Control Lost

On Wednesday, Jan. 6, the American people should have heard reports of the Electoral College votes being verified and shouts of excitement and probably protest.

Let’s face it. No matter who won. The other side would not be happy and probably would explain why the election was stolen. Was it? The better question might be can it be proven such that a court and the American people will accept it.

Burden of proof is a challenge. Yes, there are videos of people being denied access to the polling place. Yes, there are people on tape who said “I was there” and the numbers don’t match.

However we have courts choosing not to review the claims, and we have voters showing little or no interest in the allegations. We can all do a fifth quarter review, but the first stage is that the courts did not accept the case.

Wednesday was key because it was scheduled as the day when the Electoral College votes were be verified, and ultimately when the next president would be decided. It is also when supporters of President Trump met en masse at the Capitol.

According to photos released at the event, there were conflicts between protestors and law enforcement, the Capital was stormed and elected officials hid for cover or were otherwise escorted to safe zones.

Quite honestly, if one would look at our country’s history, and documents that led to the forming of the U.S., protests were expected. Thomas Jefferson said “If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.” Now, be clear:

I am not advocating for “Anonymous” to rise and create a state of anarchy. To the contrary. What I am saying, regardless of your point of view or political stance, when there is the perception that the political system cannot be trusted, there will come a day when someone will decide to stand up. As in sales or marketing, perception is king. Is the system trustworthy? Probably. Are the people managing the system? That may be the real question.

Additionally, if a person chooses to take action, that person needs to be very careful. Again regardless of party or ideology, if your intent is to physically confront a system you no longer agree with, you may be unleashing a monster that cannot be easily contained.

A day or so before the arrival of protestors at the Capitol, American politics made itself the laughing stock on the world stage again, and political cartoonists took hold of the issue quickly. Gender references were removed from Congress, and the opening prayer the next day was concluded with “amen,” and “awoman.”

You don’t have to be a Christian, a Jew or any other religion to sit back and rub your forehead in amazement. The word amen has nothing to do with gender preference. The history of the word is about agreement, clarifying the word or phrase as truth, and “so be it.” Yes, it is used frequently in biblical text, but not there alone.

There are people who use the word amen on occasion who have not seen a bible since their wedding vows, or the last funeral they attended. They would do better to quote a paragraph from a science journal than to quote scripture. Yet, the word was reworked to blaspheme even Webster’s dictionary.

So our government officials go from being so sensitive to gender references common words are rewritten at the cost of being fodder for editorial writers and comics worldwide to shock and awe that the Capitol is stormed.

We’re quickly reaching the point of not where do we go from here, but how do we keep from going off the edge.