1/6/2021

The storming of the Capitol by white supremacists and other militant groups marked a dangerous shift in American politics and national stability.Photograph by Peter van Agtmael / Magnum 

Yours truly has written copiously about the dangers of Agent Orange and the millions of minions who continue to believe in this wretched excuse of a human being, partially because of being denied the "American Dream" and also of being part of something bigger than themselves. America's not exceptional but it is self delusional and yes, we have been betrayed by our so-called leaders but to lose this flawed democracy to an entity like The Donald or to a pretender lurking in the wings is something devoutly to be avoided. This country needs a complete reset and a drastic revise to the Constitution to fix errors the Founding Fathers have overlooked when trying to cobble together a government that 1, would keep the elites in power and 2, to address the shortcomings of a political system too tightly bound to religion and noblesse oblige as seen in long established monarchies like England, France and Spain. 

The edifice of American exceptionalism has always wobbled on a shoddy foundation of self-delusion, and yet most Americans have readily accepted the commonplace that the United States is the world’s oldest continuous democracy. That serene assertion has now collapsed.

On January 6, 2021, when white supremacists, militia members, and maga faithful took inspiration from the President and stormed the Capitol in order to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election, leaving legislators and the Vice-President essentially held hostage, we ceased to be a full democracy. Instead, we now inhabit a liminal status that scholars call “anocracy.” That is, for the first time in two hundred years, we are suspended between democracy and autocracy. And that sense of uncertainty radically heightens the likelihood of episodic bloodletting in America, and even the risk of civil war.

Using Goebbels as guide, think selling the big lie and employing the proper use of violence to destabilize the country. It worked for the Nazies in 1932/3, could it work in America in 2024?  One never knows, do one?

The US Capitol building reflected in a puddle in Washington DC January 4, 2021. 

Photograph by Mark Peterson