This country’s failures have always centered around these three demons:
Greed. Power. Bigotry.
Nothing about that changed on Wednesday. The disgrace at the Capitol is just the result of the nation’s unwillingness to rectify its wrongs.
These domestic terrorists were the byproduct of the continuous mistakes that this country has made since before its birth in 1776.
And even after a summer of protesting, chanting, wearing BLM T-shirts, and having some of our biggest sports stars try to open our eyes to the ills of this country, some Americans still succumbed to those evils.
On Wednesday night, former Auburn head football coach and brand spanking new Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville voted to object to the electors of Arizona and Pennsylvania in a futile attempt to thwart the certification of Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election. It’s an act that meant nothing in reality, but for now serves as a microcosm of the problems in this country.
The terrorists that stormed the Capitol were incited not only by Donald Trump but by the falsehood that the election was rigged and that our democracy was in jeopardy. There has still been no evidence of widespread election fraud that could change the outcome of the election.
Objecting to the election was nothing but a bunch of theatrics from Republican lawmakers to try to gain more national notoriety for themselves. It was never about democracy or empowering the voice of the American people, it was about these lawmakers exerting an irresponsible abuse of power for clout.
And on Wednesday the repercussions of their actions came full circle when many of the lawmakers were forced to evacuate the building during the siege that left four people dead.
It’s a disgrace that someone can look at the despicable events that transpired on Wednesday, and still consciously vote to perpetuate a hoax hours later. There was time for Tuberville and the other Republicans who voted to object to gain a conscience. Several Republicans who planned to object changed their votes in wake of the attack yesterday, even Senator Kelly Loeffler — the Atlanta Dream co-owner who has been arguably the most problematic figure in the WNBA and who just lost her Senate seat in Georgia — changed her mind and decided to certify the election.
Tuberville was elected to the Senate by a state that cares more about trying to preserve Republican power than actually putting a man in that seat who would help the public. Tuberville, and other Republicans like him, have made it very clear that they don’t care about the American people. They only care about those three demons that have thwarted this country for centuries.
They believe that attaching themselves to Trump’s coattails, for better or worse, gives them a chance at power. It doesn’t matter if greed is blatantly impacting their decisions or if their base is full of people who believe the bigoted ideology that this is solely a white man’s land. They don’t move with a conscience, they move with an agenda. And they were given an office by individual voters who move the same way.
The mob of terrorists that broke windows, assaulted police officers, and breached the Capitol Building based on a proven fallacy is the result of this country’s demons. They are the same demons that elected Donald Trump In 2016. They are the same demons that allowed Charlottesville to occur and let the murders of unarmed black people in 2020 go unpunished. They are the same demons that voted in a football coach who didn’t even know the three branches of government.
And they are the same demons that have made this country as divided as it is today. Greed, power, and bigotry have led this country to this pivotal point in our history. Will this nation finally deal with them? Or will this just be another page in our old, and tired, story?