BY BOB BEARDEN
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote rings true here and now. So many Americans are remaining silent about the events of Jan. 6. Too many prominent members of the gop are standing mute and saying nothing about the worst insurrection in our history since the Civil War.
What happened on Jan. 6 matters. Lives were lost and one of our most sacred institutions was attacked and literally trashed while all of America and the world watched and the condemnation of the actions of a literal mob of insurrectionists comes primarily from one side.
The gopeers for their part have offered milkqtoast condemnations of the actions of a thuggish mob.
The lives of our elected leaders were very much in jeopardy during that time and in those moments. And yet many of the very people whose lives were in jeopardy remain mute and silent about something that should matter to all of America. And as we are learning more about what happened and how it happened, we are hearing that members of Congress appear to have not only egged the thugs on but also gave them cover and information on how to find their way around to the parts of the Capitol building they wanted access to.
That is beyond the pale. That is incitement to insurrection and aiding and abetting the thugs to do their worst which was among other things their aim to search out capture and Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress.
That in my opinion is treason or it certainly borders on an act of treason.
It is totally foreign to me that a member of our Congress should have in any way participated in the insurrection. And yet facts are becoming clear that some may well have not only incited to riot but have been aiding and abetting the thugs to do harm and to destroy.
It is certainly a day that will live in infamy and if members of Congress aided and abetted the thuggish mob they must be held accountable for their actions.
Expelling them, in my opinion, would not be enough atonement for what they did and what they caused. And any person in this nation who believes in what those thuggish creeps did to our national Capitol they, too, should be tarred with the same brush of thuggery. They, too, are culpable.
And if you believe in the totally outlandish and totally debunked conspiracy theories and that the most safe, secure, and non-fraudulent election in our history was a sham then you, too, are culpable. You, too, are culpable in the action taken by the thuggish mob who attacked the Capitol and tried to force a would-be creep of a dictator down the throats of the rest of us.
Joe Biden is our president, and he was duly and democratically elected by the American people. And if you believe that he wasn’t, don’t come on my Facebook page pushing ignorant and false theories that have no basis in fact. What you believe borders on sedition.
While our constitution protects free speech, pushing lies and conspiracy theories that have been totally debunked as false, is not free speech, but is akin to shouting fire in a crowded theater.
Remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
This nation and its democracy matters! This nation and its people matter! Thugs who would attack and trash our nation’s Capital are not patriotic Americans! They are plain and simple thugs! Remaining silent about their actions is not parotitic.
– Bob Bearden is chair of the Board of Trustees of the Central Oklahoma Labor Federation and a member of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City
