Who’s Attacking Our Democracy?

The breach of the Capitol on January 6 by pro-Trump demonstrators took Americans by surprise. There have been many reactions in the aftermath, but responses by the mainstream media completely miss -- or intentionally misrepresent -- the underlying issues. The Capitol breach felt like a turning point, but not because Trump supporters are particularly dangerous or violent as the media would like us to believe. If their demonstration attacked our democracy, it’s because we are living in a democracy so divided we no longer share any goals in common. As long as the party in power seizes opportunities to silence or oppress its opposition, that divide can only widen. 

Even while the January 6 events were still unfolding, the mainstream media started talking about the breach of the Capitol as a “violent siege,” conducted by a far-right mob. During the time that protestors were in the building, my iPhone was flooded with breaking news alerts from CNN, NBC, NPR all letting me know first that the Capitol had been breached, that Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi had been moved to a “secure location,” while those on the House floor were told to “shelter in place." Rioters “vandalized” “occupied” and “ransacked” the building, and attempted to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College votes.

It took a few days for any counter-perspective to come out. Matt Keener, an opinion columnist who was in DC as a peaceful demonstrator, had a different experience. He wrote for American Spectator that: “the atmosphere outside [the Capitol] resembled an open air concert or festival more than a ‘riot.’” He also linked to a video of protestors being let into the building by police.  He believes “the true story [of the demonstration] is getting lost in the propaganda.” 

From a distance, it sounds to me like this outburst was not particularly different from the many, many manifestations that the media downplayed for months as “mostly peaceful protests.” This was a demonstration in which the actions of a few drowned out the grievances of the many. In fact, I argue it was more peaceful than the protests of this past summer: the Trump demonstrators did not set fire to local businesses or permanently blind federal agents with laser guns; they attacked a government building with the intention of making a statement to that government. I think the destruction of private property belonging to ordinary citizens is by far the worse offense.

Furthermore, the disparity between these two descriptions of the same event highlights the real issues undermining our political system. The fact that the mainstream media make allowance for one group of protestors while demonizing the other shows that there’s no room in their narrative for respecting or understanding their opposition.

I completely disagree with their insistence that those who breached the Capitol were “domestic terrorists” conducting a “coup attempt.” But I can agree that our democracy is under attack.  As I argued in a prior MC post, political parties, politicians, and media institutions have now spent several election cycles undermining citizens’ faith in our democratic system.

These most recent demonstrators are not the real threat, or even uniquely dangerous. The real threats to our democracy will keep coming as the government tightens its grip on those who oppose it, widening the divide between the ruling and the ruled.

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen an escalation of that trend as social and mainstream media used the alleged imminent danger of further insurrection to justify de-platforming Trump. Twitter has permanently banned him and is censoring hashtags used by his followers. Apple has removed Parler from its app stores, and Amazon kicked the site off its servers. Congress moved to impeach Trump for a second time. 

This emphasis on punishing Trump and his supporters will only reinforce the idea that not only are they not represented by our political system, they are oppressed by it. And if our political system becomes one that oppresses and silences those who aren’t in power, what’s to stop a real insurrection from happening next time? 

If students were reading the events of Tuesday in a fiction novel in a high school English class, the English teachers would say "what is the symbolism?” It’s too perfect: the Capitol building is a visual representation of our constitutional republic. To see it under attack, windows smashed, halls trashed, is a disturbing reminder that our government doesn’t have inherent power, only the power granted by the support of its population. Since its founding, our government has unified the citizenry and earned its support by standing for a principle that transcended political divisions: unprecedented protection of individual freedoms. 

In the wake of 2020, the United States government is rapidly dissipating its claim to stand for freedom. From lockdowns that shut down businesses, to BLM riots that burned down businesses; from increased censorship to outright silencing of dissenting views, in just this one year state and local governments, with their media allies, have trampled all over the values of private property and freedom of speech. 

The America we know might feel too big to fail, but there have been many times throughout history that an entrenched status quo has been overthrown: The French revolution, the American Revolution, the Bolshevik revolution -- even the Protestant Reformation. All occured when governing bodies become so overly confident in their authority that they lost sight of their obligation to all of their citizens. At that point, their purpose became hollow, a vacuum, into which something new could step. 

There is value in the status quo: humans rely on law and order as the things that stand between us and chaos. But a nation’s real protection against chaos is not its rules or punishments, but a collective goal that unites its citizens. Most countries around the world have a shared history, culture, or language that goes back for centuries. America is unique in needing to build an identity that goes beyond place or heritage or religion. It is a country based on principles alone, those embodied in the Constitution. 

If the United States no longer represents the principles and ideals upon which it was founded, ideals that can unite its population and encourage us to uphold the government by collective will and intention, it will instead become a government devoid of purpose, grasping at power, and holding onto it by force. History tells us how that story ends.

Note to Biden and/or whoever comes after him: you can’t keep a divided nation together by force and coercion -- not for long. If Americans want to live in a united country, we need a renewed sense of common ideals and principles. The principle of maximizing human freedom is the best option available, because it has the potential to create cohesion while also allowing for disagreement. But fair warning: in the absence of any principles at all, power structures become houses of cards, susceptible to even a gentle wind.