This Unholy Mess

Patrick Steadman, 35, of New Jersey, was recently convicted of one felony and four misdemeanors for his activities at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Among his memorable quotes are these gems: “[January 6] will eventually be a national holiday akin to the 4th of July.” “You will want to tell your grandchildren you were there.”
Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Bea Franklin, your instructor for this special summer school civics class. Now, you’ve got to be wondering why you’re here, considering your status as federal prison inmates. Fair question. The answer is that federal officials are painfully aware that your performance at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021 was not just criminal, but also horrifically alarming for the republic, because you exhibited such beef-headed behavior while feeling completely justified in doing so.
The officials responsible for this class have concluded that you are not necessarily insane, but more likely dismally ignorant. Ignorant of the principles of your government. Ignorant of its history.
So let’s take a bird’s eye view of what you thought you were doing that day. As you burst into the Capitol and swept down its corridors, many of you were shouting “1776!” This, as you vandalized offices and smeared your own bodily waste on the walls and floors. Nobody ever said patriotism couldn’t be sub-human, right?
But let’s be clear: what you did had nothing to do with 1776. Why didn’t you know this? 1776 was about the work of the Second Continental Congress: crafting the Declaration of Independence and supplying a fledgling army that might have lacked training but which was emphatically not a mob.
Here’s a fun fact: A better year, historically, to describe your actions is not 1776, but 1789. And not in America, but in France. Now there you had a real mob, gentlemen. The common folk rising up and storming the Bastille, the Parisian prison that had been a hated symbol of authoritarian power. It was a brutal, mindless eruption of public frustration similar to yours, the radical differences being that yours was based on a lie, and that you have the good fortune to participate in a representative government affording you rights, wealth, and privilege that French peasants of that time could only dream of.
Setting aside the fact that the French uprising of 14 July, 1789, was more “successful” than yours, the comparison with your actions works well. The French peasants introduced complete chaos in France, without a clue what would follow their explosion of rage, much like the chaos you would have engendered had you held the Capitol and succeeded in hanging Mike Pence. Because the French mob was much more “successful” than you were, France was a mess for roughly ten years, a mess punctuated by spasms of bloody violence directed against the Church and the aristocracy. Heads were mounted on pikes and paraded through the streets; priests had the choice of death or pledging allegiance to the “New France.” Interestingly, the French rejection of their crusty, corrupt religion finds no comparable place in your playbook. You all seem bent on maintaining a kind of vacuous, belligerent version of Christianity as a fig leaf for your brainless barbarism.
When the French realized their efforts to create a government “by the people” weren’t working, they happily opted for an iron hand, the not-so-gentle ministrations of an authoritarian leader.
Enter Napoleon.
Since representative government had crumbled, Napoleon was welcomed as a military hero and savior. Within a few short years, the French gave in to his desire to be crowned Emperor. What a relief. At last, a Big Brother to watch over them.
So let’s connect the dots to your 2021 debacle: If you had succeeded in executing Mike Pence that day, you can’t pretend that act would have allowed you legitimacy and continuity with the U.S. government. In truth, you would have been nothing but a crude mob abandoning all root principles of our government, including the Rule of Law. You would have been attempting to establish a new, sham-government, with yet-to-be-established “laws,” headed by a discredited, demagogic leader. A new Napoleon, let’s say, but one with a distinct aversion to military service.
Eventually you’ll have to answer this question: Knowing what you know now, would you still be willing to trigger a civil war against the true government of the United States, abandoning the principles of free and fair elections as well as the peaceful transfer of power, in order to support a new, horribly distorted form of “American government,” led by a dubious authoritarian whose only claim to power was his ability to manipulate you?
Take your time answering. Most of you have long sentences that will give you plenty of time to think.