As I write this, 5 hours ahead of the east coast and 8 hours ahead of the west, Sunday morning pundits are expressing their opinions on events of the last week all across America, Predictably, in a nation that (admit it or not) derives such strength from its incredible diversity, these opinions are likewise diverse. They range from one extreme to the other on several axes, from truth to lie, from rational to batshit crazy. The actions they advocate range from minimal to the extreme unlawful and/or unconstitutional. At the minimal end of the scale are those advocating that America “take a step back”, that the nation should “allow time to heal” but we’re not at that stage yet.
American democracy is in the trauma unit, not on the recovery wards. The knife is still in its back and, while the blade did not pierce a major blood vessel or the nations heart, so the patient survived to reach the ER, it’s still perilously close and must be removed. Yes, this carries risks but they are far outweighed by the risks of doing nothing.
History has shown us, not just in America but in every other nation that has established any form of democratic rule, at any point in their timeline, that reconciliation and healing cannot occur without actions and real consequences for the architects of the divide and for those acting on their orders or in their stead. If these actors, the politicians and their followers, who lied, cheated and violated the law to stab American democracy in the back, are allowed to escape consequences then the wound cannot heal. America has swept these people under the rug so many times that the rug is now within three feet of the ceiling and you’re crawling around on it on your hands and knees, dodging the light fixture!
And the wound has not healed. Another set of hands has reached out and pushed the knife in again. Because it was still there, still sticking out of Lady Liberty’s back and all they needed to do was reach out and push a little.
If politicians are allowed, by well-meaning colleagues, to salvage what remains of their careers and reputation, if those truly wedded to this ideology of hate are allowed to crawl back into their holes and nurse their bile in private through another “adverse administration” then you must know, because you only need to look at your own history, let alone at the longer ones of other nations, that it will rise again, stronger than before, emboldened by the fact that they have escaped meaningful consequences at every previous occasion.
You need to remove the knife from the body of your nation. You need those responsible for putting it there to face genuine, lawful and constitutional, meaningful consequences.
With the weapon removed from the wound, the wound sutured and the patient stabilised, then you can allow “time to heal” and, this time, have a realistic hope that the healing will actually occur.