I did not want to talk about politics on here. I have said that, and yet, here I am once again talking about politics. Today I’m going to talk about the January 6th Committee Hearing that was held last night. It is never not shocking to revisit that horrible day. Whenever I watch any footage from that day I feel the same anger that I felt when it was happening. It’s always there.
Yet, the consensus among the pundits, and even some people on social media, is that no matter what is revealed it won’t change anybody’s mind. This is the same sentiment that was being shared after the horrendous shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
First of all, I didn’t realize that so many people were Calvinists. Second of all, if everybody thinks that nobody’s mind can be changed and nothing will lead to a different outcome, then they are right. However, if you fight you dramatically increase the chance of something will happen.
”Never stop fighting until the fight is done. That’s the Chicago Way.”
You always fight because the stacks are too high not to fight. In a sense, everything turned out “okay” on January 6, 2021. The election was certified and two weeks later Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the United States. (Which isn’t to minimize the fact that five people died that day.)
We take for granted that if not for a few crucial moments, that day could have been much more horrific. If, for instance, Office Eugene Goodman didn’t lead the mob away from members of Congress are we certain that they wouldn’t have harmed members of Congress.
If the mob that chanted, “hang Mike Pence,” got their hands on him would they have hung him? They certainly looked ready to do it by building gallows.
I don’t get the sense that people comprehend how close we came to losing everything that day. Or, perhaps it is such an overwhelmingly chilling thought that people minimize it to protect themselves. Either way, we almost lost our country on January 6, 2021.
Dragging all of this into the light matters. We all have a responsibility to amplify the findings of the bipartisan January 6th Committee. Because if these findings didn’t matter, Republicans wouldn’t be so eager to convince people that it was no big deal. Fox News seemed to be so worried about the hearing last night that Tucker Carlson never went to a commercial break. They apparently didn’t want to risk anybody switching channels and stumbling onto the hearing.
Fatalism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Don’t give into it. Our democracy is too important to give it up.
What I Watched:
Last night the January 6th Committee released this video.