Minnesota Report

On year after January 6, 2020, we are still a divided nation, state and family. Misguided places like the Crow Wing County Board are still calling for an audit of the 2020 election more than a year after-the-fact. The lunacy of Donald J Trump continues in full form. Republican critics of the attack on the US Capitol on the day, who still seek viability in their party, backpedal and waffle about the words they offered in the aftermath, not wanting to find disfavor from the Great Liar, the sower of Truth Decay, and we wallow in the offal of his sewer.

Because the insurrection was spurred by a legalistic angle to change the count of the votes in the Electoral College, Democrats are pushing for a change in the Electoral Count Law of 1877 along with protections against state law changes which may institute voter suppression and allow for legislatures to contest election results they dispute.

The change agents seek a system where the results are either predetermined, or can be corrected, in their minds, to show a favorable result, again, one they support.

Our country is sick, not just with COVID, but with an unhealthy distrust of what constitutes democracy, civility and common decency. The two sides of our political spectrum talk past one another, most likely shouting rather than discussing and our civil discourse on issue of disagreement start feuds rather than provide resolution. Mask policies, let alone mandates are not hills to die upon.

The pandemic is real, but also yes, we will need tot learn to live with it, just as we have with other diseases like measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, mumps, hepatitis B and chickenpox, which are all of the vaccinations required for school attendance in Minnesota. At the time of this writing, there have been 836,000 deaths nationwide and 10,906 here.

The system of Checks & Balances is a fragile three-legged stool, and the legs are worm-rotted. We must shore up our system of democracy and rebuild trust. For years, minority communities have felt the system was not on their side, and if they had been the perpetrators of the attack on the US Capitol, the scores of deaths would be a body count the likes of which we haven’t seen since Vietnam. Because criminals were mostly white, and the prime instigator was the failed President, who is aptly called, First Loser, the shock troops were left unmolested.

A full accounting of the events on January 6th must occur and a purge is the only response. Loss of freedom, voting rights and bans of access to social media are some of the necessary answers, but also a truth telling must happen. We must burn this at it roots, and be ever ready should this sprout its ugly head again.