As far back as I can remember, Republicans have been the party of “law and order.” At least that is how they billed themselves starting back in the days of Nixon.
A popular bumper sticker of the time, directed at the 60’s anti-Viet Nam war protesters, was “America … Love It Or Leave It.” If you were a patriot, you supported the unjust and senseless war. If you were for ending the bloodshed, you were an anti-American, unpatriotic commie anarchist.
As was brilliantly depicted in the movie The Trial of the Chicago Seven, the protesters were the real patriots of the time, not Nixon and his attorney general who sought to imprison those protesters simply for exercising their First Amendment rights.
On Tuesday, at least 11 GOP senators and as many as 140 House GOP representatives have vowed to vote against certifying Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. This act can only be seen as a clear attempt to overturn the vote of the American people and is nothing short of sedition.
As stated by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), “This pathetic, opportunistic stunt is an attack on our democracy. It’s un-American & unconscionable. Votes have been counted, recounted, certified, & all challenges totally discredited.”
When it comes time for arguments at the January 6th meeting of the Electoral College, Democrats need to take off the gloves. They need to call those Republicans who refused to follow precedent, and the Constitution, what they are … un-American, unpatriotic, seditionists.
Shamefully, Mike Pence, who will be presiding over the Electoral College vote, has stated, through his spokesperson, that he “welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people.”
As Paul Rosenberg recently noted in salon.com, “Fundamentalism and authoritarianism pushed the Republicans from low-grade mendacity into a threat to democracy.”
Democrats need to forcefully stand up for our democracy on Tuesday. They need to get over this silly idea of making “nice-nice” with the opposition and reaching out across the aisle. Those that would teardown American democracy, and the United States Constitution, are traitors of the first order.
It would be refreshing to see at least one Democrat rise on Tuesday and throw back to his Republican colleagues that infamous 60’s argument, “America … love it or leave it.”
Photo | washingtonpost.com
