‘We the People’ Have a Problem
Violence in the U.S. Capitol is not a Right or Left problem. It’s a We problem.
The protest and violence at our nation’s Capitol yesterday should worry us all. No, not because “the right” is getting bolder. It is because the United States of America is diminished because of these events. If you’re an American citizen or someone who benefits from American stability you should be worried, and more importantly, you should be worried for the right reason. If you see this as a problem of or for the political/ideological right, you’re not thinking big enough. Certainly, that’s what it looks like, but back up and see the forest not just the trees.
I am aware that this is still fresh news. We don’t know everyone who was involved and who instigated what. We know who it looks like, but that was true all last year, too. All of this is more complex that it looks, so what I say here applies to all of it over at least the last six months.
As I said last summer when a different “side” was protesting and being violent, this isn’t about us vs. them, left vs. right, right vs. wrong, red vs. blue. This is about “people who actually feel that we aren’t looking out for them or that the system is rigged against them.” That’s the American ‘We.’ As in We the People of the United States. If you only think in terms of “my side” vs. “their side” you are guaranteed to not see things for what they are. We need to be looking at all of this unrest from a broader perspective.
If you’re thinking along the lines of, “so it was bad when my side did it but now it’s ok, huh?” yes, that’s fair, but it’s fair from “their” side, too. A summer of violence that was not only ignored but supported and justified by some was bound to lead others to do the same thing. This is what happens when there aren’t consistent rules that are enforced. Notice that I’m not judging any of these causes or actions except violence. Because until recently, We all had an agreement that violence was the line that We didn’t allow to be crossed.
Whatever causes need to be championed should be, and We should get to see them and decide how We feel. We upheld that as a fundamental part of our system in the First Amendment. But demonstrations that turn to violence lose the legitimacy of peaceful protest that We decided were legitimate. When this cultural and national norm is discarded, as it clearly and repeatedly was for the last half of 2020, then We no longer have an agreement.
This is what happens when politics stop working. I hate politics. It doesn’t make anyone happy except politicians, but that’s the point. Politics is what modern people do in place of war. It’s a game in place of war. If We let violence replace politics, We get war. This is obvious, inevitable, and easy to see from observing human history. Part of politics is having common rules so that all parties are playing on the same field and know what kinds of moves they can expect from opponents. We’ve broken a rule, so now all parties see it as fair game. We must walk this back.
We must put the non-violent norm of protest back in place for everyone. Now. We must condemn all the violence, always. Then, We must start working on the problems that got us here. Again, not the “my team” vs. “their team” problems, but the problems We all have. All these groups that have protested and turned violent are formed largely of people with the same problem: they feel they’re not being heard, that their government doesn’t represent them, that politics has failed. It doesn’t matter if “my team” or “their team” won the last politics match or the next one if it’s still going to result in the failure of politics. Winning the game is not as important as playing the game. Quitting the game means war. It’s better to take the loss than to win by any means. When one side wins by any means, the other side doesn’t want to play anymore. Then We have war.
We need to address the problems with the game. It was imperfect when it started (says so right in that We the People line). It’s been rigged since. We all know this. It has been rigged in many ways by many teams since it started, but We have the power to unrig it, and We have been more or less successful over time. What We need to realize is that We are supposed to be making the rules, and the politicians are supposed to be playing by them, but they’re not. Allowing violent protest, vote manipulation, gerrymandering and many more are the ways that they break or manipulate the rules. These are the kinds of things We need to fix. Don’t get happy when one side bends or breaks a rule just because you happen to like the result or favor that team. That tactic will be used to get a result you don’t like by a team you don’t like, and the game will break down. The things We should all be happy about is when everyone plays by the rules, even when it results in something you or I may not like. We can change the rules over time to make the game better. This is a better method than abandoning the rules. We must realize how bad that is.
There’s plenty of blame to throw around for breaking the rules. Not only are the players breaking them, but they’re also taking the power of making the rules away from Us. The referees are also breaking the rules, and the sportscasters have lost the feeds. I plan to go into more detail about those things in the future, so follow me for updates. In the meantime, insist that everyone play by the rules.
