in their place of business and their offices. And most of them were like scared children. Their fear is understandable but in many ways they needed a wake up call. They're now paying attention.

I understand the notion that the attack on the Capitol was an attack on all Americans. But I see it more as Americans venting their anger because their voices weren't being heard. What they did was wrong, period. But in reality it was no worse, and in fact not as bad as what happened in Minneapolis alone.

Some want to blame the President's speech that morning. Except investigation has revealed that the violence had been pre-planned, days before the 6th. And the President did not tell people to assault the Capitol. He told them to go "peacefully and patriotically" to the Capitol to make their voices heard. By the time he uttered those words the attack was already beginning.

Our elected officials mostly live in their own self-serving worlds. On January 6th they learned there are other people in their worlds and many are not happy with them. It wasn't the right way to go about it. But the message was clear - "Don't marginalize us. We won't allow that anymore." And I think at least some of them got the message.