Dutiful parents customarily instruct their children on appropriate behavior in order for them to avoid conflicts with the criminal law. Recent events suggest that some families with parents who belong to the Republican Party follow a different standard. The Republican National Committee recently characterized the Jan. 6 insurrection as “legitimate political discourse.” To politically unaffiliated observers, Jan. 6 was a murderous and unpatriotic attack on the nation’s Capitol building and democratic institutions.
Undoubtedly, some of those conservatives who approved of the Jan. 6 insurrection vigorously opposed the “Black Lives Matter” protests, which may have been loud and caused traffic inconveniences but rarely involved injury to citizens or loss of property. The assailants on Jan. 6, on the other hand, terrified members of Congress as well as their staff members, assaulted law officers and injured many police officers. There was more than $30 million in property damage, and an estimated five people died as a consequence of the insurrection.
No rational individual could ever describe the Jan. 6 event as a “legitimate political discourse.” Every American, despite political party affiliation, should reject this insurrection as the standard for resolving political differences.
