The Insurrection
January 6, 2021, "The Insurrection" will forever be marked as a pivotal moment in American history. It was the first overt attempt in recent history to disrupt the established procedures of government. It stemmed from months, perhaps years, of marshaling forces seeking significant changes in governance and an effort to redefine how our national life should be lived and who should hold the decision-making power.
Political Unrest
Unrest exists in every society, fueled by unheard voices, unaddressed interests, perceived infringements on rights, and entrenched powers unwilling to relinquish control. Democracies provide mechanisms to address grievances through collective action, political organization, and peaceful protests or demonstrations. When violence enters the equation-- whether in suppressing protests or as a consequence of demonstrations turning violent-- the dynamics shift radically. At this point, it evolves into a power struggle over which group can impose its will on the other.
American Revolutions
This is not the first time that this nation has tried to change direction. To understand this, we must consider past revolutions and attempts to reshape governance in American history.
The American Revolution sought to break from English colonial rule with the underlying goal of keeping that colonial wealth here rather than shipping it off to England and also to establish autonomy in creating laws for a new nation.
Behind much of that was a desire by the emerging American economic elite to replace the British economic elite as the controlling powers of government.
Let's be clear, from its inception, the United States has been influenced by a powerful economic elite that shaped national policy and maintained control over its direction.
The next major upheaval, the American Civil War, sought to divide the nation into two separate nations, one slave and one free. It nearly succeeded and the botched Reconstruction left the defeated Southern secessionist states still very powerful and the racial issues very much unresolved. However, the economic elites were still clearly in control.
By the late 1920s, the unchecked dominance of that economic elite led to a collapse of the financial markets, not just in the US but spreading worldwide, and ushering in a new revolution: FDR's "New Deal"; a bloodless revolution that shifted the control of the government away from the economic elite and toward more participation from the ordinary citizens, more in keeping with the values of democracy. This shift sparked significant tension between the economic elite, who viewed governance as their entitlement, and ordinary citizens, who saw democracy as their right to equal representation.
Reasserting Power
By the end of the New Deal and into the Eisenhower administration, the economic elite began reestablishing their dominance, partially through an arms race based on the Cold War focus on Communism and Russian power and dominated by the growth of the military-industrial complex.
John Kennedy's election marked a shift away from corporate dominance and the grip of the economic elite and changed the trajectory back toward a more democratized focus. With Kennedy's efforts toward ending the Cold War by finding common ground with Russia and Cuba, by his efforts to break the hold of the CIA and the security state and his efforts to begin to explore ways to end the war in Vietnam, that economic elite saw him as a clear threat to their power base. This trajectory was abruptly altered by Kennedy's assassination in Dallas.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Post Article Comment and Rate This Article
