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CLOSING ARGUMENT FEBRUARY 1, 2021 ¦ 51

EDITORIAL BOARD

throughout this country that this was a true state- Immediately after the mob was removed and
ment of “fact.” He sold this fabricated, fictitious with broken shards of glass and debris strewn
falsehood to his faithful followers before, during about the nation’s capital, the United States Con-
and after the election. On the evening of the elec- gress reconvened to complete that one remaining
tion, before every vote was counted, he proclaimed Constitutionally prescribed task of confirming the
victory; and after all the votes were eventually tal- results of the presidential election. In that process,
lied, he consistently and persistently repeated the we heard multiple disparate voices from elected
false claim that the election was “stolen.” representatives of both political parties. Contrast-
It has been said that if a lie is repeated over and ed against the single voice of one self-interested
over, that lie may eventually come to be viewed as individual desperately clinging to power, we heard
truth. Trump has acted upon this principle since the thoughtful voices of multiple political leaders,
he has been in office. Unfortunately, for many each of whom expressed their views in clear-head-
months, the credibility of those claims was not ed terms after due deliberation. It is worth reiter-
subject to a truth-seeking process such as a court- ating that those were not merely the statements
room trial. Without such a process or a forum over of partisan speakers on one side of the political
which a single judge or panel of judges could pre- spectrum. Importantly, those were the statements
side, the truth remained subject to the whims and of the majority. Those voices replaced the pathetic
persuasive power of a charismatic personality who pleas of one individual claiming to be a “victim”
remained free to dupe his followers in that cult of of some fabricated “fraud” that he invented before
personality. They “believed” their dear leader’s lies that fraud could possibly have occurred. More-
because they had long since surrendered their in- over, many of those carefully crafted arguments
dependent power of logical, rational judgment to cited, reiterated and relied upon the conclusions
the will of that one individual. In short, because of the many judges who presided over multiple
the election had long since ended by January 6 and cases that the defeated president brought in state
the only remaining item of governance was for and federal courts.
Congress to confirm the electoral results, it is clear Our democratic ideal often exists in silence.
that that small group of angry, violent individuals It is not always spoken. Sometimes it is a mat-
chose to revert to a belief in an autocrat…a mon- ter of faith. But it is always exercised through
arch instead of adhering to our democratic ideal. our tripartite system of self-governance. Our
The insurgency of January 6, which resulted in democratic ideal may have been temporarily
several deaths, is a collective trauma. Looking back, threatened and injured by violent thugs. But they
many have focused upon questions such as: how failed. They failed because our democratic ideal
can such a thing happen in this country? Where is not a monarchy or an autocracy. Unlike the an-
was the police presence and the official preparation gry mob on the steps of the capital, the major-
for potential trouble similar to the intense show of ity of Americans do not blindly believe as “truth”
force that officials in Washington and elsewhere the self-serving statements of potential candidate
mustered to counteract the protests against racial particularly where an election is concerned. Ours
injustice? Who is to blame, etc? Amidst the collec- is a system of laws and a government comprising
tive trauma and as we look back in the search for the many freely elected representatives who are
answers to such questions, it is well worth noting only in office by virtue of the power of the people
something remarkable that happened on January 6 who elected them. That truth was reinforced in
shortly after the angry mob was dispersed. the evening of January 6, 2021.
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