I haven’t done this for awhile. There are any number of reasons. I mainly confess to a feeling of malaise-to use Jimmy Carter’s infamous word-that I suppose has been brought on by all of the goings on in DC, New York and Florida involving former President Trump and his confederates. That and it has been 200 degrees.
But as I write this it is a beautiful fall day. I am out on the porch. I will be doing the Government classes on Monday and college football is back on the tube.
I feel better now.
I ran into a friend of mine in the grocery store today. She happens to be married to the teacher that I am filling in for on Monday.
“So what are you going to talk about?” she asked. “Nothing much going on out there in the legal world is there?” She rolled her eyes as she is wont to do.
Here’s what I told her.
If I get the green light, which is rare, I would state to the class that for the life of me I do not understand what made a group of people think that because their candidate lost an election they were justified in violently attacking the seat of representative democracy in this country. I would further state that while I am no Constitutional scholar-or any other scholar for that matter- I was, and remain to be, stunned by the insane legal theories put out there by lawyers that should have none better. And some of them are in the process of losing their licenses over their attempts to use the legal system to overturn elections. And some of them may lose their freedom as well.
I wouldn’t want to serve time in a Georgia state prison. Would you?
For the life of me I do not understand how those lawyers got sucked in. But as they say, men go mad in packs. Along with two or three women in this case. Here’s your proof.
And men evidently become punks in packs as well.
Three of the so called “Proud Boys” caught fairly serious time last week for their roles in, basically, fomenting an insurrection. Enrico Tarrio, their nominal leader, was given 22 years. I was stuck by a couple of things that happened last week. First of all I loved the picture of Tarrio that ran with many of the stories about his demise. There he was in dark glasses, cigarette dangling rakishly from his lips, while in the breast pocket of the tactical vest he was rocking, was stored what for all the world appeared to be two yellow cans of the fizzy stuff my wife drinks.
Some revolutionary. I bet Che never drank sparkling water out in the field.
Secondly, I note from the accounts of the sentencing hearing for these guys, they all apologized for their actions, recanted their former beliefs and asked the Court for mercy. Some cried as they addressed the Judge.
No blindfolds or cigarettes for these guys. No refusals to recognize the authority of the Court. No wasting everybody’s time with rambling speeches during allocution.
Just scared white boys not wanting to face the music.
The Proud Boys, at least as embodied by these three, aren’t revolutionaries. They are criminals. And they don’t have much pride.
I don’t get it. I will never get it.
And I hope to never see it again. Then again, one of our former Governors has opined that if Trump is not restored to the Oval Office then 2024 will be the last year that elections are decided by ballots instead of bullets. Or some damn fool thing.
The fact that Mike Huckabee would give voice to such an irresponsible thought tells you everything you need to know about the sorry state of public discourse.
I don’t get it.
And by the way, I consider myself a fair person. If Enrico wasn’t packing fizzy water in that pic I wish somebody would let me know. I will run a retraction.
He has a certain reputation as a tough guy to maintain. And he needs to maintain it for 22 years after all.
