Most revolutions follow a long train of abuses. In April 1775, on Concord Bridge in Massachusetts, an organized militia of local citizens “Fired the shot heard round the World.” Taxation without representation had become oppressive and the colonials were refusing to pay. King George III sent his army to enforce his laws. The embattled farmers stood their ground against the most powerful military the world had ever known and the American Revolution was underway. A year later, the Declaration of Independence made it official. The king, of course, declared the revolutionaries traitors, and according to his laws they were. The revolutionaries considered themselves answering to a higher authority summarized in the Declaration. I won’t cite it here; every American is familiar. Right?
Some attempt to equate the atrocities of Jan. 6 to the standoff on the bridge. However, there was no long train of abuses, the proximate cause was an election merely months before. A small minority refused to accept the results of the election. We did not have civilians being attacked by professional soldiers. We had a legitimate election procedure — one that had gone peacefully forward for 230 years — assaulted by a mob composed of the misinformed facilitated by their misinformers. The disgruntled had been assembled in the Ellipse Park at the invitation of the then-president and other rabble rousers. We treasure the right to protest, peacefully. Is there a time when violent protest is justified?
Jefferson wrote “What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
What were the facts? In 1775, the people rebelled against rules made by a distant dictator they had no say in choosing. Their dissatisfaction had been building for perhaps 100 years. The 2021 rioters were protesting the outcome of a properly conducted election they had participated in, and the clear winner was about to be inducted. They claimed the election was rigged against their candidate, but the only evidence of improper influence was by their sympathizers, not the winner. None of their claims has withstood scrutiny.
No government can exist without complaints. There is always something to covet, something that seems unfair to someone. The art of good governance is to keep the scales balanced enough that a majority are content and the minorities feel they will have a chance. A sore loser failed everyone, including his constituents. After losing the election, and dozens of lawsuits his last-ditch effort was to enlist a crowd and excite them to attempt to capture the flag. But the real world is not a scout camp game. The government is a leviathan, it is big and it moves slowly and deliberately. To overturn the government of a nation requires more than a small rabble. It requires the will of a majority. Even if the mob had taken control of the Capitol, what next. Would the 276 million Americans that did not vote for their champion say “OK, you win?”
A mob vandalized and broke into our Capitol where they threatened the people’s duly elected representatives. They thoughtfully memorialized most of the crimes they committed. Many of them are being arrested, and have their day in court. Now we have to be patient and let the apolitical wheels of justice grind their way through the evidence. The trail may lead to unexpected charges at high levels. Maybe some will convince a judge and jury that their behavior was justified, or even ordained, but somehow, I doubt it. The mob are more like Lenin’s useful idiots, pawns in a game they do not understand and have no control over.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com