As the aftermath of last week’s “protest” at and in the Capitol continues to reverberate around us, more and more people are asking the equivalent of “are all these aftershocks?” But a few are asking, “Is all of this, including the demonstration of ‘democracy’ at the Capitol on the 6th, nothing but precursors, or foreshocks, to the BIG ONE?”

I fear the BIG ONE is still in the future. The NEAR future.

Although we forgot, 2020 reminded us that “normality” can change beyond recognition in a very short time. Consider what has rapidly caused empires to fall – even as rapidly as this. The Neo-Chaldean (Babylonian) Empire fell in a single night to the Medes and Persians. In essence, the Roman Republic ended with the assassination IN THE SENATE of Julius Caesar, though years of civil war were to come. The Kingdom of France pretty much died on the 14th of July with the storming of a mostly empty prison.

Our Founding Fathers learned from history. They tried to set up a system that would provide for a peaceful transfer of power for a perpetual union. We could say that even with this mess now, they mostly succeeded. Last week’s events, and what Pelosi and Schumer (and media and politicians and bureaucrats and “experts”) claim happened then AND in the election demonstrate that the Founders failed.

So back to the headline.

Based on what has happened since about October (with “early voting” and mail-in ballots and more), it is my humble opinion that what is left of the union is irreparably fractured. Divided with no TOLERABLE way of healing. Readers know that I have long said the Republic is dead – that the direct election of senators and other actions in 1913 during the Wilson regime killed it as dead as Gaius Julius was on the Ides of March. But remnants of that have continued, fewer and fewer as the regimes came and went: Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy… the list goes on and on.

Wise observers and students of history have long noted that republics decay into democracies. Those in turn decay into tyrannies or mob rule. Or both. We have seen that happen in the past 40 years, and especially in the past year. External AND internal enemies (real or imagined) have always contributed to that decay. Some of the Fifty States are much farther down that path than others, but the FedGov is way ahead of them.

To the extent that democracy can function, it requires enormous freedom of information and speech, so that those voting know as much truth as possible. That is now gone. It is not just those shills for government, the social media monsters. It is government itself, the mainstream media, and the education system AND ITS PRODUCTS. That is, other, “ordinary” Americans. We are drowning in information but it is impossible for the 99.9% of us to know whether what we are told, what we read, is true or not. And unable to use it.

To the extent that a federal union can function, it requires trust. Trust on the part of the citizenry (voters) and the members of that union (the States), AND trust on the part of those elected to office and appointed to office and hired (as employees or contractors) in the federal government. In the last seven days, we have seen the tattered remnants of trust in the FedGov whipped into tiny shreds. Then scattered as though a tornado has come and gone. It is NOT just the “ordinary” Americans who no longer trust the government (or their neighbors). No! The top of the pyramid of that government system (the senators, the representatives, even the current Vice President) have demonstrated and stated repeatedly that they do NOT trust the vast majority of those they claim to rule. Their actions in the last ten days prove that clearly.

In an imperfect world with a system of mandatory government that is anathema to good morals (and to the Good Lord), the ability to move around, to travel and to seek work and wealth AND escape from tyranny, is essential. That has been taken away, first with the excuse of the Pandemic. And now, in reaction to a single event which lasted only a few hours and killed and injured only a few and damaged and resulted in the stealing of only a few things. (I do regret that people died, and that others were injured. But it is a fact of life that we have no choice but to live with.)

(Indeed, what happened is not as bad as what happens about every fortnight (excuse me, two weeks) in some country in Africa or Latin America. OR in a popular Spring Break location.)

But what happened last Wednesday is as nothing compared to the myths, lies, and propaganda spouted about it for the last 9 days, by politicians, media, SJW, and more. Nor does it justify virtually ANY of the acts of revenge for it. And these are, doubt not, acts of revenge. And as more and more comes out about what happened before the actual events of the 6th, it is more and more clear that various people – INCLUDING government and media people – LET it happen by what they did NOT say and did NOT do.

Trump is a “bad orange man” – foolish and egotistical and often arrogant, and with a poor grasp on many things. But he does NOT and did NOT merit the vitriol and hatred and fear generated about him. No doubt, Schumer and Pelosi and McConnell and all the others have some good points, and sincerely believe that they are trying to get and stay in power “for the good of the country.” (Or at least, for the children and the world.) I submit that they are far worse than Trump and his cadre.

But together, the two groups have irreparably destroyed America. In the next commentary, let us talk about why and what might “unite” America.