Ode to the Republic as She Lies Dying

Ode to the Republic as She Lies Dying

Rioters storm the Capitol and are any of us surprised?

A Banana Republic Sprouts

When I wrote this post a few days ago, I was focused on the history — the recognition that banana republic elections tend to spawn banana republic reactions. Violence becomes an inevitable and regrettable “solution” when oppressed minorities perceive no peaceful options remain. The veterans of Athens, Tennessee, had their government stolen from them through fraudulent elections and they sought to require its return. Nobody died, but that was just a happy accident. One reason I don’t condone violence is it has a scary tendency of hurting people who aren’t even involved in the conflict. Had the veterans of Athens stood down and waited for the next election, would things have gotten better? We’ll never know because that’s not what happened. They secured the ballot boxes by violent means and the votes vindicated their actions. I was not calling for violence, merely pointing out that elections that lack transparency set society on fire and that ignoring the right of the people to petition their government for redress of grievances is like spraying gasoline on a bonfire. It could have been avoided by the current sheriff of Athens simply allowing people in to watch as he and his deputies counted the ballots. But then he would have definitely lost and that wasn’t what he was after. So the battle was on.

Parallels then to now are writ in neon

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