An Unsuccessful Insurrection?

I don’t think so. But I understand why the Democrats characterize it that way.

So let’s begin with the definition of insurrection:

Merriam-Webster: a usually violent attempt to take control of a government

Cambridge English: an organized attempt by a group of people to defeat their government and take control of their country, usually by violence

Other definitions appear to use the words “organized” and “armed”.

All of the definitions I have found fail to describe what actually happened. So let’s be clear:

a) There was a protest against the vote count because the former President stoked that fire and fed it for months.

b) Within that protest, there were organized groups of people who were determined to breach the Capitol and did so.

c) Those violent groups of people made their intentions known to the former President through his acolytes and they were encouraged by the President through his actions the day before and through his inaction the day of the Electoral College.

d) The protest was the Trojan Horse that delivered the violence to the Capitol.

e) To continue the deception that this was a spontaneous action, the organized groups did not bring guns or edged weapons to the fray. They used materials at hand as weapons.

Now the use of the word “insurrection” is key because Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

If this January 6, 2021 event can be clearly described as an insurrection or a rebellion, then former President Trump is not eligible to run for federal office ever again. And if other Senators or Representatives were involved in planning or supporting these insurrectionists, then they are also unable to remain in office or run for office.

Words matter and perception matters in this case. The key item is IF this was organized with the intent to disrupt the Electoral College, it is an insurrection hiding within a peaceful protest. And it is key whether people participated in or were providing aid and comfort to the insurrectionists and rebellion.

There is an escape clause in the last sentence of Section 3 which allows Congress by a two-thirds vote of EACH house, to remove this restriction. So even if Speaker Pelosi and Chich Schumer are successful in bringing this to the floor of their respective chambers, they still have to deal with getting a 2/3 majority vote to bar former President Trump and his acolytes from office.

This debacle, this disruption of the Electoral College, isn’t over yet.

The MAGA Shame Upon America

Where the inspiring words were once “Make America Great Again, the acronym MAGA has become a pariah of American politics. Where once there was hope, there is now shame.

The President of the United States was actively involved in subverting the Electoral College of the United States of America. The shame begins here.

In an effort to remain in office, the billionaire real estate mogul known as Donald J. Trump set in motion an audacious plan called The Green Bay Sweep to create a constitutional crisis; a crisis so great that he could falsely claim the federal election had been corrupted. He only needed a handful of people to make the same false claim in an attempt to retain his Presidency. He wasn’t trying to overthrow the Constitution, he was bending it to his will. He was willing to break pieces of it, if necessary, to retain his position as President.

When ex-President Donald J. Trump supported the attack on Capitol Hill, he became the enemy within. As described in the President’s Oath of Office, he became a domestic enemy, not because he believed the election was fraudulent, but because he unilaterally chose to exert his will over the political process described in the Constitution.

Previous constitutional crises regarding presidential elections had been resolved by Congress (Compromise of 1877 for example). Of course, those previous crises occurred AFTER the Electoral College had convened and voted.

Because Vice-President Pence would not lie, and would not subvert the vote of the Electoral College as demanded by the Republican Party, outgoing President Trump executed Plan B to physically disrupt the Electoral College in order to prevent an orderly transition of power.

By this act, Donald J. Trump asserted himself as an enemy of the Constitution of the United States of America. He should be charged with treasonous acts, but there may not be a political will to do this. Just as pardoning former President Richard Nixon for his involvement in Watergate was necessary, Donald J. Trump will not likely be charged for his crimes.

The problem in America today is that the two mainstream political parties believe it acceptable to subvert the Constitution of the United States for political gain. Will the Constitution continue to govern the rules of engagement for the two political parties or will it be cast aside in favor of an autocratic ruler?

Will Congress abide and improve the Constitution or will it continue to shirk its duties to the Republic and the American people?

Will a third national party arise to protect and improve the rules of engagement, the Constitution, AND the Republic or will its focus be on other matters?

To be determined…

Overthrowing US Democracy: An earlier attempt

Rolling Stone has a fascinating bit of historical lore related to a plot to overthrow America.

As always, American conservative businessmen do not like competition. Whether that competition is unions, governments, treaties, foreigners, or each other, their reaction is always the same: replace the uncontrollable person with someone controllable or, at the very least, incompetent. (Which explains why we are where we are in America.)

The Business Plot Against FDR begins in 1934 with an announcement:

“The Liberty League was announced on Aug. 23, 1934, on the front page of The New York Times. The article quoted its founders’ claim that it was a “nonpartisan group” whose aim was to “combat radicalism, preserve property rights, uphold and preserve the Constitution.” Its real goal, other observers told the Times, was to oppose the New Deal and the taxes and controls it promised to impose on their fortunes.”

A bond salesman, Gerald C. MacGuire, a 37-year-old Navy veteran, was the tip of the spear in this efforts and would later describe the plot to a New York Post reporter: “We need a fascist government in this country, he insisted, to save the nation from the communists who want to tear it down and wreck all that we have built in America. The only men who have the patriotism to do it are the soldiers, and Smedley Butler is the ideal leader. He could organize a million men overnight.”

The story of Smedley Butler is extraordinary and the Business Plot Against FDR is incredible reading. I could never tell the story so well, so I’ll just give you the link to read it yourself. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/coup-jan6-fdr-new-deal-business-plot-1276709/

Who was Smedley Butler? “Butler was, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. By the end of his career, Butler had received 16 medals, five for heroism. He is one of 19 men to receive the Medal of Honor twice, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal (along with Wendell Neville and David Porter) and the Medal of Honor, and the only Marine to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.”- Wikipedia

Many American business owners detest Communism, Socialism, unions, liberals, and any other opponent to their livelihood. You can understand that, I certainly do. But to create a Fascist government to destroy the liberty of working men is too much to bear.

We are indeed blessed that America sits on a three-legged stool: business, government, and people. The three legs support the Constitution of the United States. Perhaps someday there will be four legs to even out the instability but it is enough for now.

The Coming January 6th Anniversary

If you have not followed the investigation and documentation of the attack on Capitol Hill, please spend some time at Wikipedia and read what is known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_United_States_Capitol_attack

In summary, former President Donald Trump AND his wannabees crafted a plan they called “The Green Bay Sweep” to disrupt the Electoral College. The purpose was to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

When Vice-President Mike Pence declined to participate in the nefarious Green Bay Sweep, President Trump and his wannabees launched Plan B to physically disrupt the Electoral College, by using right-wing organizations to breach Capitol Hill security.

Plan B was effective and involved a three-hour battle in the Capitol Building, a delay in providing National Guard support to the Capitol Hill police, and the ongoing promotion of a lie that the national elections were rigged for Joe Biden to win.

The one-year anniversary of the Electoral College disruption is approaching. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and President Joe Biden are planning a remembrance ceremony to educate the public at large about former President Trump’s planning and preparation for events surrounding that day.

Ex-President Trump is planning to speak publicly from Mar-a-Lago in advance of the remembrance ceremony and is expected to denounce Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, the Select Committee that is investigating the event, and finally, he will continue the Big Lie that the election was stolen.

It will be interesting to see if any political parties make public announcements or not. And it will be interesting to see how the news media covers this event with interviews of politicians, celebriticians, and other key political figures.

The legacy of President Trump’s term in office is already tarnished with two impeachments. His legacy included the establishment of the Space Force, re-shaping the Supreme Court, establishing a new US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, providing more tax relief (which increased the National Debt), reducing taxes on the wealthy, increasing cybersecurity, promoting permanent federal funding for black colleges, and setting standards for federal grants. And that’s about all that he did.

There were failures, too, but they pale in comparison to his attempt to thwart the Constitution and disrupt the Electoral College. There’s no need to pour salt into the wound by listing his failures.

The Republican Election Steal

You can read about it at The Daily Beast or you can click it here:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-advisor-peter-navarro-lays-out-how-he-and-steve-bannon-planned-to-overturn-bidens-electoral-win?ref=home

One thing that most people don’t get is how the Republican oligarchy actually operates. Whether they prevent people from voting, or from buying homes, or causing them to live in certain areas, whatever. The Republican oligarchy manipulates the law to work in their favor. And because this manipulation is lawful (at times borderline illegal), the Party of Elite Wealth creates a process or a situation that benefits them.

In the article, if you read it, one of the leaders and influencers of the Republican Party outlines how they intended to steal the election from Joe Biden: create a false concern about fraudulent voting, delay the Electoral College from certifying the election, and use VP Pence in the process.

“This last-minute maneuvering never had any chance of actually decertifying the election results on its own, a point that Navarro quickly acknowledges. But their hope was to run the clock as long as possible to increase public pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to send the electoral votes back to six contested states, where Republican-led legislatures could try to overturn the results. And in their mind, ramping up pressure on Pence would require media coverage. While most respected news organizations refused to regurgitate unproven conspiracy theories about widespread election fraud, this plan hoped to force journalists to cover the allegations by creating a historic delay to the certification process.”-Peter Navarro

One routine tactic of the Republican Party is to accuse Democrats of the exact same objective that the Republicans are putting in place: stealing the election in this case.

The beauty of the Republican plan was they already had 100 Congressmen signed up to go along with their perfidy. They didn’t need the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys invading the Capitol but this is what Donald Trump wanted. When VP Pence declined to participate in the Republican Party initiative, Plan B was put into place to seek revenge against Pence. It was Trump’s Order of the Day.

And we know how that turned out.

Emperors are naked! Send Clothing!

Yikes! The Jan 6 House Committee is shouting that NONE of the Right-Wing Emperors have clothes!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/destroying-his-legacy-fox-news-hosts-urged-white-house-to-act-during-jan-6-riot-committee-reveals-012345866.html

Not Trump, not his top advisers, and not the right-wing media. Liz Cheney is stripping the invisibility and invincibility from all Trump acolytes. We are seeing the height of their perfidy and their involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

Oh, my! Which political party will try to get Liz Cheney to run for office under their banner? It won’t be the Republican Party, for sure!

She is a firebrand and has set the former Executive Branch on fire with her investigation of perfidy at the highest levels. Just like every other investigation of ex-President Donald Trump, this one burns everybody around him. He may have been asbestos in Russia Gate but he is going to burn for his role in the events of January 6th.

There are way too many scandals involving ex-President Donald Trump and his attempts to usurp the US election process. How is it possible that the decent people in the mainstream Republican Party can continue to applaud, listen, and support ex-President Donald Trump?

I don’t know.

But I’m reminded of the Bible story about the prodigal son. I wish all the good Republicans would return home to the Party of fiscal responsibility and good governance.

I hope those Prodigal Sons and Daughters realize that HOME has a new address. HOME for good-governance Republicans is now the Reform Party of the USA.

It’s time to come home. The dinner bell is ringing. You are welcome to join us at the table of good governance and fiscal responsibility.

Can a very rich man defeat American democracy?

It appears there is no stopping ex-President Donald Trump in his efforts to secure POWER over American democracy.

First, he planned to simply not leave the White House. He purged a slew of generals and Defense appointees to put his own puppets in place. He tried to get the Attorney General and the Vice President to declare the election was fraudulent. They resisted. He met with people who would attack Congress and take over the Electoral College. Without Electoral College certification, he would claim the election fraudulent and assert himself as President until the Supreme Court ruled on who would be President.

Second, ex-President Trump withheld and stymied efforts for the military to quell the takeover of Congress. Some he did himself and some he did through acolytes.

Third, ex-President Trump used the Republican Party and its state-level adherents to attack the legitimacy and certification of state election boards. The purpose was to throw out a valid vote count and then use the Courts to reinstate him as President. He has failed in multiple attempts; however, he is using the state legislatures to draft new election laws that permit their legislatures to usurp vote results. The end game is to avoid Republican and Democrat Party lawsuits in favor of legislation that can simply declare the winner of a state’s electoral vote count.

The Fourth Wave of ex-President Trump’s efforts is about to unfold. The creation of a personal propaganda machine to promote Trump across the nation. Congressman Devin Nunes has been chosen to run Trump’s propaganda machine.

American democracy is at stake. Not just who will be President but who will control the country and choose its leaders at all levels of civic government.

Can American democracy win the war that ex-President Trump is bringing to America?

Can multi-culturalism be defeated by a single billionaire who intends to revert America to a single white corporate culture that existed in the 1950s?

There is no reason for ex-President Trump to cease efforts to control American democracy. Like most old men, he doesn’t like the changes that have occurred in America in his lifetime. BUT unlike most old men, ex-President Trump has the money to afford his civilian campaign to overthrow American democracy for a different type of government.

Remember Bolivarianism?

Prepare for the right-wing version known as Trumpism. One state at a time. One election at a time. Misery for people who don’t fit the mold.

There’s chaos ahead, my friends. Not control. Chaos in all of its faces.

Congressional Reform

Those who break it can never fix it. Is that a given?

I’m going to point you to this opinion piece by the CATO organization. It makes the case, far better than I can, about the need for a paradigm shift in returning Congress to its roots.

Congressional reformation cannot be accomplished by the Republican Party or the Democrat Party. They are embedded in the process and they are enablers of putting power into the Presidency, not curtailing it.

They are enablers of Judicial power, too. By failing to perform their role in crafting legislation and interpretation, they gift the power of interpretation to the Supreme Court.

Take a moment to read this and reflect on the boundaries each branch of the government should have. Then reflect on how the US government should evolve beyond the partisanship that exists and how more control is needed over the power of the federal government.

https://www.cato.org/commentary/its-time-make-congress-great-again#

Lock Him Up!

Democrats don’t chant like MAGA supporters do. More’s the shame, I guess.

In the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump agreed with his MAGA crowd that Hillary Clinton should be locked up. Candidate Trump began a series of unfounded allegations that Hillary Clinton gained millions of dollars because she used her influence to steer a uranium deal to the Russians. The chant became a staple of his campaign as candidate Trump began calling her “Crooked Hillary”. NONE of those allegations were proven to be true. President Trump is a veteran liar. It’s likely he has awarded himself medals to his villainy.

The mountain of evidence continues to grow that President Trump was an actor in the events of January 6, 2021. The evidence shows that President Trump was unsuccessful in coercing state government officials to overthrow the election results of 2020. Knowing that his Attorney General Bill Barr refused to lie, knowing that the Trump campaign efforts to overthrow election results in 6 states were failing, President Trump applied pressure to VP Mike Pence to simply declare the vote count fraudulent during the Electoral College process.

Meetings in December 2020 and testimony from government officials demonstrate that President Trump was more knowledgeable about the attack on Capitol Hill than President Nixon was about the Watergate break-in. The failure of the Senate to convict President Trump for his role in the Capitol Hill attack is all about the Republican Party’s failure to hold one of their own accountable.

Will Democrats begin to chant “Lock him up?” Probably not.

But they should.

Reparation Silliness

I once called for an amendment to the Constitution. We would avoid silliness

https://wordpress.com/post/reasonablecitizen.wordpress.com/5980

Amendment 33: The people of the United States hereby declare that the seeking of reparations shall not be approved for events or conditions that were not illegal in the time period in which they occurred, when a period of 100 years has passed since that event or condition.

If only the government was under my control.

Here’s the next piece of Democrat silliness to hit us.: revoking medals from a hundred years ago.

https://www.businessinsider.com/lawmakers-ask-biden-revoke-medals-wounded-knee-massacre-warren-sanders-2021-11