On January 6, 2021, while Congress was counting the electoral votes for president and vice president, an angry mob of supporters of Donald Trump descended on the Capitol building. They forced their way past Capitol police (some of whom appear to have simply let them go by) and into the building.
They kicked in doors and broke windows.
They defaced busts and artwork.
They stole documents, furniture, and even a podium.
They waved guns around and threatened to kill people.
They instigated an armed standoff just feet from the door to the House chamber *while members of the House were…
Since Trump declared his candidacy for president in 2015, the opposition to him from Democrats and Liberals has been nearly unanimous. He and his supporters paint this opposition as the result of partisanship, and while that is undoubtedly true for some, they represent only a small fraction of the group. We are a diverse group, and, as such, we have a wide variety of opinions and beliefs. I identify as Liberal, but in terms of politics, I’m an Independent; I refuse to join a party on principle (I believe that, as Washington foresaw, political parties are the source of 95%…
“God wanted Trump to become president.”
“Trump was chosen by God to protect religious values.”
“He’s on an assignment from God.”
“President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace.”
All of these are real quotes said in defense of Donald Trump. Some came from politicians, some from people within his administration, and others from prominent Evangelical supporters. Such defenses have been trumpeted since the 2016 election, and they’ve only grown more frequent. They view Trump as some sort of…
On May 22, 1856, Preston Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina, entered the Senate chamber with two other Representatives: Laurence Keitt, a fellow South Carolinian, and Henry Edmundson of Virginia. All three men were pro-slavery Democrats, and they had come to the Senate to confront Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts. Brooks was enraged at Sumner for a vitriolic speech he had given two days earlier in which he leveled scathing (and at times crude) attacks at South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler, a second cousin of Brooks.
Two years earlier, Butler, along with Stephen Douglas, a Senator from Illinois…
Eleven days ago, the country watched in horror as yet another school shooting took place, this time in Parkland, Florida. Yet again, young lives were cut short, with at least 17 dead and 15 injured as of this writing. Yet again, the country cried out for justice, for change, for a stop to these tragedies. Yet again, politicians around the country offered thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families while clearly showing they have no intention of actually doing anything. So the cycle goes.
That I can even write these words shows the depth of this problem. School…
Dean Willis
Writer, Musician, Computer Geek. Genealogy Enthusiast: http://lookingforyourroots.wordpress.com. Essayist: http://uncoveringthemanwithin.blogspot.com.
