NanceGreggs
NanceGreggs's JournalFrom the "Where are they now" files
Where have all of the GOP patriots disappeared to?
In the months following the 2020 election, we heard from many Republicans who - in between spewing conspiracy theories and the Big Lie - declared themselves the "true patriots" who were actively working to save the nation from the results of a stolen election and an illegitimate president.
They proudly (and loudly) proclaimed that they were the ones upholding the Constitution and the rule of law, and were courageously doing so in order to save our democracy.
That (allegedly) being the case, one wonders why these valiant warriors are refusing to appear before the Jan/6 Select Committee and explain why their "patriotic activities" - up to and including their participation in the insurrection at the Capitol, and the events leading up to it - were fully justified?
Why is it that those who claimed so vociferously that they were "doing the right thing" are so reluctant to tell their side of the story, to appear under oath and describe how their efforts to overthrow the election - and with it, our democratic government - were not only patriotic, but were pursued in furtherance of upholding the Constitution and the rule of law?
One would think that these "true patriots" would be storming (you'll pardon the expression) the Jan/6 hearings, demanding to be heard, demanding the opportunity to set their case before the American people.
And yet what we've seen from these mighty self-declared heroes thus far is refusal to speak, refusal to participate, a refusal to even acknowledge the authority and legitimacy of the Select Committee itself.
Maybe it's just me, but "I invoke my rights under the Fifth Amendment on the grounds that answering questions may incriminate me" doesn't even remotely resemble the statement "I did what I did because I believed my words and actions were truthful and necessary to preserve our nation, its Constitution, and its laws."
It's almost like they have something to hide. It's almost like they knew all along that their "righteous cause" wasn't so righteous after all - that in fact it was an illegal and unConstitutional attempt to destroy the democracy they were claiming to protect.
It's apparent that the Republican "patriots" have suddenly lost their voices - the very voices that were so loudly raised in outraged indignation about a stolen election - the minute they realized that the coup was unsuccessful and, as a result, they would be held accountable for their words and their actions.
It's almost as though they didn't think it through - which is actually the least surprising thing that's happened in this entire scenario.
The silence, as they say, is deafening.
End of Discussion
The saddest thing about lawmakers discussing, debating, and arguing about voters' rights is the fact that those rights are being discussed, debated, or argued at all.
In a democracy, such rights are not open to discussion - because without them, democracy simply does not exist. The right of a self-governing people to choose those who will shape their collective destiny is not a debatable point - it is the only point.
It is not subject to compromise, nor alteration - it is not something to be argued as though there are differing interpretations that deserve equal consideration. It is not a matter to be weighed and measured by warring political factions, hopeful of a 'win' on either side.
The right of every citizen to vote and have their vote counted is sacrosanct, and anyone who seeks to diminish that right is seeking to diminish everything we as a nation stand for. It is to say that every principle Americans have ever fought and died for is suddenly devoid of meaning, and that the foundation we have built our nation upon is now without merit.
Any discussion, debate, or argument about who has the right to vote, and under what circumstances they should be allowed to do so, is the stuff that dictatorships are made of - and clearly have no place in a nation that has traditionally rejected such forms of government as being backward, ignorant, and ultimately doomed to failure.
What has become glaringly obvious is that the Republicans are focused on only one goal: destroying the right of any citizen who opposes them to speak at the ballot box and be heard.
What is also obvious is the fact that after four years of being the party of
bigotry, racism, fear-mongering, financial greed, widespread corruption, and spineless kowtowing to an mindless idiot, the Republicans have rendered themselves unelectable by any other means.
I'm Confused
I don't understand why people like Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, et al are refusing to testify before the Jan/6 Committee.
If they have the courage of their convictions, why are they not chompin' at the bit when given the opportunity to explain to the committee - and the American people - exactly how all of their statements and actions were not only entirely legal, but were said and done in furtherance of democracy.
One would think that self-proclaimed patriots like Jim Jordan would have come forward long before now, in order to set the record straight and let the citizenry know just how diligently they've upheld the Constitution and honoured their oath of office. So why the hesitation to do so?
Come on down, Jeffrey Clark - and tell the viewers at home how convincing Georgia lawmakers to overturn their state's election results was the right thing to do. It's a story so many of us would be absolutely fascinated to hear.
Taking the 5th? That doesn't sound like something an innocent man would do under any circumstances - in fact, it sounds like I'm as guilty as sin, so please don't make me have to admit it in front of the whole class. In fact, it was Trump himself who repeatedly stated that only criminals plead the 5th - so maybe all of you should have checked-in with him before deciding to do so.
It's rather puzzling as to why the people who have insisted that everything they've said and done to keep Trump in power are now so shy about claiming credit for their efforts. It's almost as though they're afraid that having done so will land them in prison - and surely that can't be the case, when their only goal was to ensure that the guy who lost the election was declared the winner - the will of the people be damned.
Allow Me To Explain
I know that many of you who supported Trump cannot understand how he lost the 2020 election and, as a result, you have bought into the idea that surely the election was 'rigged' and rife with fraud.
Most of you live in 'red states' or the red areas of blue states. Your neighbours, your family member, and your friends all voted for Trump - and you believe that those numbers are the same across the nation. They aren't. Just because everyone you know voted for him doesn't mean the people you don't know did the same.
I can tell you who didn't vote for Trump, and why. And obviously there were millions more of them than there were of you.
First there are those who never voted for Trump in 2016. They saw him for what he was - a grifter who had a reputation for cheating labourers and contractors out of their money, a con-artist who had his fake university and his fake charity shut down as scams, a pussy-grabbing loudmouth accused multiple times of sexual molestation - and even rape.
Next are the people who realized what Trump was after he was elected. The self-made billionaire was exposed as a fraud who'd inherited the money he claimed to have earned. The top-of-his-class scholar who threatened to sue any school he'd attended if they released his grades. The patriot whose daddy paid a doctor to get him out of the draft - the same patriot who declared that John McCain wasn't really a war hero, because he'd been 'caught' by the enemy and imprisoned in a POW camp.
And then there are those who watched in stunned horror as the "pResident" of the United States declared that our own intelligence agencies were wrong, because Putin was blameless in interfering in US elections. Add to that number those who saw inept cronies appointed to Cabinet posts and other positions of power - not the least of which were his own daughter and son-in-law, two of the most vacuous idiots imaginable.
And then there are the decent people who were appalled by Trump's policies - like taking children away from immigrants, like calling Mexicans rapists, like
attempting to ban all Muslims from entering the US - and so much more.
Add into the mix of those who refused to re-elect Trump: the families who were told their sons and daughters in the military were 'losers', the people who lost loved ones to Covid because they'd been told it was a hoax and no precautions need be taken, the people who came to realize that a man who was caught in lie after lie was not trustworthy, the people who finally understood that the nation's wellbeing should not be placed in the hands of someone who thinks injecting disinfectants, nuking hurricanes, and raking forests is an intelligent response to anything.
Are you starting to see the Big Picture instead of the Big Lie? Are you beginning to understand why the great majority of voters chose to rid themselves of a self-serving grifter who, after losing an election for all of the reasons cited above, proved just how self-absorbed he is by inciting an attack on the Capitol - and on democracy itself?
Think it through, intelligently and rationally - and stop thinking that those who didn't vote to re-elect Trump are just a small group of people who somehow managed to 'rig' a national election without leaving a scintilla of evidence behind.
Millions more of Americans voted for Biden than voted for Trump - and if you had the necessary intelligence to reason it out, you'd understand why.
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Member since: Thu Oct 13, 2005, 03:25 AMNumber of posts: 27,820
