On January 6, 2021, America learned a lesson libertarians have been trying to teach for years: Any resistance to the will of the state will be met with immediate and lasting force – yes, even in the United States, and yes, even if it means violating the Constitution and basic human rights. For the next six months, the nation’s Capitol – oft called the People’s House – was locked behind some degree of physical barriers and military presence. Now the final fence is coming down, and America can breathe a sigh of relief. Things are finally getting back to normal … or are they?
Removing the Band-Aid
After the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, the National Guard came in and the fences went up. For months, barriers and armed soldiers prevented the free movement of American citizens on property allegedly owned by the people. The final fence is set to come down over the next few days. The last of the 26,000 or more Guard troops went home in May. The outer fence was taken down in March.
But no real threat has existed since the so-called insurrection in early January – and the Capitol building itself still is not open to the public. The band-aid has been removed, but was the underlying cause of the wound ever actually addressed?
What Truly Ails Us
Just days after the protest, Liberty Nation’s Leesa K. Donner presented a question that, if we are to continue calling the United States a “free country” ruled by the people, must be answered: “What if these people weren’t barred from this seat of the Republic and instead urged to go to the Capitol building and were invited in to peacefully walk through the Rotunda as many have done when prominent Americans lie in state?”
As LN’s Onar Åm wrote of the presidential contest, “It could be a clean election, but it happens to look like it would if it were rigged.” As Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said during the Jan. 6 vote to confirm Biden’s electoral victory, about half the nation believes there was fraud. Should it not then at least be investigated – if for no other reason than to assuage the concerns of around 80 million voters? Instead, the allegations were called lies and conspiracies. Those who questioned any of the numerous suspicious circumstances were accused of trying to overturn democracy. There are only three possibilities surrounding the election results:
- Biden beat Trump fair and square, and the Republicans who question the outcome are maliciously trying to steal the election. This is what the Democrats claim.
- The Democrats cheated in some way – or, perhaps, every way they were accused of – and pulled off the greatest electoral heist in American history. This is what many Republicans claimed – at least until they were shamed into compliance by the breach of the Capitol.
- Biden didn’t cheat; he won, beating Trump’s record-breaking vote total by setting a record all his own. But that win involved enough legit but suspiciously convenient coincidences that Republicans mistakenly – but to be fair, understandably – thought it must be fraud.
Now we have arrived at a point where all sides condemn the actions of those angry and, perhaps, confused patriots.
But still these questions lurk: Why weren’t they allowed in the Capitol to begin with? Why were the allegations of fraud never investigated – especially after a two-year “Russiagate” debacle sparked by a malicious deep state and fraudulent dossier? Why was the nigh universal response from the elite – Democrat and Republican – to crush the resistance? Why are there American citizens right now – six months after this incident – still detained without bail hearings, and why are they drinking black water filtered through socks and then punished for speaking out? The incident, the causes, and the response are all signs of the underlying sickness, which has gone mostly undetected – again, this is where the libertarians will say “I told you so” – for years. Somewhere along the way, the state once constrained to serve the will of the people became the State worthy of ruling over the people, and anyone who dares defy the holy will of the almighty State must suffer for that heresy.
What Scars Will Remain?
Will the Capitol ever reopen to the public? Will the fences come back? What about the presence of armed troops to be, potentially, deployed against their fellow citizens? Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) introduced a bill called the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, 2021. It contains additional tax dollars for security-related upgrades, support for prosecutions, and what she calls a “quick reaction force” made up of National Guard troops, should the Capitol Police ever need their help again. It passed the House in May 213-212, barely skating through as both Republicans and anti-cop progressives refused to support it. Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s (R-NC) United States Capitol Complex Security Improvement Act calls for an analysis of “intelligence failures related to the attack” and the creation of a “nexus for sharing intelligence with other law enforcement agencies.” It also prohibits the raising of any fences unless at least three USCP board members approve. On the other hand, the Secure the U.S. Capitol Act by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) would require permanent fencing around the building and grounds. Another Democrat, Rep. Stephanie N. Murphey of Florida, wants to amend security clearance requirements to include a sweep of any “affiliation with organizations or movements that spread conspiracy theories and false information about the U.S. government” or “participation in the activities that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, or in similar activities.”
Clearly, our betters in the Swamp learned a valuable lesson that day – and not that they are public servants, beholden to the will of the people; that illusion was effectively shattered.
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Read more from James Fite.
