- The year that will live in infamy. I don’t know about you, but I was hoping that after the craziness the world has endured, we could all agree to bring in the new year with peaceful resolutions and maybe some champagne-popping with close friends.
I could not have been more wrong.
On Jan. 6th, a group of self-proclaimed patriots stormed the capital with an attempt to stop the senate’s confirmation of Joe Biden as President-Elect.
What’s really sad about the situation is that, for most of the people I’ve talked with, including myself, this came as no surprise. I’ve felt uneasy for months– not because I wasn’t sure Biden would take office–it’s clear that he won the election. But because after the vicious mudslinging, slander, and cloud of conspiracy theories that transpired through the election, it was hard to believe that a peaceful transfer of power was possible.
I suppose the thing I don’t understand is the absolute blind loyalty that Trump supporters have shown over the past 4 years, and especially the past few months. I truly don’t understand what could make 70 million Americans buy into someone so completely that they would turn to an ‘uprising’– but that is his reality. His rhetoric for months has consisted of nothing but deflection and false election fraud claims, and with such a strong following, did he really not expect his followers to take action?
What it comes down to is respect. How are we to maintain a democracy with a leader who has repeatedly shown that he only respects the system when it’s working in his favor? Is he to be trusted? Because I would argue that someone whose ego was wounded enough by fairly losing an election (with the same system he won one with) to incite a riot on the capital is certainly not fit to lead.
It’s time we shift our eyes to the future. We have a leader in front of us who is consistently pushing a dialogue of peace and unity– who wants to represent all of America, not just those who voted for him. I am ready for the conversation to change. Peaceful conversations, respectful disagreements, and working toward common goals– these are all things we can achieve as a country, things we have achieved in the past, but have quickly become a distant memory.
Each of us is responsible for our own words and actions, and the divide we have in our country over the two-party system is causing us to choose them harmfully. I urge you to think critically about who you are supporting, and whether or not their actions are ones you want to continue to support. Choose wisely, because America is not the country we claim it to be– we are swiftly falling from grace, and the only way to break the fall is to change.
Image provided by The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/photography/2021/01/06/photos-scene-capitol-dc/
