Two Americas

This week we saw America at its best and America at its worst.

We saw our democracy at work and our republic under attack.

In Georgia, peaceful Americans elected a Black man and a Jewish man to the United States Senate.

In Washington, armed thugs incited by Donald Trump invaded the Capitol and shut down Congress.

At the beginning of the Civil War 160 years ago, Ulysses S. Grant wrote in a letter to his father and sister, “There are but two parties now, traitors and patriots, and I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter, and I trust, the stronger party.”

So it is in America today.

I don’t agree with those who blame Wednesday’s insurrection on all Republicans who supported Trump. But blame attaches to anyone who echoes Trump’s lies that the election was stolen.

I don’t buy the “what-about-ism” that equates last year’s racial protests with trashing our nation’s capital and attacking our government. Violence and lawlessness are always wrong, but overturning elections and our Constitution is treason.

I suspect that if this week’s protesters had been Black, many more of them would have been shot and killed.

When Trump was inaugurated four years ago, he said, “this American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” His Presidency now ends in the carnage he encouraged. This is his legacy.

We expected the worst from him. It’s worse than we expected.

When he leaves Washington, his armed thugs won’t disappear. They’ll stand by. After all, he “loves” them and they’re “special people.”

This is a time for choosing.

Is our nation to be governed by voters or by mobs? By elections or by insurrections?

Are we to be traitors? Or patriots?

Like Grant, I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter, and I trust, the stronger party.