Note: This was an unfinished blog post that was trite and out of date before I finished it.

Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Ambrose Bierce

I am returning after a brief hiatus and recovery from the 2020 fall semester which, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, turned what was a normal semester into a genuine nightmare of epic proportions. Suffice it to say, it was not a pretty time for anybody – students or professors. 

Today is Tuesday, January 5, 2021 – election day in the Georgia runoff that will decide the fate of our democracy for at least the next two years if not for decades to come. Tomorrow, at least 11 Senators and 100 to 140 Representatives (the numbers keep changing) will vote not to approve Joe Biden’s certification as president elect in an election that by any measure (other than Trump and his basket of deplorables) is seen as a landslide by rational observers. Biden won the Electoral College by 306-232, and his certification should be a pro forma event under normal circumstances. “Normal circumstances” refers to all the years before 2016 before Trump took possession of the presidency and systematically began dismantling democracy as we know it. 

I won’t attempt to write anything about the circumstances we face over the next two days. If you are alive and breathing, intubated or not, and are of moderate intelligence and awareness, all you have heard over ever facet of the media since November 3 deals with this problem ad nauseum. Trump is flopping around in his own little world of denial while his supporters in Congress are like moneys trying to climb a flag pole. The higher they get; the more of their asses they show to the nation. Is this really what Trump meant when he coined the phrase “Make America Great Again?”

The question on many people’s minds is will Trump and the wayward Congress women and men and his rabid following be held responsible for their actions against the government and America in general. Sedition and insurrection can be looked at as synonymous in this case. A free legal dictionary on online defines sedition as “sedition is the crime of revolting or inciting revolt against government. However, because of the broad protection of free speech under the First Amendment, prosecutions for sedition are rare.” The same website defines insurrection as “insurrection (as) a rising or rebellion of citizens against their government, usually manifested by acts of violence. Under federal law, it is a crime to incite, assist, or engage in such conduct against the United States. West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2.” One has to wonder if any of Trump’s followers or supporters understand the fine line they are walking with lengthy jail sentences lapping at their backsides. 

———-  Thursday January7