The Second Attack on the Capital -- and the First by Americans

 As a historian, Marine Corps officer, American, Texan, Ethical-Humanist, patriot, father, and Defender of the Constitution, I am saddened by last week’s events and what should be termed the “second” invasion of our Capitol (people forget that during the War of the 1812, the British invaded us and burned our capital in 1814). Whether we like or dislike our leaders, we have a government that has always worked. Sometimes very well, like preserving the Union in 1865 and defeating German Nazism and Japanese Imperialism in 1945. Other times, our government does not perform very well, like defending itself against the British in 1814, or in preventing the Civil War in 1861, or in reacting to the Great Depression in 1929. But in the end, our government has excellent checks and balances and has done a great job of always getting both sides of the story out there and debating both sides of the issues. One cannot say that of the governments currently in China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, just to name a few, and these countries, put together, rule almost half of the world’s population.

We have much to be thankful for, and the anger some people feel toward President-elect Joe Biden and his new administration displayed by the hooligans who attacked our Capitol this past week is dangerous, treasonous and disgraceful. For America, our Capitol is Holy Ground and should be defended at all costs. The traitors who disrupted our government, threatened our members of Congress, and disgraced us in front of our people and the world should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

According to President Donald Trump’s recent enforcement of federal laws, when someone in America violates federal property, he or she should go to jail for at least ten years. University of Minnesota law professor Alan Rozenshtein wrote recently that he counted numerous laws these people violated who stormed the Capitol. I think the hooligans like those people called “Proud Boys” who desecrated our Capitol this past week should go to jail under that law. I also think the protestors and destroyers of monuments and federal property who belong to Antifa and BLM should also go to jail. These people are not helping make American stronger, they are facilitating hatred and chaos. All these goons should be treated as the criminals they are. The Black racists who hide behind affirmative action and victimhood who threaten police and destroy federal property, and the White racists who just attacked our nation’s Capitol and cried for insurrection need to be ridiculed and prosecuted according to our laws. (And that schmuck who was carrying a Confederate Flag in our nation’s Capitol should be ridiculed, highlighted and prosecuted. NEVER bring a flag into my nation’s Capitol that represented a cause that wanted to destroy democracy, human rights and the UNION. What a disgrace to the title of American!).

We Americans are united in one cause now—to make our democracy benefit all who are citizens, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity or religion. In the end, we should all live by the mandate of the Jewish sage, Rabbi Hillel, who said, “What is hateful to you do not do to others.” We also need to remember that we are part of ONE RACE, the HUMAN RACE.

           Now, I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. If anything, I am a Libertarian. Unlike many Americans, I have voted for both parties during my lifetime of almost 50 years. I like to look at the person and see what she or he has to offer America and not whether or not an elephant or a donkey image is next to his or her name.

President Trump talked to the crowd before their invasion of the Capitol last week. He told them to go take back their government, saying that the Democrats stole the election. According to TIME magazine, Trump told them, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” and urged them to head to the Capitol and take it for the Republican Party.

I have always tried to see both sides of President Trump, unlike most people I speak with. He has taken out a lot of radical Muslims, destroying ISIS and its leadership, something President Barack Obama failed at during his eight-year presidency. President Trump has achieved peace deals in the Middle East recently. He shut down hundreds of millions of dollars of aid from going to the corrupt, theocratic, and radical Islamic nation of Pakistan and called it out as a horrible country which it indeed is. These are good acts. But Trump did not encourage the crowd of passionate Americans last week to support democracy, support our Constitution and trust Republicans and Democrats in Congress to defend the integrity of our elections and governmental process which is short-sighted, ignorant and dangerous. That was a bad act.

Although I do not like President-elect Biden nor President Trump and think we Americans could have nominated better leaders than these two men (like USMC General James Mattis, USMC General Anthony Zinni or US Army General Colin Powell, just to name three), I will never support someone who incites a crowd to harm the government of the United States of America. Had I been back in uniform and armed at the Capitol, I would have shot into that crowd for threatening our politicians and our way of life.

When the hooligans breached the Capitol building, President Trump did tell them on Twitter to be peaceful, but he still “doubled-down” according to TIME and claimed the election was fraudulent, which continued to incite angry emotions. If I had been the President and observed my supporters doing what they were doing last week, I hope I would have had the courage to go to the Capitol and personally tell them to STOP. President Trump was indeed within walking distance of what was going on. Using tweets is not a good form of combat/political leadership during such an episode or an example of how to perform proper crowd control.

 I am angry about what I saw. President Trump has done a lot of good, but he also, especially this past week, has done a lot of bad. There are many leaders I do not like as humans, but I like many things they have done. For example, President Bill Clinton, who is a horrible human being, is one example of a President who did a lot of good for the country.

Maybe this attempted coup will hopefully inspire Americans to stop saying one group is all good and that another group is all evil (i.e., the Republicans versus the Democrats). How childish are people who are unable to see both sides of an argument? And moreover, how childish are Americans who do not defend federal property, policemen, law enforcement and the Capitol, for heaven’s sake, against those who want to disrupt our form of government and our society that values the rule of law. As British Prime Minister and half-American, Winston Churchill, said, and I paraphrasing here, “American democracy is the worse form of government except for all the rest.”

I have lived in third world countries. I have seen what pathetic, intolerant, racist and one-party governments can do to people. By contrasting these nations with how good we actually have it in America, I am starting to believe that we have too many people now who are simply babyish whiners. No one is killing us for different political, religious or ethnic reasons. Yes, we have racism, religious bigots and ideological nut-jobs, but they are not ruling our country. And when our society has racists like David Duke or Louis Farrakhan or Jefferson Davis or Nathan Bedford Forrest; or religious bigots, like Farrakhan or Jerry Falwell or Oral Roberts; or hostile political candidates or leaders like David Duke or Joseph McCarthy or Al Sharpton, we, in general, ridicule these men and prevent them from having political power. And sometimes, as seen during the Civil War, we kill them off. People who condemn others for thought crime about their beliefs about politics or religion, or people who view others according to their skin color, are primitive, uneducated and should never play roles within our political world.

When I say this, people respond with, “Well Trump is an idiot and uneducated.” While I agree that Trump may not be the most sophisticated politician America has ever had, I usually retort with, “Well, what did you do when Clinton abused his power and violated women? Did you protest?” I usually get empty stares. And when people say, “Clinton should have been impeached and is a lying son of a bitch and an adulterer and an abuser of women,” I usually reply with, “Well, Trump has lied, is an adulterer, has abused women and many people want him impeached and find justification for doing so. What do you think about that?” I usually get empty stares from these people. Our morality often sees things only through the glass of political parties—lying is lying, cheating is cheating, adultery is adultery and violating women’s rights is violating human rights. It seems that we need to have the courage to speak out when our leaders do such things that jeopardize our democracy, whether they’re named Clinton, Trump or any other name. Lest we forget, the Monica Lewinsky scandal side-tracked our country for two years and helped us take our eye off the ball of killing Osama Bin-Laden helping lead to 9-11. With all the shenanigans, and even a coup, that happened last week, what are we not focusing on right now that really threatens our nation?

As a former college professor, I always tried to present both sides of the historical debate to my students and let them make up their minds. Why can’t people listen to both sides of a debate, consider the good and the bad, and then come to a balanced conclusion? President Trump is not all bad. He is definitely not all good. President-elect Biden is also a blend of the two. But for heaven’s sake, they are both Americans and deserve our respect, if not as humans, then for the office they now hold. Let’s hope we experience more good than bad in the next few years. We should all, as Americans, support President-elect Biden in his efforts to be good and hold him accountable, instead of breaking into the Capitol like spoiled brats because we maybe do not like how the election went.

If we do not support our politicians and hold them accountable, we will never strengthen our democracy. Let us hold dear to our hearts what our democratic President and WWII Navy veteran, John F. Kennedy, said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” What are you doing to make America great? Have you taught children about the values of democracy? Have you taken an oath to defend the Constitution? Have you reached out to another with different views and asked “Why? Help me understand?” A lesson that history has taught me is that we humans have so much more in common with one another than the tiny streams of division that divide us politically and ideologically. When I was in the Marine Corps, I never asked of the man to my left or right whether he was a Democrat or Republican, Black or White, Christian or Atheist. What mattered to me was that the brave men and women I was serving with were Americans and Marines. I hope such a focus can be brought back to people’s view today who are living in one of the greatest countries to ever exist. The United States of America’s motto is E Pluribus Unum – “Out of Many, One.” Let us never forget this truism and let us continue to strive to make it a reality.