“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” ~John F. Kennedy

As a libertarian, I have a lot of mixed feelings about what happened in Washington DC on January 6, 2021.  It is mostly libertarians who wonder when the American people are going to pick up their theoretical pitchforks and head to DC, but I have never been one to preach this.

Violence begets violence.  There are times to use violence when it is in self-defense.  Otherwise, it should be avoided by anyone who seeks peace.

As a libertarian, I understand that the state (i.e., the government) is a violent institution. The very definition of the state is that it has a legal monopoly on the use of violence.  We often don’t see violence employed, but the threat is there.  What the state tells you to do is not typically a suggestion.  It is a requirement backed up by the use of force.

Still, I don’t think the storming of the Capitol Building can be justified as self-defense. I understand it was to intimidate politicians, most of whom I dislike.  I understand that it was a government building (taxpayer funded) that was briefly occupied and a little bit damaged.

The problem is that these rulers are ruling by the implicit consent of the people.  I would even go so far as to say that most of the people at that rally, including the few who entered the Capitol Building, consent to the system to a certain degree.  They may want to remake the system, but they wanted their guy in as president.  I wonder how many people at that rally favor ending government schools.  I wonder how many don’t believe in the government’s Social Security system.  I wonder how many want to remove all troops from overseas.

Don’t get me wrong. I am sympathetic to the cause for which many of the protesters went to DC.  It is not surprising that there was finally a little bit of violence employed by the Trump side after enduring so much.  With that said, I think it was a very bad idea to storm the Capitol Building.  I’m not sure what it accomplished other than losing at least one life and losing a lot of sympathy from others.

I want to be clear that this is the fault of those who stormed the building.  Even though I think it was a stupid decision, I don’t think most of these people are bad people.  They got caught up in a mob mentality.  Revolution sounds like a fun thing, especially when you are angry at the situation.

It would not surprise me if there were provocateurs in the crowd.  It also seemed much too easy for the crowd to just walk by the police and get into the building.  I have seen speculation that at least one of the first people to go in is actually from Antifa.  You can find anything on the internet, but I also wouldn’t doubt that this is possibly true.  I do believe that most of the followers were probably actual Trump supporters.

The woman who was shot and killed was killed execution style.  She was going through a broken window.   She was not going in to hurt anyone.  There was no reason to shoot her except to send a message.  I believe in proportionality, and this was not proportional.  I believe the person (police officer or secret service agent) who fired that gun should be charged in her murder.

The woman took a risk doing what she did, and she paid for it with her life.  It is the saddest part of what happened that day, at least to me.

Glaring Hypocrisy

When watching the corporate media report on this, I couldn’t help constantly drawing comparisons to what happened across the country in major cities throughout the summer. The protests and riots that destroyed several blocks of several cities were put in a rather different light than what happened at the Capitol.

I believe this is for two reasons.  One is obvious, which is that the BLM/ Antifa riots were a leftwing cause, so they were treated favorably.  What happened in DC on January 6 came from mostly pro Trump people.

The second reason, I believe, is that the attacks throughout the summer of 2020 were mostly against private property.  There were some police stations attacked and city halls, but private businesses and private housing sustained the vast majority of the damage. The temporary siege of the Capitol was government property.  It is a sacred symbol of our democracy, or so say the powers-that-be.  It showed a vulnerability of the state. It showed that the state relies on the consent of the governed, and it was briefly rattled.

As previously discussed, the woman shot dead was only entering a window.  She was not pointing any weapons.  She didn’t have a flamethrower in her hand. Yet, with all of the riots across America, I’m not sure that one person was ever killed by the police for vandalizing, looting, arson, or attacking others.  It took a 17-year old kid to kill a couple of people who were attacking him, with the police seemingly nowhere to be found.

The establishment media is completely contradicting themselves from what happened half a year ago.  They called this domestic terrorism, but they couldn’t seem to find those words for the rioters in downtowns across the country.

Some have suggested that the people entering the Capitol all should have been shot dead.  Were these same people calling for all people to be shot dead who were breaking store windows, lighting cars and buildings on fire, and looting private property?  The question answers itself.

Meanwhile, the entire establishment is condemning Trump for what happened, even though Trump wasn’t telling anyone to do this.  Sure, he was constantly complaining about election fraud, but it doesn’t mean he should take the blame for the result of what happened.

Trump reiterated that there was election fraud and told the people to go home in peace.  This wasn’t enough for his critics of course, but nothing would have been enough.  But back in late May and June when cities were burning, did Obama or Biden or Harris make a call for non-violence?  Again, the question answers itself.  Harris was too busy helping to post bail for the few rioters who were arrested.

Mike Pence and Election Fraud

I am not sure if the storming of the Capitol would have happened if Pence hadn’t made the announcement that he did prior to the Congressional certification process.

You can read Pence’s letter.  While I believe there was significant fraud, I actually tend to believe that Pence got it right. The vice president cannot overturn an election.  Perhaps he could have delayed the certification more and held more hearings.  But you don’t want to set a precedent where the vice president, as president of the Senate, can overturn the electoral votes sent by the states.

If the vice president had this kind of power, don’t you think that Joe Biden, as vice president at the time, would have just declared Hillary Clinton to be the victor in the 2016 presidential election?

I try to put myself in the position of others to see if I am being fair.  What if Ron Paul had been cheated out of an election because of the vote counting in certain swing states?  On the contrary, what if Ron Paul had won and had the majority of electors and the vice president tried to overturn it?

I think we need to stick with decentralization.  I’m sure there was fraud in Georgia and Michigan.  I’m sure that Pennsylvania broke its own laws. But it really does need to be handled at the state level.  There is some responsibility that goes to Trump for not being prepared and having more players on the ground to prevent this type of thing.  If the Trump people are mad and want revenge, then start taking over state legislatures to prevent this type of thing in the future.

Republican Hypocrites

While I generally think Pence did the right thing in this situation, I understand why Trump and his supporters feel betrayed by Pence.  But again, Trump has to take some responsibility for this. Trump could have picked anyone as his running mate in 2016.  He chose Mike Pence, an establishment guy.  He also chose a bunch of people who opposed his agenda for his cabinet.

Elaine Chao just resigned as Transportation Secretary.  She is the wife of Mitch McConnell.  I haven’t liked the woman since she was in the Bush administration.  Again, it’s Trump’s fault for picking a person who probably despises Trump.

Why did Chao resign right after the events of January 6?  She already knew that Trump heavily disputed the election results. Trump didn’t tell people to take the Capitol.  He was doing the same thing on January 6 as he had been doing all along.  So it was really the result of what happened that caused her to resign.  She saw her political opportunity, and she took it.  The Republicans should forever keep her locked out of politics, and they should do the same to her husband.

Also, there were several Republicans in Congress who were going to raise objections to the electoral votes.  But after the brief takeover of the Capitol, they said it seemed inappropriate.

Wait a minute. If you think the election was stolen, how does that change based on the events that took place that day? Or do these politicians still think it was stolen but no longer want to cause any disruptions?  It doesn’t make much sense except that they are lying hypocrites.

As I’ve been saying all along, the 70 million plus who voted for Donald Trump are not going away. Most of them are peaceful people, but they aren’t going to “unite”.  When Biden and company say they want unity, they mean that they want everyone to fall in line and follow the edicts of their rulers.  Not everyone likes this plan.