We Hear You: Lessons of Jan. 6 Riot at Capitol
Ken McIntyre /
Editor’s note: Welcome to the new year’s first roundup of letters from Daily Signal readers, culled from the mailbag at [email protected]—Ken McIntyre
Dear Daily Signal: There is something to be said about President Joe Biden’s disdainful address to our nation regarding the riot that took place a year ago at our Capitol (“Fact-Checking 4 Claims From Biden’s, Harris’ Jan. 6 Speeches“).
Biden spoke out about former President Donald Trump and his followers lying, as if he wasn’t the one who lies with impunity. He had the audacity to say, “Democracy was attacked a year ago today” and “We are in a battle for the soul of America.”
How could he be battling for the soul of America when he left numerous Americans and allies in Afghanistan to die at the hands of the Taliban?
Biden went on to name many wars that were fought so that we could vote. I guess he forgot the part where we fought to survive against communism and dictators that would enslave us.
He had the unmitigated gall to say that those who entered the Capitol and rioted committed an act of insurrection trying to overthrow the government and his administration. How about using the Logan Act, Joe, to go after a national security adviser, Gen. Mike Flynn, to undermine the Trump administration?
As a Marine squad leader in Vietnam, I know there had to be thousands of vets at the rally Jan. 6, 2021, which turned into a riot. So I have to ask: What military man or woman would go to a gunfight to take over a government without a weapon, knowing the police were armed?
Biden claimed that those who did the dirty deed were terrorists, as if it was a well-thought-out plan. If you look at what happened to our embassy in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012, those terrorists did act with a plan; they brought mortars and rockets and small arms with the intent to kill our ambassador and some of his protectors.
What really burns me the most about Biden is saying he is there to protect democracy and the people of our country. Tell that to those you left in Afghanistan to die, Mr. President. Tell that to all those who lost property and their lives because Black Lives Matter and Antifa anarchists were allowed to burn down our cities.
Saying you are here for us is disingenuous. Your actions, or lack thereof, speak volumes.—Gregory J. Topliff, Warrenville, S.C.
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There is no doubt that Star Parker’s commentary article on the first anniversary of the Capitol riot is straight and to the point regarding America as it is today (“What Jan. 6 Focus Is Really About“).
The real question is whether we will now assume the rule of government that is modeled upon Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, and so forth, where “elections” are allowed and the new political “Politburo” of America continues with its present course.
After the “elections,” the former America will be thrown upon the trash heap of history, much like other experiments in government by the citizens, not by fiat.—Wiley LeBrun, Texas
The Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol is our Reichstag fire (“6 Things to Expect From Jan. 6 Committee in 2022“). As with the original event in Germany in 1933, this one was apparently staged for political gain and has been used to flout and abuse the Constitution.
It appears to me that the peaceful crowd was seeded with federal agents-provocateurs and that black-clad Antifa shock troops forcibly broke through Capitol doors and windows and assaulted police officers.
“The Jan. 6 committee reportedly plans to recommend improving U.S. intelligence gathering …,” Fred Lucas writes.
So are we looking at the formation of a Gestapo with a remit to arrest political opponents and to crush conservative voices?—Keith Breedlove, Groveland, Fla.
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If this country is going to survive, elections need to be straightened up and run on complete honesty. The Trump-Biden election was totally unacceptable.—Louis Pratt
Americans Are Free to Choose
Dear Daily Signal: I appreciated Virginia Allen’s podcast discussion with Jay Sekulow, who has fought the good fight on so many important issues (“Jay Sekulow Explains Vaccine Mandate Cases Before Supreme Court“). The American Center for Law and Justice has been and is a superb organization, thanks in large part, to him.
That being said, I am concerned about the implications of some of Mr. Sekulow’s commentary. COVID-19 has been politicized, that is undeniable. We have a divided nation along political lines on these vaccine injections, and while there are many who were first in line to receive them, many others are absolutely adamant they do not want them.
We see a disturbing trend geopolitically, that governments are moving past coercion into imprisonment of those now considered dangerous to the nation because they have made a medical or moral decision not to take the injections. Some disagree with the injections along moral lines.
Precedence demands that Americans are free to choose based on their own personal decision-making. They have never had to justify their rationale. We are a free people, under God.
We do not have a virus here that has an Ebola-like mortality rate. There is nothing about COVID-19, despite our terrible losses, that indicates coercion or persecution or any other draconian measures are indicated. Yet in a time of such upheaval, many are suffering job losses and have anxiety because of the global and relentless promotion and propaganda of these injections.
Scapegoating of the unvaccinated is taking place and ramping up. This is a dangerous situation that must be stopped. History teaches this. Bottom line: Government doesn’t have the right, nor is it indicated, to coerce or try to force people to take an experimental injection with worrisome side effects and unknown long-term side effects.
This is particularly true for children, who do not typically become ill from COVID-19, nor are they efficient spreaders of the disease. In the risk/benefit ratio, children are at higher risk from COVID-19 vaccine injections.
Human rights trump federal or state’s rights. I am concerned that by failing to emphasize the human right to say no to medical experimentation, and by narrowing the focus to whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has such a right, it has left the elephant in the room: Human beings are free under God to say yes or no to any medical treatment whatsoever. No federal agency nor state has jurisdiction over a person’s sovereign body.—Kate, Rhode Island
This and That
Dear Daily Signal: If ever there were a basis to remove appointed or elected officials from office, this should serve (“It’s Illegal, Immoral, and Unconstitutional to Ration COVID-19 Treatments Based on Race“). It’s gross malfeasance, as described by GianCarlo Canaparo and Hans von Spakovsky, and should result in impeachment of President Joe Biden.
But Biden has his carefully selected, anti-impeachment insurance: Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as backup to protect him.
This has been a flaw in the executive branch from the 1960s, in “affirmative action,” in quotas elsewhere, in military promotions based upon race rather than competence.
All of these things say to the people that we cannot govern ourselves, which is the worst outcome. Worst because that is what the communist “liberation armies” used to turn populations to distrust, and then to avoid helping their legitimate governments, from Greece through Indo-China and China.
And where has the Supreme Court been? Asleep? Or agreeing with it all?—Al Callender, Cookeville, Tenn.
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Maybe I’ve missed such commentaries before, but Terris Todd finally highlights just a fraction of the African-American successes and contributions to Western civilization and American culture (“Black American Triumphs Outweigh Our Tragedies“).
We never hear these things from the usual media outlets, and I wonder how much of it is part of any public school curriculum, even during Black History Month? Besides the historical events surrounding Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr., their philosophies and messages should be central and foremost in any teachings about them.
I was raised in the era of MLK, and I certainly don’t see his message playing out in the recent protests and the so-called justifications of critical race theory. Instead of unity and acceptance, it’s all about dividing, subdividing, and sub-subdividing. I pray for a cultural reset that will save us.—James King, Indiana
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Here’s my comment on Douglas Blair’s excellent article headlined “8 College Professors Canceled by Left.” If any other country wants to use our once-beloved Constitution, just go ahead. We aren’t using it.—Dave Norby, Sun Prairie, Wis.
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